Hello fellow basketball people, just wanting some help getting back into jumping and dunking. My story is that I tore my ACL, MCL, and LCL and had a reconstruction in November 2024 (so about 17 months ago I think). I did all my rehab for the first few months but then ended up getting this weird knee pain that I couldn’t shake, which made it basically impossible to lift or exercise properly. Around the same time I started postgrad study, so I fell a bit off the wagon. Over the last couple of months I’ve been back into lower body strength training which has been great, but I really want to get back into jumping and dunking and just don’t know where to start plyometric-wise. I’ve tried jumping at my local court and I can only just get my fingers halfway over the rim, whereas before I could get near my elbow, so it’s pretty frustrating. I’ve also gone from about 80kg to 95kg in that time which definitely isn’t helping, but more than anything the jump itself just feels wrong and uncoordinated.
So I’m really just looking for a bit of direction on how to reintroduce plyometrics properly after this kind of injury—what I should be starting with, how to progress it, and whether there are any strength or control benchmarks I should hit first. Also keen to hear if anyone’s had a similar experience where the jump just felt “off” and how long that took to come back. I can’t afford a physio or exercise physiologist at the moment, so just working with a gym and a local court. Any advice or even just personal experiences would be hugely appreciated.
Also I have a 50 dollar bet with a friend that i could dunk before him by the end of the year so there’s that too!
TLDR: 17 months post ACL/MCL/LCL reconstruction, lost a lot of jump height and put on weight, strength is coming back but jumping feels wrong. Looking for a safe way to get back into plyos/dunking without a physio