Microfracture more common than abrasion arthroplasty?

Hi,

First post on these boards. There appears to be a ton of info on microfracture, and precious little on the similar(?) abrasive process I had performed, so I thought I'd try my luck here.

Eleven weeks ago I had an ACL replacement (allograft) & abrasion arthroplasty of the medial side of my femur (I'm guessing I had a Grade IV defect judging by the photos they showed me the day after my surgery)

http://www.eorthopod.com/image...art_surg_anatomy05.jpg

I've been in PT 3x per week since, and perform my home exercises nearly every other day.

I'm still unable to walk normally, and have to contract my quads forcefully to stiffen my leg before transferring weight onto it to avoid a sharp pain. I can walk quickly if I keep the knee slightly bent, or I can slow way down and do my straight-legged Frankenstein walk (until I loose concentration and transfer weight onto the knee without pre-stiffening, getting the sharp stab of pain.)

I can't lift myself up onto or down from a step using only the bad knee either...I get a severe spike of pain when I'm about 2-3 degrees from vertical (fully locked out). I found that I was "cheating" a step exercise at PT by bringing my good leg onto the step just prior to the final straightening move.

I rigged up an apparatus in my basement to take weight off (a rope looped under my arms, then up to a pulley overhead, over to a second pulley 5 feet away, then down to a hanging dumbell. At 9 weeks I had to hang a 45 lb dumbell to make the step up onto a cinder block (simulating the exercise I couldn't perform correctly at PT) with tolerable discomfort.

Now at 11 weeks I'm able to make the step with tolerable pain with only 35 lbs weight taken off my body weight (190 lbs, 6"00").

Is this amount of pain 11 weeks after surgery normal?

thanks,

Gn