Dr NBC
Former Insider
Cheers all. For those that have had it reconstructed, how were you 3 months after? Well enough to get on a plane and walk at least most days?
Sam, I flew back to Canada 8 weeks post-op. I took my crutches and knee brace with me to wear on the plane as a social experiment. People were much more helpful than normal and you get priority treatment, just like the previous poster mentioned.
I wore my brace for 6 weeks and used my crutches for approximately 3.5 weeks (give or take). This all depends on the person however. You have to be a bit careful when walking, being active, etc. It is critical that nothing happens to the knee joint (trauma, falls, etc) in the immediate post-op period. For a patella tendon graft, I think that it takes about 12-13 weeks for the new ligament to graft on to the bone. It can be a bit fragile during this period. Take it easy, don't strain yourself and you'll be fine. I'm not sure that this is the case for a hamstring tendon graft. There is no bone involved in the graft so it probably isn't as much of an issue.