Long story short – I tore my right (dominant) ACL back in November while training to compete for the Fall Houston Open 2020 and got ACL reconstruction surgery in December using a quadriceps autograft. My doc is confident I’ll have full mobility in my knee again, as he’s confirmed my new ACL has been healing well throughout this recovery and I’m on target for a full recovery. Now, I’m 5 months post-op and have been cleared by my awesome physical therapist to return to drilling techniques only for jiu-jitsu. I’m not cleared to “return to sport” just yet, but we’re getting there!

As a BJJ lover, you’d think being unable to train for 5 months would be mentally taxing, but for me I’ve just been so busy with my rehab that I haven’t had much time to really dwell on it. I’ve just been happy to see the progression in my recovery, and grateful it’s been ticking x% in the right direction each day. I’ve also been going to class regularly still to watch and continue learning. My brain hasn’t turned off from thinking about the game.

There’s currently no formally published literature on ACL recovery for the sport of BJJ, so I’ve been fortunate to have my PT do her own research and work with me to create a custom plan to return to sport. I’m also following BJJ practitioner physical therapists accounts providing useful prehab and maintenance content, so I’m able to see what I should be able to do functionally before I consider returning to live training.

Another thing I’ve been doing is documenting my progressions and milestones on my IG highlights. Hopefully, all this data can help someone else going through this too. Especially since there isn’t much BJJ content out there for ACL recovery. I’ll happily share my experiences in hopes it’ll help someone else out there too.

At the end of the day, we know our bodies best. Listen to it, take good care of it, to build a solid neural muscular connection to know when to push yourself further because you know you can do it as well as know when it’s ok to rest up too.

❤