ACL Programme – General Guidelines
The Rehab Programme is available from our downloads page.
- Ice and elevation in the early stages
- Partial weight bearing for 5 weeks on 2 Crutches
- 9 weeks after surgery – Cycling on a stationary bike
- 3 months after surgery – Slow Jogging
- 4 months after surgery – Steady Running
- 5 months after surgery – Sprinting, changing direction, stopping and starting
- 6 months after surgery – Back to training with your club
- 9 to 12 months after surgery – Back to your sport
You need a lot of long, slow, distance work before you go back to sport.
You will be running for 45 minutes 3 times a week for 6 months before your legs will be hard enough to withstand the knocks and twists associated with football, hurling or soccer.
This is outside of the fast sport specific training you will be doing with your team.
Sprinting is the best exercise to build up the muscles of the leg when the gym work has been done.
You will have a Biodex Isokinetic Test with the physio at 4 months and 6 months after the operation. These tests are very important and you will not be able to go back to training at 6 months unless you pass the 6 months test.
Your graft and your leg including muscles, tendons, ligaments, cartilage and bone take at least 1 year to return to the pre-injury level.
In fact you will be much stronger 2 years after the surgery.
Putting in the mileage reduces the risk of tearing the ACL graft.
