An ACL injury and the long road to recovery

In December 2024, Arnav Narula’s right knee began showing signs of mild weakness. Young, athletic and resilient, he dismissed it as a strain. By January 2025, he had moved to Adelaide for a master’s degree in marketing, walking upwards of 12,000 steps a day. The discomfort in his knee felt like a minor inconvenience, and nothing serious.

The rupture came months later during a visit home to Mumbai for Ganesh Chaturthi. Between festive rehearsals and family celebrations, he joined a casual game of badminton. Mid-rally, his right knee gave way. This time, he fell and could not stand. “It wasn’t just pain,” he says. “It was the feeling that my leg wasn’t responding.” An MRI confirmed a bucket-handle meniscus tear and a torn anterior cruciate ligament. In simple terms, both the cushioning cartilage and a key stabilizing ligament in his knee were severely damaged.

Surgery followed at Lilavati Hospital, where doctors repaired the meniscus and reconstructed the ACL using a tendon graft from his the same leg. The first month after surgery was defined by restriction. His leg was braced, bending limited and standing unaided was impossible. Physiotherapy reduced recovery to measurable increments: 45 degrees of flexion, then 60, then 90. Extension proved more stubborn. Ideally, the knee should rest at zero degrees—fully straight. He remained at ten. “You begin thinking in angles,” he says. “Every few degrees feels like reclaiming something.”

Muscle atrophy set in quickly. After three months without proper weightbearing, his right leg had visibly thinned. When he walked independently roughly six weeks after surgery, the milestone was both triumphant and humbling. “It felt like I had forgotten how to walk.” He returned to Australia in early October with his mother who stayed to help him for a month. After sleep or long hours sitting in lectures, his muscles would contract so tightly that he needed support to move. Even now, almost seven months after the surgery, long drives or flights trigger stiffness. The unpredictability complicated progress. “Some days you feel strong,” he says. “Other days you feel like you’ve slipped back.” Improvement came in small, cumulative gains.

By February, he had reached 105 degrees of flexion, still short of the ideal 135 but a significant improvement. During his sixth month, back in Mumbai, physiotherapy intensified at Lilavati. Four times a week, machine-assisted electrical stimulation forced his quadriceps to contract and release. The sessions were painful but effective, reducing the extension deficit from ten degrees to three. Zero remains the objective.

Doctors have outlined strict timelines: nine months before returning to running and at least a year before high impact pivot sports such as basketball or badminton. A formal fitness assessment will determine readiness. Narula acknowledges the temptation to accelerate the process but resists it. “You might feel ready mentally,” he says, “but your body has to be ready. Otherwise, the risk of re-injury is high.”

The deeper shift, however, has been psychological. In the immediate aftermath of surgery, he deflected concern and avoided discussing it. Months later, landing in Mumbai again, he broke down unexpectedly at the airport. The last time he had departed the city, he had been in a wheelchair. Revisiting the hospital triggered anxiety he had not confronted. “I realised I’d been in denial,” he says. “I hadn’t allowed myself to accept it.”

Six months on, the measurable markers tell one story: extension improved to three degrees, flexion at 105, a supervised jog completed, about 10,000 to 14,000 steps averaged daily. Before surgery, he rarely tracked movement so closely. In Adelaide, he often walks along the stretch beside the River Torrens, a path he once jogged to decompress. Returning to that run remains his personal benchmark. Not a competitive match, not a full sprint, but a steady stretch without hesitation. “Even 500 metres,” he says, “would mean I’m back to myself.”

Transformative journeys is a monthly series of triumphs, failures, and shifts related to health.

Anoushka Madan is a Mumbai-based freelance lifestyle writer.