This past weekend in the championship game of our adult soccer league, I twisted my knee (non contact injury). After seeing a Dr and PT, I have been told its a MCL grade 1 sprain. They gave me the textbook answer of 2-4weeks before I will be back to some form of physical activity, light jogging and probably 6-8weeks until “competitive” or long distance running.
Wondering what your N+1 experience has been with recovery time. What has helped, what hasn’t helped.
I am 33yrs old, I know I am not 18 anymore so it will take some time. But also want to be realistic with recovery.
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!!!
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.
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.
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.