Well, I am about one year one month post op. My knee is feeling pretty good. Still feels “not normal” on stairs, but I can go up without using the railing (with some effort). I did a 15 mile bike ride over the weekend in a pretty hilly area and did not experience any pain, stiffness or swelling afterward. Thinking about doing a 30 mile charity ride in a month to see how I like doing bike races. I do not like biking nearly as much as I did running, but I figure it has got to be good for the knee and surrounding muscles and it gets me outside. I broke down and bought the padded bicyle shorts – because – well – biking gives me a sore butt… Definitely not as cool as my running gear, as they make it appear as though you are wearing a diaper under your too tight shorts! I am still hoping that I will at some point return to running, just not sure when that will be. My doc says that the new STAR study shows continued hardening of the area for 5 years… Ughh – I’ll be too old to start running if it takes that long. Hope all of those out there that commented on having surgery soon are hanging in there!
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desperate2run 
Hey, sounds like you are doing awesome. You are giving me strength that I might be ” normal” one day. I am almost five months since ACI surgery. I can finally walk with out a limp and ride a bike, although is still painful. What is up with those darn steps??? I can’t come down either. It’s frustrating. Any tips?? I finished PT about two weeks ago and having difficulty keeping up with it at home. My kids keep me very busy.
Hello there – Five months out is a difficult time, because I recall feeling like I should feel much better than I was. The stairs – my doctor said that it is normal to have difficulties with them even after one year, and that it would slowly go away. I asked if I should do stair step exercises and he said NO. (whoops since I was doing at least 100 of them every other day). Now I can go down normally, but it requires use of a handrail. So, don’t worry about stairs for now. Do you have access to an eliptical? If not, biking is great too. Anything that is “close chained”, i.e. no impact will help. At one year my doctor said do anything you want, but no impact until you are symptom free or I see you again in six months. I can bike as long as I want, standing up is not an issue at all (and makes me feel more normal), I can elipitcal at pretty high resistence – but walking is the thing that still causes some discomfort at miles in excess of 3 or 4. It does not hurt at that distance but will start to fee irritated. There is no longer any swelling at this point. Try to do as much home PT as you can, and write what you are doing down so that you can see that you are progressing. I have kiddos also, and you can be doing PT while helping with homework if you get creative. i.e. stand behind your kid doing one leg knee bends and holding onto their chair while they read…. Most of all, hang in there — it does get better, I promise.
Thank you for your response. I think I hit a plateau. I was showing progress and now I can’t find the time to get back into a routine. I am resorting to comfort food which is really bad, starting to pack on the pounds and getting depressed. I will take your advice and start a journal. Our weather has been cold and rainy which doesn’t help at all. I get a MRI at six months at the end of June. I am DYING to know what’s going on inside. They also realigned and tightened my knee cap while they were in there. It’s just gets so tight after sitting for long periods of time. I am looking forward to days when I don’t think about the pain every ten minutes. I can totally relate to your previous posts. Again, thank you for taking to time to update your progress, it really helps.