5-8 WEEKS POST OP
Hopefully by this stage of the rehab you are up and walking and starting to get strength back in your leg. This stage can take time and is one that can go quite slowly or progress well depending on the extension/flexion in your leg, largely due to swelling and strength. Your body should and will still protect the knee in this stage. However, I believe it is only natural to drag the leg and limp at times as a subconscious protective mechanism. You should be aware of this and the changes in your movements. The faster you can get back to your normal walking gait, the better, as this will allow you to get back your movements and patterning quicker.
Continue working on building strength in this time and icing after exercises as swelling will still be present. Extension and flexion is important but it is not something that I feel should be forced by someone else. Getting close to full active extension by 8 weeks is the goal. Bike riding or swimming are good cross training exercises to integrate into the program once you have enough movement.
Just moving around in the water is an important step to take as it’s low stress and you can see how the knee responds. In my experiences, the pool is good just to get a normal feeling back in the leg whilst helping with the recovery. I also think this is a good time to work on and understand what deficiencies you might have and therefore put a plan in place to work on these. You now have 9 months at building yourself up to be a much better athlete than you were. Almost every athlete can improve in strength and coordination and a big part of that is core strength and training. I have spent countless hours on working on my core strength demonstrated in the videos below through exercises and pilates.