I'm 51, so most of the articles I read about recovery seemed geared towards people in their 60's. I was driving at day 3, no pain meds after day 2. My cpm machine by day 7 was at 120. I never used a walker, cane or any other device to walk. Staples out on day 14 ( to be honest very painful!), also back to work. Had in home PT for the first two weeks, where I got my bend to around 95 degrees, saw the doctor the following week and he told me that I really didn't need to do any out patient PT, that I was progressing way ahead of schedule and I should be fine if I continued my exercises at the gym. Week 3, went to the gym to try and use the bike, was able to make it around , albeit uncomfortably. The following day used eliptical which was much easier and allowed me to finally sweat after three weeks! Four weeks out currently, I'm walking with a very slight hitch in my giddyup, sometimes I feel like I don't have a limp at all, but watching myself on camera it's obvious that I'm not walking 100 percent normally. My right leg prior was bowing out, so I'm learning to walk a little differently. Still swollen and stiff, and I still ice after working and exercise. When I walk it's tight around the top of my knee cap. Wondering how long that will last? Biggest problems that I encountered, was trying to pee after coming out of surgery (which was out patient), constipation from the pain meds early on, the staple removal and sleeping (only now can I sleep on my stomach again). The first two weeks are rough, but it's improving quickly after that and I'm already so glad I had it done. Now, I just have to make it last, since I had it so young. (ACL repair in my 20's caused the early onset of arthritis.) I did try some hydralaunic acid a month before surgery, it didn't help...I'm going to try it on my left knee before it gets to the point of not helping that one either.