Can you run with a torn meniscus

See a doctor who deals with this sort of thing all the time not your family practicioner.

Yes - you can most likely run with a torn meniscus. If you take some time off to completely rest it and then it continues to get worse then go see an ortho who will recommend a MRI. It's something like 50% of the population of people over 50 have tears in their knee and don't even know it. Run to a surgeon and he/she will tell you that you need surgery when a lot of times you don't and you'll end up in the same position a year or so from now regardless. Removing parts of the meniscus to surgically fix a tear weakens the knee making it more susceptible for future problems so if you can avoid surgery at this point I would.

kvothe wrote:

See a doctor who deals with this sort of thing all the time not your family practicioner.

Yes, preferably someone who will makes thousands by ordering unnecessary tests and performing unnecessary potentially harmful surgery.

(Family physician, rolling eyes.)

Depending on the extent of the tear yes you could run. However eventually the problem will become more acute if left untreated.

If you are asking if you can run without causing further damage, the answer is simple, no you can not. If you are asking if there is anything that will permanently resolve the problem, beginning with rest and ending with surgery to remove the torn piece(s), the answer is no. It will tear further if you are active. Beyond that, the jury is out. There might be new procedures - artificial meniscus replacement - but I am not aware of any long term studies having been done.

kvothe wrote:

See a doctor who deals with this sort of thing all the time not your family practicioner.

The person I saw was a sports medicine specialist at Duke...but I left with the impression that I just had to get over the inflammation and could get back to running. It hasn't panned out as I expected. As another poster mentioned, he said lots of people have these and often don't realize it. I'm just wondering if anyone has successfully gotten back to serious running.

I returned to serious running POST meniscus REPAIR surgery. You have 2 options with a meniscus depending on how it has torn. If it's simply catching, you can get a trim, walk out of the hospital that day and back to real running in a month. You can get a repair, like I did, which saves the meniscus but because there's very little blood that flows to it, you have to keep your leg locked in place for 6-8 weeks, rehab for months, etc. But I kept my full meniscus.

Finally, I've only read about this once, but there's a very competitive runner who claims to have simply run through the tear, causing the flapping to eventually cease as it basically "grinded" itself down. I'm not claiming to know if this is even remotely possible, just passing it along

MRI exceeds physical examination for clinical diagnosis. Whether it's your medial meniscus or medial collateral ligament, the treatment is dictated by severity of findings. MRI is necessarily for the most precise diagnosis and management.

all the best man, try some arnica cream to decrease the inflammation

I tore my meniscus right before I started college.

I managed to train and race for the entire year.

It would occasionally pop out on me and I would miss a day or two of practice and be fine once the swelling went down.

I didn't miss any races.

I decided to have the surgery the following summer.

They repaired it and it was two months of rehab and I was back to trying and racing.

I seemed to have a couple set backs but was generally fine and that was over twenty years ago. (MRIs were not readily available)

So, maybe I could have kept running with the tear.

Funny this thread came up.

I have an MRI later today to check out my knee.

I took a heavy digger on a mountain bike in October. Swelling went away after a few days, but my knee never moved as fluidly and clicks a lot after the fall. I slipped on some ice a week ago running, landed on the same spot I hit before. If I didn't really fudge something up in October, I did last week. Orthopedist thinks a minor meniscus tear on the back lateral side of my knee. Xray showed no bones broken, weird gaps in the joint, or calcification.

Thanks everyone. Funny thing - I'm a doctor (not in sports Med though) with over thirty years of running behind me. I've had almost every running injury but every time I get something more than a minor niggle, I post on here and I often get better insight than I do from seeing the actual specialists.

51/2 years ago I had a minor tear, but kept running on it. I was running on a dirt road and it became a not so minor tear. I was about to go to the doctor, but decided to ice and not run on it and see what happens. Swelling went down, but it still hurt to put to much pressure on it. I wore a flexible brace for work since my job is somewhat active as well as walks and hikes. After two months I did a test run of 25 ft, not ready. Did that for a few more weeks. I finally was able to jog/run a mile or two (with the brace). Built up from there and it spring finally ditched the brace. Other than an occasional niggle no problems. I'm glad I sucked it up and didn't try to run on it too early.

I've been running on one for about 5 years now. I found out as long as I ran everyday, the swelling stays minimal and I don't have any problem. When I would take a day or 2 off, my knee would get puffy and it was irritating to run though not really painful. It has never gotten worse and I would imagine it was from a fall on the trail but I couldn't pinpoint when it happened.

On another subject, I had a bakers cyst on the back of the other knee. I just ran through it for years and it finally healed and went away after 8 years.

You tell us, can you?

I've been running with a torn meniscus for 30 years. Also hurt it playing soccer. Didn't have insurance when I did it and it only jabs when I hit a certain angle, so I just lived with it. Don't think about it much these days unless my knee bends under load and tries to stop at a certain angle about ~half way down. I can stay above that or go past it with no problem.