Been thru it 3x, completed the athletic activity i was involve in each time, swollen next day could barely walk (had no choice 3rd time) by ~2 weeks was pretty much back to doing normal things. I always waited till Nov (it was ~6 mo each time) to have replacement surgery so could keep doing outdoor athletic activities till winter. You don't "heal" after surgery, you recover and rehab. Pretty sure Spencer didn't have ACL replacement after first two, I heard he wrestled without didn't have replacement till before his last year. Thus his did not "heal." Each can be different but strength wise replacement and knee can be 100% by 6 mo out its just you may not feel like you can do 100% of what you want till a year out. But then some don't go that well.