ACL Surgery Recovery

Post-Operative Care in Denver, Colorado

Nationwide most ACL patients go home the same day as surgery. Almost all surgeons place the patient’s leg in a hinged knee brace for support, and almost all surgeons ask the patient to use crutches for at least a week. Many surgeons send the patient home with a Continuous Passive Motion (CPM) machine. The CPM is a device that gently moves the knee through a flexion arc, in a fully automated manner. While there is some disagreement in the literature about the final utility of using CPMs, many studies support the use of these machines to minimize pain, and to potentially enhance cartilage health. I use CPMs for my ACL patients based on the scientific evidence that articular cartilage thrives in a motion environment- it turns out that “standing blood”, or static blood that bathes a post-operative joint and its articular cartilage is actually quite toxic to the cartilage cells. While some focus on the small additional cost of CPMs and point out that patients’ final range of motion is not better with their use, I am concerned about providing the greatest possible environment for long-term joint health.

Please click here for our post-operative patient instructions, our Physical Therapy ACL protocol, and our Consent and Request for Surgery and Treatment.