Advice on sleeping post ACL surgery
3 weeks post ACL (hamstring graft + LET) and I literally cannot sleep, need advice.
So quick background, fully tore my ACL and partially tore my MCL beginning of july. Did prehab for about a month with a knee brace, then had surgery july 31st (hamstring graft + LET procedure).
I’m almost 3 weeks post op now and my recovery has been kinda average/below average tbh. Still on one crutch, flexion is stuck at 90 degrees and hasn’t moved in like 2 weeks, extension is decent though. No real pain during the day besides after PT or walking too much, no brace (doc said only needed if meniscus involved, which mine isn’t), no pain meds besides tylenol/advil at night if needed.
But the SLEEP. I genuinely cannot get more than 4-5 hours a night and it’s wrecking me. I fall asleep fine but then I wake up and just can’t find a comfortable position anymore. I use a leg elevation pillow to keep it straight but that stops being comfortable after a while, so I switch to just having it flat on the bed with a regular pillow under it. I’m a side sleeper so I’ve tried putting a pillow between my knees with the injured leg on top, but after a few minutes my knee starts hurting and I have to move again.
It’s not really pain keeping me up, it’s just discomfort and not being able to find a position that works for more than an hour or so. Some nights I technically get 5+ hours but it’s broken up into chunks with an hour or two awake in between. I end up needing like 12 hours in bed just to scrape together 7 hours of actual sleep, and most nights I don’t even get that because I can’t fall back asleep once I’m up.
I work full time remote so between work and PT there’s no real time to nap during the day either, so this is just compounding.
Has anyone dealt with this? When did it get better for you? Did you find any positions or setups that actually helped? Starting to feel like the lack of sleep is slowing my whole recovery down at this point, any advice is appreciated.