I had a 2 degree MCL sprain on my MCL on left knee and it did take roughly 6 months to fully recover as well any time my foot slips I feel a pull/pain on my left knee from my MCL... hope you recover quick and I would totally take my time to be honest!!!

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Speed kills unless you have speed skills!!!

Crashed on my bike and was diagnosed with a grade 3, although technically it wasn't a complete tear (according to the DR and MRI I still had a couple of threads attached but he said it was close enough to a grade 3). This happened 3 weeks before my fall marathon so I was really concerned he wouldn't let me run it. Surprisingly he gave me the green light to run but I had a wear a custom built knee brace and to pull the plug if it got worse during the race (he's a sports orthopedic and have seen him before so I trusted him). Marathon went better than I thought and I didn't feel a lot of pain, but maybe it was masked by the pain of running the marathon.

He basically told me that I could bike and run as tolerated but swimming was a no go due to the pushing off the wall and the risk of moving the knee in a weird position due to kicking. Running and cycling required les lateral movement so I wasn't risking further injury or re injury. He told me if I was a soccer or basketball player I would have been out for months. It was probably a good 6 weeks before I started swimming. Since my race season was pretty much over after the marathon I just did enough running and cycling to stay in shape until the first of the year. It was probably about 8 weeks before I was able to go full strength without having to think about it. The worst part of my injury was the instability of the knee. If I didn't wear the brace my knee would randomly buckle in. It didn't really hurt, it just felt weird. It also took a long time, like 6 months, for me to be able to completely bend my knee without pain. It didn't bother me when I would s/b/r, but I would feel it if I was completely bending my knee.

Fortunately the MCL heals really well on it's own due to good blood flow. I was about your age when I injured mine and once it healed I've never had an issue with it. 2-4 weeks seems to be about right for the acute symptoms to go away but 6-8 weeks seems kind of long, especially for a grade 1. Maybe your doctor is just being cautious and he doesn't want you doing anything strenuous until it's completely healed.

Sprained my MCL skiing in March 2016. TL;DR - It was up and down for a while and we discovered some chronic imbalances that meant my non-injured side was weaker. Lots of glute strengthening work, one leg stability work, banded work.

Longer version:
Started physio a couple of weeks later (once I got back from the ski trip) and was able to cycle straight away (endurance/tempo wattage). Couldn't swim as the push off from the wall hurt and I didn't have ROM to keep my leg straight. ROM came back pretty quickly and I started run/walk intervals under physio supervision about 5 weeks after my injury. Had to give that up after about 5 weeks because I started getting crippling night pain. Essentially became a cyclist for 18 months with occasional forays into trying to run. Finally, fall 2017 managed to get back into running consistently.

I think you are right on the time frame. Just wondering how much training I am going to be losing from my Ironman training for Chattanooga. I know I wont be able to go full throttle at the race, I am just hoping to get a green light to be able to complete the thing. I have some long runs and rides under my belt already. If I can though, I would love to be able to get in a couple more just to see how the knee does.

Thank you all for your responses.