Medial meniscus issue

[Guest db99wj]

Went to get checked out by a Physiotherapy deal at the local running store. Got a major issue with the Medial Meniscus. It almost locked up on me twice today on my short 3 mile run. Here's the crazy part, after I ran I went for a short 5 mile trail ride, no pain whatsoever! It is great living .25 mile from our Greenline and another .5 mile to he trail entrance. These are great trails other than a sandy area near the river. Sand sucks.

I start therapy on it this week to help strengthen all the muscles that are around it and hopefully, if my body responds, no surgery, with minimal break in my activities and that will be mainly running.

Anybody ever deal with one of these? I'm just getting back into biking and live it, and I don't want to stop!

[Guest mustangdave]

I had a Medial Meniscus tear "repaired" back in 2007...and the platelia "scraped" for arthritious....personally I shoulda just dealt with the pain with anti inflamitories. The tear repair is good to go but the arthritious is still an issue....I use to RUN and CYCLE...A LOT, now I've switched to SWIMMING and CYCLING...low impact is the way to go...but thats just my opinion...I'm 54...

[Timestepper]

Used to run quite a bit, rode bareback Broncs when I was rodeoing, biked frequently and roller-skated regularly. After 3 surgeries in my 30's (two right knee, one left) to repair and or excise median miniscal tissue, due to locking issues (right knee locked on me one day and stayed locked for EIGHT incredibly painful days before "emergency" surgery) all I can do now is walk and cycle.

Do not make the mistake I did and think you can ignore your knees. Biking is good therapy, as is swimming, but running is incredibly tough on them. (So is riding Broncs, but that's kinda' beside the point. lol)

Good luck - bad knees ain't fun!

[Guest db99wj]

I'm at the point, and this is kind of how it feels, if I could "pop it" like you pop your knuckles it would be better, or It would explode and off to surgery I go. I hate the "what's going on" part of it.

[kieefer]

I just had a Medial Meniscus tear repaired with arthroscopy surgery and the joint cleaned up. I was up and walking/limping in two days. I was riding a bike in three weeks. Some stiffness and weakness when doing squats during that time but I was doing my own therapy, walking, stretching and using a waterrower. Six weeks have passed and I'm doing great.

I'm not a runner but physically active, biking has been no problem.

I do know someone who was diagnosed with a tear and avoided surgery, she did fine. Sounds like you could get away with it but if it "explodes", where will you be then?.

Mine had been painful for three months and I waited till the weather got funky to do anything about it.

[Timestepper]

I'm at the point, and this is kind of how it feels, if I could "pop it" like you pop your knuckles it would be better, or It would explode and off to surgery I go. I hate the "what's going on" part of it.

Believe me, I know exactly what you're going through, but be careful of what you wish for because it might not explode but just lock up and stay that way like it did with me. I'm here to tell you, I've suffered through pancreatitis, kidney stones, bumps, bruises and a plethora of broken bones and none of that holds a candle to having my right knee locked in a 90 degree angle for eight days - even morphine would just barely scratch the surface of the pain. And when the tech, not knowing for sure what he was dealing with, forcibly STRAIGHTENED my leg and strapped it down for the MRI, well... let's just say that passing out would have been a blessing. (Being my father's son, I gritted my teeth and never made a sound, but tears rolled down my cheeks for the entire 30 minutes of the test. When it was done, they unstrapped my leg, my knee resumed the 90 degree angle and I finally feinted from sheer relief.)

Luck to you!

[dats82]

I don't know what the "issue" is, but if indeed it is a major tear, you might want to seek a second opinion. You are obviously very active and wish to continue to be.

An orthopedic surgeon I worked with explained it to me this way, the knee sustained an injury during one of the patient's normal activities. If the patient continues to be active and subject the joint to the same type of activity that caused the injury, it will most likely be injured again. The tear in the cartilage will not heal, and as long as there is a tear started, it will be easier for that free corner to get caught in the joint and tear more. Think of it as a hang nail; until you trim it up and get rid of the piece that gets caught, you will continue to hurt it.

If you wish to continue the same type of activities, you should probably be proactive in actually treating the problem, which is injured cartilage in the joint. Granted the treatment does remove some good cartilage, but this prevents further injury of what is still intact. If you risk therapy, you are (1) delaying the inevitable if you continue your current activities and (2) risking making the injury much worse and heading to surgery in worse shape.

By the way, I have had a medial meniscus repair in my right knee, and have had no problems to speak of. I was walking within 24hrs (not sure if I was supposed to), driving the next day, and by the time post-op therapy was done, my "bad knee" was better than my "good knee" in regards to range of motion. I cannot give you medical advice, but given your circumstances, my unprofessional advice would be to skip the therapy and fix it.

[Guest db99wj]

The way the therapist was talking is their goal is to strengthen the knee and to rule out all other possibilities before we move to more evasive stuff like surgery. We don't know if there is a tear yet. When I go in he morning we will be doing more test to see if the can tell more. They even said that the therapy that we will be doing will only be done for a week or so and if no improvement then I'll be going to the Ortho.

My wife had the surgery 16 years ago, no issue, slow recovery, but she wasn't running at that time. My mother in law had it done in 2011, and say she wouldn't do it again due to all the problems she has had with it. Stories like these and on here and elsewhere are all over the place. From back to normal in weeks all the way to knee replacement.

[Guest pfries]

I have had the meniscus worked on in both, Hockey, rock climbing, and jumping out of planes is hard on the knees. The first one (right knee) within two weeks I was back to full work (physical labor) the second one (left knee) was about the same for recovery time although the surgery was done just a few years ago now. I then had to have the ACL fixed in the right knee I had been running around with it blown out for a few years, it was not very stable... don't ask why I had to wait.... that was three and a half years ago now and the right knee is great. I did lose a very small amount of range of motion but not that the average person would notice. I cannot quite get into full splits and am still working on stretching it out slowly as i do not want to tear the replacement parts...

Sorry for the rambling the arthroscopic surgery for the meniscus is well worth the investment IMHO.

[Glenn]

I have had meniscus repairs on both knees. I think a big factor in how well you recover is what condition the knee is otherwise My left knee several years ago went real well. My right just last year no so good. The cartilage is almost completely worn out. There was only so much the Dr could do. I had the second surgery with only a local anesthetic. Really interesting to watch and the Dr showed me exactly what was wrong with my knee. Bone on bone.

Glenn

[Guest db99wj]

This is why I want to try therapy first, it is so "case by case" basis on the results of surgery. Some are out doing within a few weeks, others are done and have issues that won't change unless they go with a new knee. I guess I'm a little afraid of what they will find if they go in there.

[Guest db99wj]

Well back from the therapist. Good news overall. The meniscus seems to be fine, I had run on the day of the first test and it was aggravated. Today, no real discomfort at all and all the tests came back fine. What we did find is an IT Band, psoas/piriformis, and gluteus medias issue. I've been having some, what I thought was gas discomfort in my lower abdominal and the IT Band and the muscles that go into my hip on the front and the back, are weak, causing the prirformis muscle to hurt. When I have been running, high mileage stuff, I start get hip joint pain and I loose all strength, I can't push off. The issues I'm having explains the discomfort, the inability to push off in high mileage runs. The meniscus problem is because of the weak IT Band and causing my knee not to track appropriately, causing irritation and discomfort. When I ran a half marathon back in December, about mile 10, my hip started hurting, I had to stop, stretch and move on, but I lost all my ability to "push off", especially on hills for the final few miles. Flat and downhill I was fine.

He felt a lot better because of the lack of pain/discomfort/tenderness of the meniscus today and feels like it is/was aggravated more so than injured.

Edited January 18, 2012 by db99wj

[Guest pfries]

Glad to hear it may be somthing simple, no inside work is always a good thing... Keep up on the therapy (I know you will).

[Dennis1209]

Went to get checked out by a Physiotherapy deal at the local running store. Got a major issue with the Medial Meniscus. It almost locked up on me twice today on my short 3 mile run. Here's the crazy part, after I ran I went for a short 5 mile trail ride, no pain whatsoever! It is great living .25 mile from our Greenline and another .5 mile to he trail entrance. These are great trails other than a sandy area near the river. Sand sucks.

I start therapy on it this week to help strengthen all the muscles that are around it and hopefully, if my body responds, no surgery, with minimal break in my activities and that will be mainly running.

Anybody ever deal with one of these? I'm just getting back into biking and live it, and I don't want to stop!

I was diagnosed with a meniscus muscle tear in my right knee in 1990. Had orthopedic surgery suppose to take 20 minutes to repair and he asked if I wanted a local to stay awake and watch. I'm thinking, are you nuts or something. Went into surgery at 2:00 P.M. and when coming out of the drugs I noticed it was dark through the window, and it was almost 7:00 P.M. Turned out it was the meniscus cartledge torn almost all the way through. They trimmed most of it off and told me there was nothing more they would be able to do to repair it in the future, save knee transplant. Well, 22 years later I got problems with both my knees again. I'm not going to get anything more done about it at my age. I remember the pain I endured during the simple orthopedic, much less the days of pain for a knee and joint transplant. And I do believe it's required to take anti-rejection medication for the rest of your life? But I will say, I got 15 good years of pain free right knee after the surgery but, the joint is like a loose u-joint in an automobile, loose as a goose!

Good Luck!