Torn Meniscus

[SouthFork]

Got my Meniscus repaired a couple of days ago orthoscopically. Two small cuts and 25 minutes and it was over.

But Seriously the recovery time is forever and it sucks, sitting in a chair with my leg up being iced is not fun. I have read SH cover to cover twice. (Not really) but I swear I am getting close.

Everyone who I talked to said let it heal, and I would rather be more cautious then have to get another surgery. So I will take it easy but cabin feaver has truly set it.

Any of you guys had the surgery done for a torn meniscus? If you have, what was recovery time before you were up and going again, and then about how long did it take you to start exercising again? I really want to get back to it, but don't want to stress my leg.

Thanks,

 

[mdmp5]

Re: Torn Meniscus

Once the repair is done, your activity is mostly limited by the pain and range of motion of your knee from the inflammation. Keep moving the knee as tolerated, while allowing the inflammation to subside. Do not baby the knee. The less activity you do, the weaker the tendons and ligaments will get, limiting your stability and increasing your pain when walking. I recommend working the knee as much as you can. This is from my own personal experience with knee surgery, as well as a professional opinion.

 

[JALVI]

Re: Torn Meniscus

Keep your knee moving as much as you can. If it sets too long the scar tissue can build up and you might have to go back on the table. Excercise bike with minimal resitance is great for range of motion. This is definately something you want to be proactive about. I speak from experience too.

 

[prairiefire]

Re: Torn Meniscus

If your meniscus was truly repaired and not just trimmed - DO NOT put weight on it nor exercise it too vigorously. The blood flow to the meniscus is poor on a good day and for it to heal is a slow road. The majority of the time the meniscus is trimmed and it takes about a month or reduced activity before I allow my patients to get back to full unrestricted activity. Moving it thru non weight bearing range of motions and doing isometric quad and hamstring activities is valuable. Be patient - it will come around.

 

[banks74]

Re: Torn Meniscus

I had mine trimmed along with some other sweet knee stuff, and I did the recommended PT and than lifted with my upper body only to keep from going stir crazy. I figured at least I could still workout a little that way.

 

[prairiefire]

Re: Torn Meniscus

Perfect! In the average person 60% of our body weight preferentially goes to the inside (medial) meniscus - so the medial side gets more pressure and I think takes a little longer to heal. Also, after age 25 the blood flow to the meniscus begins to dry up - so the type of injury to the meniscus differs as we age. In addition, the chondral lining to our joints (lie teflon on a pan) can also be injured and if this is extensive it greatly slows healing time. In my book, therapy is so key to getting better - waiting is the hard part! Good luck with getting back in the saddle.

 

[snewhouse]

Re: Torn Meniscus

I have had 4 knee surgeries all meniscus tears over the last 25 years. The single best thing i did for recovery was to go to a professional physical therapist. When i was young i ran back to the gym in 2 weeks and hurt my self again right away. i tried a few times to just do my own recovery and never had a good result. a good Physical therapist will get ou doing the right excerise the right weights stretching and heat and cold treatments worth it. trust me

 

[UKDslayer]

Re: Torn Meniscus

I had to my torn meniscus fix by cutting, not surgical repair, (along with scraping of the chondromalacia off the patella) done early January 2011. My surgeon said how hard you due your PT the first 6 months is critical - I start home PT at 4 days post-op, and formal PT at 2 weeks post op. I was able to bear weight the next day after the procedures, and ditched crutches at the 4 day post-op appt. (they were used mostly for stairs).

My ROM (range of motion) is now better than the other knee, my strength has recovered, but I still feel 5 weeks out that it doesn't feel OK to "pivot" on it, or else it feels like I am hyperextending it, nor can I kneel down on the that knee alone without some mild pain. Saw my surgeon yesterday - he said to continue weight training with my formal PT, do home exercises 3x/day; I am allowed to walk quickly on a tread mill, but not run just yet.

 

[prairiefire]

Re: Torn Meniscus

With substantial chondromalacia, the healing is slowed - at least in my experience. We oftentimes use one of the viscosupplementation injections (Synvisc is my favorite, but there are others such as hyalagan) that help to lubricate the knee. These seem to help the most when administered about 6 weeks after surgery, if there is still a moderate amount of residual stiffness and/or pain. FWIW

 

[Nocalphoenix]

Re: Torn Meniscus

Prariefire...how long do the viscosupplementation injections last for? I know my father has looked at it in the past for chronic condiditons but they did not seem to be an answer. They were also not covered by his insurance and the cost was prohibitive.

 

[prairiefire]

Re: Torn Meniscus

Insurances (who cover this) will allow this to be administered once every 6 months. It was originally intended for those with "trashed" joints who could not or did not want to have a joint replacement. In our experience, it is much more useful in younger folks who have less severe damage. Once administered the patient should not pass judgement about how well the med works until at least 3 weeks have passed. In our clinic the overall efficacy is about 70% when all age groups and all ranges of joint disease are conjointly evaluated. Yeh, it is expensive - and unfortunately insurances don't like to pay for it - although most do at least in our part of the country. It is a very useful tool for many people. Medicare covers this for those in that age range - although we do get pre-approval from most all insurance carriers prior to giving it - just to make certain that no one gets stuck with an unexpected bill.

 

[fx77]

Re: Torn Meniscus

Meniscal repair involves preservation of the meniscus and is usually a tear in the peripheral "Red" Zone where the blood supply is located <=4mm from the peripheral attachment to the capsule. Slower rehab for this.

Most tears are excised and the peripheral remnant is left for weight bearing purposes.

Ice is your friend for the first few weeks.

But!!If there is arthritic change in one or more knee compartments (there are 3), then the outcome is a function of the arthritis not the menicscal tear. see reference

A Randomized Trial of Arthroscopic Surgery for Osteoarthritis of the Knee Original Article, N Engl J Med 2008:359;1097-1107.

Way too much arthroscopic surgery is done for arthritic knees and the outcomes are poor..
Surgery for arthritic changes is not better than non operative management as with Exercises and with Medical Therapies like pills and Viscocupplement injections which are usually approved by ins companiies and can be usually approved one set yearly if they are effective.

Good Luck.

 

[SledDog]

Re: Torn Meniscus

I awaiting approval from work comp for meniscus surgery, and my doc says this.

Clip out the bad part and you're back in gear in six weeks, give or take.
Repair instead of clip and now it's closer to 3 months.

I think those are worst case times, but something to keep in mind.

 

[former naval person]

Re: Torn Meniscus

Just remember this...your "Consultant" is a surgeon. The Orthopedist will tell you that you will be "just as good as before" which is begging the question...If that is so, why did you get hurt BEFORE? You will Never be as good as before. Never. EVER. Repeat that...NEVER! So, take care of what you have...and don't ever expect to ever be "as good as before" the injury. Clipping? OMG. Putting off the inevitable. JMHO

 

[sandwarrior]

Re: Torn Meniscus

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: sierrabravo45</div><div class="ubbcode-body">Got my Meniscus repaired a couple of days ago orthoscopically. Two small cuts and 25 minutes and it was over.

But Seriously the recovery time is forever and it sucks, sitting in a chair with my leg up being iced is not fun. I have read SH cover to cover twice. (Not really) but I swear I am getting close.

Everyone who I talked to said let it heal, and I would rather be more cautious then have to get another surgery. So I will take it easy but cabin feaver has truly set it.

Any of you guys had the surgery done for a torn meniscus? If you have, what was recovery time before you were up and going again, and then about how long did it take you to start exercising again? I really want to get back to it, but don't want to stress my leg.

Thanks,

</div></div>

Yes, twice on the R. knee. The first time though it was actually much worse than just a meniscus tear. It was removal of bone fragments...that on the initial x-ray they thought were cartilage (meniscus material).

I know you're bored but stay off of it. I didn't and I'm sure I hurt it a couple times before it finally healed. Mine took about a year and a half before I felt like I was anything close to 100% again. But, again that was bone fragment damage.

I felt eventually, that I was healed enough to take some slow runs. That was a mistake. It didn't take long and I damaged it again. This time however, it was just the meniscus. I took ten days off and was back at work (a desk job at that time).

So, my advice for a knee surgery is stay watered up. Fluid in your system helps keep that meniscus (and other cartilage in your body) full and working. Dehydration can rob it of its thickness and thus padding.
Go easy on the alcohol and coffee. Both are diaretics and can dehydrate you (you probably already knew that though) Alcohol also tends to leave edema which is a harder type of swelling to get rid of.

For now, I would say cold soak your knee, (big ice bags wrapped in bath towels), then heat it. If you want to exercise, limit the range of movement and force. Just movement is good for now while healing Push for more range in a couple weeks when the cartilage has had a little time to 'knit' together. Also, and this is critical, stay off it! Or at least minimal weight bearing. Do not 'tough it out' when you can stand on it. The pain is telling you the joint has had enough. Do what you can then find a place to sit.

-good luck

 

[sandwarrior]

Re: Torn Meniscus

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: former naval person</div><div class="ubbcode-body">Just remember this...your "Consultant" is a surgeon. The Orthopedist will tell you that you will be "just as good as before" which is begging the question...If that is so, why did you get hurt BEFORE? You will Never be as good as before. Never. EVER. Repeat that...NEVER! So, take care of what you have...and don't ever expect to ever be "as good as before" the injury. Clipping? OMG. Putting off the inevitable. JMHO</div></div>

Good point. I should have decided <span style="text-decoration: underline">NOT</span> to try running again. Because at the time I could walk pretty well a long ways. Once healed from the second surgery, I find I can walk a long ways if I'm taking care of myself when I'm out there. Walked with a friend an average of 10 miles a day over a four day deer hunt...in the mountains of Nevada.
So, start thinking about alternative methods of staying in shape besides running. Swimming, biking, boating (as in canoe/rowboats). You can still do a lot of stuff. But you now need to eliminate <span style="text-decoration: underline">impact</span> on your knee as much as possible.

 

[SouthFork]

Re: Torn Meniscus

Thanks guys for the info. I had a partial tear that was removed. Off the hard pain pills, and pain is not bad at all. I have been on Ibus as they are also an anti-inflammatory, and I have been refilling the Nalgene a lot to keep hydrated. I swear I feel like an old man because I got to go to the bathroom 2 times a night. (I'm 28)

Recovery I know is going to be slow. Guess its prone and off the bench for awhile and probably a lot of .22's and metal targets so I don't have to change targets.

I know Kneeling is Definitely out!!!!

For the record, it seems we are all accident prone!!!!

 

[chain]

Re: Torn Meniscus

It's been a year on my surgery. Hydrate, ride the spinning bike, and start leg weights as soon as you can. The weights brought me around, I actually wwaited too long to do them. Good Luck

 

[UKDslayer]

Re: Torn Meniscus

We are fortunate to have two ortho knee guys here that know there stuff - listen to them.

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: former naval person</div><div class="ubbcode-body">Just remember this...your "Consultant" is a surgeon. The Orthopedist will tell you that you will be "just as good as before" which is begging the question...If that is so, why did you get hurt BEFORE? You will Never be as good as before. Never. EVER. Repeat that...NEVER! So, take care of what you have...and don't ever expect to ever be "as good as before" the injury. Clipping? OMG. Putting off the inevitable. JMHO</div></div>

Sounds just like what the spine ortho's say too. Realistic expectations are critical; what a surgeon calls "success" may be very different from the patient perspective..

 

[Daniel Barham]

Re: Torn Meniscus

Had mine done on the 8th of Feb this month. Should be starting PT next week. Been fun so far. Lot of swelling and had to get fluid drained off twice. And I've been staying off of it and keeping it iced.