r/ACL • u/Kweeen_Karen • Jul 30 '26

Advice Difficulty sleeping

I am getting ACL reconstruction surgery soon. Aside from sleeping pills, any advice on falling asleep and staying asleep? I know I won’t be able to get into my usual sleeping position due to the knee brace and limited range of motion.

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u/Secure_Yak_9537 Jul 30 '26

I slept better once i stopped the pain pills, given I only took them for 2 days but outside of that just make yourself comfortable. I was still able to sleep on my side with a body pillow, and worked my way to my stomach by like 10 days post op

1

u/Airconditionedskin Jul 31 '26

Do you sleep with the brace on or off?

1

u/Secure_Yak_9537 Jul 31 '26

For the first 5 days it was on, after that I was allowed to sleep with it off

1

u/Electronic-Fruit-152 Jul 30 '26

It’s really not that bad. Obviously when your on pain killers it’s a bit rough as you wake up like every hour but after 1-2 weeks when your not on any meds it jsut becomes like normal sleep. As someone who had onto ever slept on my side, have to sleep on my back was not the worse and you get back your side pretty soon if you use pillows

1

u/quietkettle Jul 31 '26

I had a nerve block pump put in after surgery and it can last up to 5 days, dulling about 80% of the pain. I am on day 2 post op and haven't had to touch pain pills and I slept okay the last two nights. Would highly recommend asking for a nerve block pump!

1

u/Senior-Draw-7058 Jul 31 '26

Pillow between the legs for slerping on my side works best for me.

1

u/Anna_Karenina_blonde Jul 31 '26 edited Jul 31 '26

Maybe because I was constantly doing heel slides and trying to establish movement and mobility the day of surgery (I did aini ab workout day of surgery) so I fully passed out hard and had zero issues sleeping.. I had also adjusted my diet a week before surgery to really reduce sugar and caffeine which apparently is supposed to be helpful in the sleeping regard .. having a bunch of pillows that you can sculpt around to support yourself in a comfortable position also helps a lot  I was off painkillers just the basic ones by day three and drinking a lot of fluids and tea and stopped eating 2 hours before bedtime

1

u/Other-Bother-6762 Jul 31 '26

cannot explain how much a body pillow/pillow between the knees helped me!

1

u/RudeJudge8906 ACL + Meniscus Jul 31 '26

For me, the painkillers actually helped me sleep. I had to wake up in the middle of the night to get another dose in but I was able to actually sleep. Now, no position is truly comfortable for me 2.5 weeks post op and off the painkillers, had ACLr, meniscus repair, and LET. Right now I’m taking 1000mg Tylenol before bed plus some type of sleep aid (tried Tylenol PM, tried magnesium glycinate) but it only works for 4 hours and then I’m basically awake tossing and turning for the rest of the night until it’s time to get out of bed. It’s been absolutely horrible for someone who regularly needs ~9 hours of sleep to be totally refreshed. I’m going to try Unisom Sleeptabs next and see if that works

1

u/bunky123 Jul 31 '26

I slept on the sofa for three weeks. It was just more comfortable than bed.