Part of ACL reconstruction rehab
ACL rehab exercises by phase: what to do and when to move on
Warning signs, and when to get help
How do the ACL rehab phases work?
Each stage has an entry sign, a job to do and a set of stop signs. You move on when the knee shows the entry sign for the next stage. Two people the same number of weeks after surgery can easily be two stages apart. Read the stage you are in now and leave the later ones alone until your physio moves you up. Starting a later stage early usually costs weeks, because a knee that swells after a session has to be settled again before anything else can move.
The guidelines are built this way on purpose. The van Melick guideline recommends criterion-based phases, with strength, hop, movement quality and psychological tests used to decide when somebody progresses, and advises that rehab carries on for 9 to 12 months after surgery (van Melick and colleagues, 2016). The Aspetar guideline groups the evidence into rough time bands instead, very early for the first month, early for 1 to 2 months, intermediate for 2 to 4 months and advanced after 4 months, and rates the certainty of the evidence as very low for most parts of rehab (Kotsifaki and colleagues, 2023). The four stages here follow those bands loosely. The dates on the ACL surgery recovery timeline sit alongside them, and the main ACL reconstruction rehab program holds the same four stages with every exercise on video.
Two rules run through all four stages. Your surgeon's limits on weight bearing, bending and any brace come first, every time. And the morning after a session is the honest judge of it: stiffness or a mild ache that settles is expected, while a knee that is clearly more swollen or sorer the next day was asked for too much. How to read pain while you exercise sets that out in more detail, and how exercise progression works explains why the step up is small each time.
This page is for adults. A child or teenager who has had ACL surgery should follow the plan from their surgeon and physio, and ask them before trying any exercise on this page.
Stage 1: Settle the swelling, straighten the knee and switch on the thigh
Entry: your surgeon or physio has said you may start, and you are inside the limits they set for weight bearing, bending and any brace. In most programs that is roughly the first weeks after surgery. If a meniscus or cartilage was repaired in the same operation, it also means having their bending limit and their weight bearing limit before you begin, not afterward.
The job is a knee that straightens as fully as the other one, a thigh muscle (quadriceps) that switches on again, and less swelling. Bending comes back in this stage too, but only as far as your plan allows.
Ankle pumps keep the blood moving in your calf. Quad sets wake up the thigh, and a small roll about the thickness of a rolled hand towel works better under the knee than a pillow, which holds the knee too bent to press down well. The seated heel prop lets the weight of your leg ease the knee straight, and it only works if the thigh goes soft, so nothing under the calf and hands resting on the thigh. Heel slides bring back bending within the range your plan allows. The straight leg raise comes in once you can lift the leg without the knee bending.
If a meniscus or cartilage was repaired in the same operation, ask your team for the exact bending limit and the exact weight bearing limit before you start, because a repair is usually held to less bending and less weight than an ACL reconstruction on its own.
Dose, as a rough guide from common practice: 10 to 15 slow heel slides 2 or 3 times a day, 10 quad sets with a 5 to 10 second hold several times a day, and heel prop holds that start at a few minutes and build toward about 10 minutes, 3 or 4 times a day. Your physio will adjust this.
Stop signs for this stage. Stop and tell your physio if a session leaves the knee clearly more swollen the next morning, if pain is sharp rather than a stretch or an ache, or if you feel pain building with every repetition. Do not chase the straightening with harder stretching if the knee feels blocked or clunks right at the end of straightening, because that one needs your physio or surgeon within a few days. A swollen knee explains what the swelling is telling you. The warning signs at the foot of this page cover the rest, including the signs of a clot and of infection, which are not exercise problems and need help the same day.
Stage 2: Walk normally and build strength on two legs
Entry: your knee straightens fully, the swelling is settling and your team says you can take your full weight.
The job is walking without crutches and without a limp, and strength with both feet on the ground. Terminal knee extension works the last part of straightening, and it fails with a band that is too strong, so use a lighter one you can straighten fully against. The mini squat and the eccentric squat build the thigh, bending no further than a right angle at the knee unless your team has told you otherwise, and in the eccentric squat the work is in lowering slowly.
Bend only as deep as you can control, and no further than a right angle at the knee unless your team has told you otherwise, with your kneecap over your second toe. If a meniscus was repaired in the same operation, ask your surgeon or physio how deep you may squat before you start, as that limit is usually tighter and lasts longer than the one on walking, and stay inside a right angle while you wait for their answer.
Do the standing hamstring curl without any weight for now. After a hamstring graft, start the curl and the bridges only when your surgeon or physio says you can, and expect the curl to wait longer than the rest of this stage, because the guidelines that give a date for bending the knee against resistance after this graft put it at week 6 for a held contraction and week 8 for a moving one (Briem and colleagues, 2026). Keep all added resistance off the hamstring, and read the 4 week mark as the point below which loading has been reported to tear the healing tendon rather than as the date you may start adding it: weight goes on at 12 weeks unless your own team gives you an earlier date. Stop a bridge or a curl if you feel a sudden sharp pain, a pull or a cramp at the back of the thigh.
Glute bridges and calf raises cover the hip and the calf. Step ups use a low step. Hold a kitchen counter for single leg stance.
Dose, as a rough guide: the strength exercises in this stage and the ones after it often use 2 to 3 sets of 6 to 15, done 2 or 3 times a week rather than every day, with a day off the loaded work in between. Where an exercise page says once a day and this page says 2 or 3 times a week, follow the smaller number after this operation. The only balance exercise in this stage is single leg stance, which starts with 5 to 10 lifts on each leg, holding each one for a few seconds, with a hand on the counter. The longer balance holds of 10 to 30 seconds belong to the cushion work in stage 3, not to standing on one leg now. Your physio will adjust this.
Stop signs for this stage. Drop back a step if the knee is more swollen or sorer the next morning. Stop a squat or a step up if the knee gives way or feels like it might, and tell your physio. If a limit on how far you may bend was set for you, that limit is the most you may ever go rather than a depth to work toward, and the lowering feeling easy is never a reason to go past it.
Stage 3: Strength and control on one leg
Entry: you walk without a limp, stage 2 feels easy and the knee is no worse the next morning.
The job is strength and control one leg at a time, which is the part that takes the longest and gets skipped the most. The supported single leg squat, the lateral step down with a band and the split squat do the strength work, with a counter within reach. In the two band exercises beside a chair, knee hyperextension control and lateral knee stability, you hold the knee steady while the band pulls it outward or backward.
Balance comes next, and it needs setting up before you start. The wobble cushion squat and single leg balance on a cushion put you on an unsteady surface to train balance and control. Set those two up beside a kitchen counter or a heavy chair with a hand on it, clear the floor around you, and wear flat shoes that grip rather than socks, because an unsteady surface on a leg that is not yet strong is how people fall on a knee that has just been operated on. If you have had a fall in the past year or feel unsteady on one leg, keep both hands on the support and ask your physio before you start the cushion work.
The standing hamstring curl with a weight is resisted hamstring work. After a hamstring graft, start it only when your surgeon or physio says you can, and expect that to come later than the rest of this stage. A scoping review of the published ACL rehabilitation guidelines found that some of the guidelines carrying hamstring graft advice hold flexor strengthening back for the first 6 to 8 weeks, start isometric knee bending no earlier than week 6 and resisted knee bending no earlier than week 8 (Briem and colleagues, 2026). Reading that same chart, a narrative review of what hamstring harvest does to the tendon treats dynamic loading as something to avoid in the first 4 weeks, unsettled between 4 and 12 weeks, and recommended after 12 (Högberg and colleagues, 2026, reading Briem and colleagues, 2026). So unless your own team has given you an earlier date, treat 12 weeks as the point where weight gets added.
If you get a sudden sharp pain at the back of the thigh while loading it, stop and tell your surgeon or physio, because loading the harvest site too hard in the first 3 to 4 weeks has been reported to tear the healing tendon, which may then not grow back (Högberg and colleagues, 2026).
If a meniscus or cartilage was repaired in the same operation, get your surgeon's go-ahead before the split squat, the step down and the supported single leg squat, because many protocols hold deep or loaded bending back after a repair for longer than this stage would otherwise start.
Dose, as a rough guide: 2 to 3 sets of 6 to 15 for the single leg strength work, 2 or 3 times a week rather than every day, and balance holds that start at 10 to 30 seconds on the cushion, or 5 to 10 seconds where the hold is a squat on a wobble cushion. Your physio will adjust this.
Stop signs for this stage. The knee more swollen the next morning means back a step. A knee that gives way, locks or swells up quickly means stop, and the warning signs below say who to contact and how fast. Tell your physio about pain at the front of the knee instead of working through it, especially after a patellar tendon graft, because the Aspetar guideline advises adjusting both the load on the knee and how fast the strengthening is progressed when it appears.
Stage 4: Get ready to run, jump and change direction
Entry: only when your physio has tested your knee and says you are ready, which in most programs is at least about 3 months after surgery. After a hamstring graft or a quadriceps tendon graft there is a second gate on the hopping and jumping in this stage, and it comes later: wait until at least 16 weeks after surgery unless your surgeon or physio has cleared them earlier. The reason is below.
The job is movement in different directions and landing. The clock lunge, the side to side squat and the forward lunge teach the knee to control your weight as you move around, and the single leg heel raise builds the calf for push off. The hopping carries two gates that the rest of this stage does not, and both are further down this section: the date set by your graft, and the groups of people who have to ask first.
Dose, as a rough guide: hopping starts with small numbers, such as 1 to 3 sets of 5 to 10 single leg hops a few times a week, and not on two days in a row, so the knee gets a morning to tell you how it took the last session. The lunges, the side to side squat and the single leg heel raise keep the shape of the two stages before: 2 to 3 sets of 6 to 15, on 2 or 3 days a week rather than daily. Your physio will adjust this.
If a meniscus or cartilage was repaired in the same operation, get your surgeon's go-ahead before any hopping, landing or twisting, and before any deep or loaded bending such as a full squat, a lunge or kneeling, because those limits often run for months after a repair and are lifted later than the ones on walking. If the knee is more swollen the next day, cut back.
The graft puts a second date on the hopping. After a hamstring graft, wait until at least 16 weeks after surgery before any hopping or jumping unless your surgeon or physio has cleared it earlier, and the same applies after a quadriceps tendon graft. What is being protected there is not the new ligament but the place the tendon was taken from, which is still rebuilding.
That date has a source. In the scoping review of the published guidelines, the ones that give harvest site advice hold hopping and jumping back for the first 16 weeks after a hamstring graft, and after a quadriceps tendon graft one of them starts them at 16 weeks too (Briem and colleagues, 2026). That is later than the 3 month mark this stage otherwise uses. The rest of stage 4, the lunges, the side to side squat and the single leg heel raise, is not covered by that date.
Jumping and hopping also load the joints, the bones and the pelvic floor. If you have osteoporosis or have had a fall in the past year, ask your physio before you do any hopping. If you have had a hip or knee replacement, get the go-ahead from your surgeon before you try hopping. Many surgeons advise against jumping and hopping after a joint replacement for good, not just for the first months, because each landing sends high impact through the new joint. If you are pregnant, have had a baby in the past year, or leak urine when you jump, cough or sneeze, check with your midwife or physio before you start this stage. Stop the hopping and speak to your physio if urine leaks while you are doing it, or if you feel pressure or heaviness low in your pelvis. After having a baby, postnatal guidance usually leaves jumping and hopping until at least 3 months after the birth, once a pelvic floor check shows you are ready. With a heart condition or high blood pressure, check with your doctor before you start.
Once you are past those, pogo hops, line jumps and single leg hops over a line bring in landing. Start with small hops and land softly, on a clear, flat floor that does not slip, in shoes that grip rather than in socks, with nothing close enough to fall against.
Stop signs for this stage. Stop the hopping and tell your physio if the knee swells during or after a session, if it is more swollen or sorer the next morning, or if you can no longer land softly and quietly on one leg. Stop altogether and use the warning signs below if the knee gives way, if you feel a pop, a shift or a twist inside it, or if it swells up within a few hours, because this is the stage where a graft that is still maturing first gets asked to hold a turning, landing knee. Pain at the front of the knee or over the kneecap after landing work is a reason to cut the hopping back and tell your physio rather than to work through it.
Running is not simply the next exercise in the list. It has its own entry criteria, and they are set out in ACL return to running. Sport has a separate set again, in ACL return to sport testing. Your physio plans running, cutting and drills for your sport with you. These exercises build toward sport, but they do not replace the tests your physio uses to decide when you are ready.
How do you know when to progress?
Swelling and the next morning, in that order. Those two tell you more than any week count, because they are the knee's own report on the session you just did.
If the knee is more swollen or sorer the day after a session, it was asked for too much, and the step is backward rather than forward. If it settles overnight, it coped. Mild stiffness or an ache that settles soon after you finish is expected after this operation, and so is a stretching feeling.
One kind of swelling is not an overdone session. A knee that is hot, a wound that is leaking, or a temperature alongside the swelling needs your surgical team the same day rather than a lighter session, and the warning signs below say what to do.
On a bad week, go back a stage instead of resting completely. The stage 1 exercises are the ones to hold on to, because a knee that straightens fully and a thigh that works are what a quiet week costs you first.
What changes if you had a hamstring graft, a patellar tendon graft or a meniscus repair?
All three change this page, and your own team is the one who applies the change.
After a hamstring graft, resisted hamstring work is held back while the site the tendon came from heals, and so is hopping. The timings are in stage 2, stage 3 and stage 4 above: no added resistance on the hamstring in the first 4 weeks, the curl itself usually not before week 6 to 8, weight on it at 12 weeks unless your team gives you an earlier date, and hopping at 16 weeks unless they clear it sooner. The honest position underneath those numbers is that the evidence on when to start loading the hamstring again is unclear (Högberg and colleagues, 2026), so the dates above are the cautious end of what the guidelines say, not a settled answer, and your own team can move them.
After a patellar tendon graft, pain at the front of the knee and pain when kneeling are more common (OrthoInfo). That changes what the load feels like, not what the stages are. Hamstring compared with patellar tendon graft sets out what each one takes and what settles.
After a meniscus or cartilage repair, deep and loaded bending, twisting, kneeling and all hopping wait for your surgeon. A systematic review of rehabilitation after isolated meniscal repair found wide variation between protocols and no agreement on range of motion or weight bearing (O'Donnell and colleagues, 2017), so there is no standard answer to quote you here. Ask specifically how deep you may bend and squat, and when you may twist or kneel.
Your physio may also add a seated knee extension with a band or a weight at the ankle. The Aspetar guideline suggests starting that from about the fourth week, at first only through part of the range, from 90 to 45 degrees of knee bend, and notes that hamstring grafts may be more vulnerable to it when it starts early. In the trial behind that caution, people with a hamstring graft who began it in the fourth week ended up with slightly looser knees than those who waited until the twelfth, while patellar tendon grafts showed no such difference (Heijne and Werner, 2007). Add it only once your physio has shown you the range to use.
Blood flow restriction training is the other thing your team may add early, and the Aspetar guideline mentions it as an option in the early phase, particularly where knee pain is limiting how much the leg can be loaded. It is set up and supervised by a clinician, with its own list of people it is not suitable for, so it is not something to try from a web page.
What this page is not
It is not your program, and it is not a protocol. Your physio's plan and your surgeon's protocol come first, and where this page and your team disagree, your team is right, because they have seen your knee and know what was done in it.
It is also not a licence to promote yourself through the stages. The best evidence synthesis of rehabilitation after ACL and meniscal injury, produced for the OPTIKNEE consensus, rated the overall evidence as low, and only three of the systematic reviews it covered had assessed return to sport at all (Culvenor and colleagues, 2022). That is not a reason to skip the work. It is a reason to have somebody test you instead of trusting a feeling, and to treat every number on this page as a starting point your physio will change.
This page is general education and not a diagnosis or a personal treatment plan.
Related exercise programs
Warning signs
Get emergency help now
- Emergency: sudden, severe pain in your lower leg that is much worse than you would expect, especially with a tight bandage or brace on the leg. It may come with a tight, swollen leg, pain that gets worse when the muscle is stretched, numbness, pins and needles or weakness. Call emergency services or go to an emergency department straight away, and do not drive yourself. This can be acute compartment syndrome, which needs urgent surgery.
- Emergency: since your operation, you suddenly become short of breath, you get chest pain or pain in your upper back that may be worse when you breathe in, you cough up blood, your heart is beating very fast, or you faint. Call emergency services straight away, even if your leg looks normal. These can be signs of a blood clot in the lungs (pulmonary embolism).
Get help today
- Same day: a calf or thigh that is newly swollen or getting more swollen, warm, tender, red or darker than usual, has swollen veins that are sore to touch, or has a throbbing or cramping pain that does not fit your injury or condition, or that feels different from normal muscle soreness after exercise. This can be a sign of a blood clot (deep vein thrombosis), especially after surgery, an injury, time in a cast or boot, a long trip or a spell of being much less mobile than usual. Get medical advice the same day. If you are also short of breath or have chest pain, call emergency services.
- Same day: since your operation, your wound is oozing, leaking or has pus coming out of it, or its edges start to come apart, or your knee is tender, swollen, painful or red and it is not getting better or is getting worse, or you have a high temperature or feel hot and cold or shivery. Redness can be harder to see on brown or black skin. Contact your surgical team the same day, or get urgent medical advice if you cannot reach them. These can be signs of an infection in the wound or the knee joint. If you feel very unwell, go to an emergency department. If you have a very high or very low temperature, shivering you cannot control, you are breathing very fast or finding it hard to breathe, you are confused or your speech is slurred, your skin, lips or tongue look blue, gray, pale or blotchy (on brown or black skin this can be easier to see on the palms of the hands or soles of the feet), or you have a rash that does not fade when you press it, call emergency services, as this can be sepsis.
- Same day: your knee swells up quickly over a few hours and feels tight and full, with more pain than the day before, and there was no fall, twist or pop to explain it. This can happen while your temperature is normal and the wound looks fine. Contact your surgical team the same day, or get assessed the same day at urgent care or an emergency department if you cannot reach them. Bleeding into the joint and an early infection inside the joint can both look like this from the outside, and a knee that is hot to touch, or a temperature alongside it, makes an infection more likely. Do not wait for a call back if either is there. If you feel very unwell, go to an emergency department.
- Same day: your knee gives way, or you feel a pop, a shift or a twist inside it, and it swells up within a few hours or is very painful. Keep your weight off it and contact your surgical team, or get assessed the same day at urgent care or an emergency department. A fall or a twist can damage the new ligament (graft) or a meniscus repair. If the knee looks out of shape, or your foot turns numb, cold or pale, go to an emergency department straight away, and do not drive yourself. If the knee only feels a little unsteady now and then, with no swelling or pain, it is not an emergency, but tell your physio or surgeon in the next few days.
- Same day: the knee is locked, which means it is stuck bent and you cannot straighten it, even after gently trying to move it, or it suddenly will not bend or straighten as far as it did before. Contact your surgical team, or get assessed the same day at urgent care or an emergency department. A torn piece of meniscus can get caught in the joint and block it. This is different from the slow, gradual stiffness of the early weeks.
- Same day: you suddenly cannot straighten your knee by yourself or lift your leg straight when you could before, often after a pop, a fall or a stumble, or you notice a dip or a gap just above or below your kneecap. Keep your weight off it and contact your surgical team, or get assessed the same day at urgent care or an emergency department. After a patellar tendon or quadriceps tendon graft, the tendon or the kneecap near where the graft was taken can rarely tear or break.
- Same day: a leg or foot that is getting weaker, for example your foot drags, catches on the ground or slaps down when you walk (foot drop). Get medical advice the same day. If the weakness is getting worse by the hour, go to an emergency department.
- Same day: new numbness, tingling or burning in your lower leg or foot, beyond the numb patch of skin near your scars. Contact your surgical team or get medical advice the same day. If it started after a fall or an injury, or your foot or toes turn cold, pale, blue or gray, call emergency services or go to an emergency department straight away, and do not drive yourself.
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- Within a few days: your knee still will not straighten as far as the other one, or bend as far as your physio expects, and it is not improving from week to week, or it is slowly losing movement it had. This is not an emergency, but contact your physio or surgeon within the next few days. Tell them if the knee feels blocked right at the end of straightening, or clunks or hurts there, rather than simply feeling tight, and tell them if it stops short of straight in the months after your operation. A small lump of scar tissue at the front of the knee (a cyclops lesion) can block the last few degrees, and when it does it usually shows up 3 to 6 months after surgery. It is uncommon, most surgeons treat it first with rehab aimed at straightening, and a short keyhole operation to remove it is kept for a knee that stays stuck (D'Ambrosi and colleagues, 2026). Stretching harder is not the answer either way. Getting the knee fully straight is one of the first aims of rehab.
Common questions
What ACL rehab exercises can I do in phase 1?
The stage 1 exercises on this page are ankle pumps, quad sets, the seated heel prop, heel slides and the straight leg raise, done inside whatever limits your team set for weight bearing, bending and a brace. They are small and frequent rather than hard: many programs do 10 to 15 slow heel slides 2 or 3 times a day, 10 quad sets with a 5 to 10 second hold several times a day, and heel prop holds starting at a few minutes and building toward about 10 minutes, 3 or 4 times a day. Your physio will adjust this to your knee and your graft. The straight leg raise comes in once you can lift the leg without the knee bending, and if the knee bends as you lift, go back to the quad sets for a few days and try again. Start nothing here until your surgeon or physio has said you can.
When can I start squats after ACL surgery?
Two feet squats belong to stage 2, which starts when your knee straightens fully, the swelling is settling and your team has cleared you to take your full weight. Bend only as deep as you can control, and no further than a right angle at the knee unless your team has told you otherwise, with your kneecap over your second toe. If a meniscus was repaired in the same operation, ask your surgeon or physio how deep you may squat before you start, as that limit is usually tighter and lasts longer than the one on walking, and stay inside a right angle while you wait for their answer. Single leg squats are a stage 3 job, not a stage 2 one, and they wait until you walk without a limp and stage 2 feels easy.
When do hamstring exercises start after a hamstring graft?
Later than the rest of the program, and only when your surgeon or physio says so. The standing hamstring curl without any weight and the bridges sit in stage 2, and after a hamstring graft you start those only when your team says you can, keep all added resistance off the hamstring until your team adds it, reading the 4 week mark as a floor rather than a start date, and stop a bridge or a curl if you feel a sudden sharp pain, a pull or a cramp at the back of the thigh. Adding weight is a stage 3 decision and comes later again. Some of the published guidelines with hamstring graft advice hold a held knee bend back until week 6 and a moving one until week 8 (Briem and colleagues, 2026), and reading that chart, a narrative review of hamstring harvest treats dynamic loading as something to avoid in the first 4 weeks, unsettled between 4 and 12 weeks, and recommended after 12, so unless your own team gives you an earlier date treat 12 weeks as the point where weight gets added (Högberg and colleagues, 2026, reading Briem and colleagues, 2026). Hopping has its own later date after this graft, at least 16 weeks unless your team clears it sooner, because the place the tendon came from is still rebuilding. That same narrative review reports that the timing of knee flexor strengthening after a hamstring graft is unclear.
How many sets and reps of ACL rehab exercises should I do?
As a rough guide from common practice, the strength exercises in the later stages often use 2 to 3 sets of 6 to 15, balance holds often start at 10 to 30 seconds, while single leg stance starts with holds of a few seconds, and hopping starts with small numbers, such as 1 to 3 sets of 5 to 10 single leg hops a few times a week. The stage 1 exercises are the opposite shape: small numbers, many times a day. Your physio will adjust all of it to your knee, your graft and what you need to get back to, and each exercise page gives its own typical starting dose. The Aspetar guideline is honest that there is little evidence on how much exercise, or how hard, works best after this operation, so treat any number as a starting point to be adjusted rather than a prescription.
Is there a printable ACL rehab plan I can follow?
Your own team's protocol is the one to print, and most surgical teams hand one out. We have deliberately not published a printable week by week sheet, because a sheet cannot know your graft, what else was repaired in your operation, or what your surgeon limited. What this page gives you instead is the order the stages run in, the signs that move you from one to the next, and the exercises on video so you can see what each one should look like. If you have lost the sheet your team gave you, ring them for another rather than working from a plan written for somebody else's knee.
References
- Kotsifaki R, Korakakis V, King E, et al. Aspetar clinical practice guideline on rehabilitation after anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction. British Journal of Sports Medicine. 2023;57(9):500-514. https://doi.org/10.1136/bjsports-2022-106158
- van Melick N, van Cingel REH, Brooijmans F, et al. Evidence-based clinical practice update: practice guidelines for anterior cruciate ligament rehabilitation based on a systematic review and multidisciplinary consensus. British Journal of Sports Medicine. 2016;50(24):1506-1515. https://doi.org/10.1136/bjsports-2015-095898
- Rambaud AJM, Ardern CL, Thoreux P, Regnaux JP, Edouard P. Criteria for return to running after anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction: a scoping review. British Journal of Sports Medicine. 2018;52(22):1437-1444. https://doi.org/10.1136/bjsports-2017-098602
- Briem K, Zebis MK, Haraldsson BÞ, Bencke J, Fernandes L. Rehabilitation guidelines after autograft anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction need more graft-specific exercise recommendations: A scoping review. Knee Surgery, Sports Traumatology, Arthroscopy. 2026;34(1):83-101. https://doi.org/10.1002/ksa.12666
- Högberg J, Wernbom M, Hamrin Senorski E. Can we rebuild what has been taken? A narrative review of biological and functional consequences of hamstring tendon harvest in ACL surgery. Science Progress. 2026;109(3):00368504261461371. https://doi.org/10.1177/00368504261461371
- Heijne A, Werner S. Early versus late start of open kinetic chain quadriceps exercises after ACL reconstruction with patellar tendon or hamstring grafts: a prospective randomized outcome study. Knee Surgery, Sports Traumatology, Arthroscopy. 2007;15(4):402-414. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00167-006-0246-z
- O'Donnell K, Freedman KB, Tjoumakaris FP. Rehabilitation Protocols After Isolated Meniscal Repair: A Systematic Review. American Journal of Sports Medicine. 2017;45(7):1687-1697. https://doi.org/10.1177/0363546516667578
- Culvenor AG, Girdwood MA, Juhl CB, et al. Rehabilitation after anterior cruciate ligament and meniscal injuries: a best-evidence synthesis of systematic reviews for the OPTIKNEE consensus. British Journal of Sports Medicine. 2022;56(24):1445-1453. https://doi.org/10.1136/bjsports-2022-105495
- D'Ambrosi R, Helito CP, Della Villa F, et al. Practice patterns, controversies, and proposed management algorithm for cyclops syndrome after anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction: An international survey. Journal of ISAKOS. 2026;19:101165. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jisako.2026.101165
- NHS. Recovering from ACL (anterior cruciate ligament) surgery. Page last reviewed 17 July 2025. https://www.nhs.uk/tests-and-treatments/acl-anterior-cruciate-ligament-surgery/recovering/
- American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons. ACL injury: does it require surgery? OrthoInfo. https://www.orthoinfo.org/en/treatment/acl-injury-does-it-require-surgery/
- NHS. Deep vein thrombosis (DVT). Page last reviewed 30 April 2026. https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/deep-vein-thrombosis-dvt/
- NHS. Compartment syndrome. Page last reviewed 4 September 2026. https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/compartment-syndrome/
- NHS. Pulmonary embolism. Page last reviewed 25 May 2023. https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/pulmonary-embolism/
- NHS. Sepsis. Page last reviewed 14 May 2026. https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/sepsis/
Written and checked by the PocketPhysio editorial team. Last updated 2026-10-24.
This page is general education, not a diagnosis or a personal treatment plan. See a physiotherapist or doctor for advice about your own situation.