Tips dealing with Knee Surgery

I'm writing this post about the tips I've come up with dealing with ACL surgery. I've read a bit beforehand, have my own ideas about what helps.

• Working out before surgery really helps. I had about 2 months before surgery and spent some time walking, weight lifting and on a stationary bike. Though I was miserable, because my knee was unstable, the extra time really helped. I noticed the first couple of days that the extra strength helped me get around.
• Find a surgeon who believes in putting weight on your leg right after surgery. I get the impression that some don't. But I never would have gotten around on crutches without putting some weight on the bad leg. I was on one crutch by the third day post surgery and could get around without a cane or crutch a couple of days afterwards.
  
• Use a cane. And get one with a flat head. I was a little stubborn after I got the brace off and tried to get around with one all the time. But my pain was easier to deal with when standing around and walking when I had a cane to put some of my weight on.
• Ice is good. Those ice paks that you put in the freezer are better. Get at least two big ones. Though I didn't use the ice pak much until after I had the brace off.
  
• Too much ice is not good. Be careful of leaky bags. Also now that I'm more mobile ice can make my knee too stiff.
• Trigger point therapy is a good idea. I just got a book from the library about it. The symptoms for the sartorious muscle pain are exactly my symptoms - pain in the front of my knee that does not feel like regular myofascial pain and numbness in my thigh. It makes sense since it was that muscle that was moved around to get to my hamstring. Just massaging the points in my thigh and also in calf has helped.