The patient had injured her ACL while skiing. After trying several months of physical therapy the patient decided to proceed with the replacement surgery. In preparation for that the patient began a pre-surgery exercise routine to try to minimize weakness to those muscles affected.

The patient received in-patient physical therapy immediately after the surgery with follow-on visits after release from the hospital. After six weeks she transferred to a physical therapist located in her regular health club. The focus of treatment was to work on knee extension and to increase flexion from 90 degrees to 120 degrees.

Midlife Cycling also became involved at this time to track the patient's progress. When the patient was finally able to pedal in full circles, at 10 weeks, the therapist authorized us to begin training indoors on the patient's bike in addition to her normal physical therapy sessions. The only constraint was to remove the clip-in pedals to avoid the twisting action of getting in and out of the pedals.

We started the indoor cycling at only 11 watts of resistance. After working up to 100 watts, equal effort between both legs, and a reasonable balance between quadricep and hamstring strength the therapist authorized us to begin training on flat road. The rest was a controlled progression of longer rides and added inclines until she could return to cycling by herself. We quantified progress with occasional sessions on the CompuTrainer.

Please call us at (303) 756-0041 to discuss how we can help you with a specific patient.