masters runners with torn meniscus

my wife had both of hers repaired in her mid/late-40s. it was a long road back, especially from the second one, but since she's turned 50 she's been running extremely well--sub-19 for 5k, 1:28 for 1/2 marathon. she said she occasionally feel the knees, but is very diligent about strengthening exercises.

hope this helps,

cush

I think sports medicine doctors from family medicine, PM&R, or internal medicine tracks are great if you want to be conservative.

Many orthopedic surgeons are going to want to operate. I've seen some literature that suggests operating might not be worthwhile at all for meniscus in many clinical scenarios.

A good rehab program should be highly beneficial. The trick is going to be keeping up the strength and conditioning work for the rest of your life once physical therapy sessions are no longer covered by insurance.

Tore mine in my 20"s. Did nothing about it other than get stretched by the PT. The school set me up with a Dr. who volunteered to look at athletes. Of course he said I had to have surgery and the school would pay for it(even though I hurt myself dunking a basketball in my free time). I crossed trained for several months and occasionally tried to run. One day , something like 3 months after the tear I tried to run a lap and could not. Tried it again the next day , fine. Jogged a few days, a few days later 5x200 in 29 seconds, not a bit of pain. Never bothered me again. I didn't run in my 30's and 40's, but I could have. I am 54 now and have been running for 4 years with no meniscus problems.

Just a bit of background. The injury happened about 3 weeks ago. I did a squat (like a catcher) to look in the back of a cabinet and heard and felt a pop. The rest of the week it felt like I had hyperextended my knee. There is no real pain but I did know that something was wrong. Sometimes it just feels loose or lacks support.

The last 2 weeks I ran easy doing about 5 to 6 miles each day. I ran 6 this morning before reading the email with the results from the MRI.

I asked my Ortho if I could keep running on it or would it get worse. He said sure you can keep running but it could get worse. He said it could also not get worse. He said not to run if there is pain. At this point I stopped asking him questions.

Once again, I really don't have any pain. I'm kind of just waiting for that to happen. Not sure if I should take time off or keep running.

Tough call. I would run and try to nurse myself through even if pain did come up. Get on the bike or elliptical, and weights , if necessary. I am very surgery adverse.

Kind of trial and error like , get more cautious if there's pain and never run with a limp. If that doesn't work out , then you can always think about cutting.

Of course, you wonder if you can make it worse, and thats the tough call part. I don't think it's that big of a gamble, but it's not my leg.

I'm in my mid-50s and several years ago had a slight degenerative meniscus tear detected on MRI imaging (medial side). Occasionally, I experience mild pain and discomfort particulary with speed work and race-pace type workouts. I don’t race much anymore and due to other chronic injuries, I'm only able to manage about 15 - 20 mpw.

Most meniscus tears that have no or minimal pain, and don't significantly affect the biomechanics of the joint are usually managed conservatively. For mine I used weight training; specifically for the quads & hip flexors to absorb more of the impact forces generated from running. Daily stretching and icing helped. Cross training with a spin bike also helped and aided in getting circulation to the joint.

I think for meniscus tears the type and dynamics are important to know (e.g., medial or lateral, buckle handle or flap tear, etc.). Your MRI report should have the specifics of the pathology. On meniscus surgery there's two types: meniscectomy and meniscus repair. Meniscus repairs, if applicable, preserve the meniscus as opposed to meniscectomy. And some studies have shown that a meniscectomy can predispose the joint to osteoarthritis over time (I've seen this with runners who have had a meniscectomy in their younger years who eventually progress to OA in their middle-age, with some even needing a knee replacement). Here's good study of surgical intervention vs conservative treatment of meniscus injuries:

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4095015/

all the best man

48 tore my meniscus while on a long run, just made a simple turn and bam! instant pain, I thought it was a calf cramp, but it was a torn meniscus. Had surgery last Jan. did PT all Feb I started jogging on grass in March, I did a 10M run in late April.

All in all it's a quick and easy recovery. No crutches, no brace. I was up and walking with all my weight within 24 hours of surgery.

At 60+ I had a large tear and had much of it surgically removed so it didn't rip further. Missed Boston 2012 because of it, ran the following 4 years. I wear a lightweight knee brace when I run.

Getting a great surgeon improves your chances to have a nominal effect on your running.

EZ10Miler wrote:

48 tore my meniscus while on a long run, just made a simple turn and bam! instant pain, I thought it was a calf cramp, but it was a torn meniscus. Had surgery last Jan. did PT all Feb I started jogging on grass in March, I did a 10M run in late April.

All in all it's a quick and easy recovery. No crutches, no brace. I was up and walking with all my weight within 24 hours of surgery.

How was the post-op pain? Opium-based pain meds, NSAIDS, acetaminophen, etc...any of that needed?

Also, how much meniscus was removed during the meniscectomy? (I've heard that if too much is removed it can lead to arthritis years later).

Nonetheless, that's a great recovery and your surgeon must be pretty good 👍 (I've heard some stories from other runners of botched meniscectomies 😕).

I've had both knees done twice. My running was basically done after 2nd scope, but I wasn't ready to face that until scope #3.

What it boils down to are a few key things:

1. Mechanism of injury. In your case, it sounds like you can pinpoint one particularly event as cause. That *might* work to your advantage since it's not just wear and tear over time.

2. If surgery is done, the amount of cartilage loss is a key element in your recovery and subsequent return to running. It will also dictate what options are viable for you to choose.

3. The rehab is critical. Some people will tell you that it's a cake walk and that you'll be back in no time. That may or may not be your story should you choose to have surgery.

Things I learned after the fact.

1. Get a Doc who will tell you both the best and worst case scenario based on your MRI-which may not tell the whole story despite what some will day.

2. There are plenty of non surgical options depending on the amount of cartilage loss/damage. You may qualify for PRP (Platelet-rich plasma)

http://orthoinfo.aaos.org/topic.cfm?topic=A00648

. I've also known people who did well with transplants from either a cadaver or other parts of their own body. Also, Ohio State University has pioneered plastic meniscus implants. Not sure how that's gone, but it's too your advantage to see a Doc who knows and can offer the option that is best suited to your situation.

3. The body will heal and/or recover on it's own time table. The Doc and the PTs will most likely dwell on the best case, but it's best to let the swelling subside before getting too aggressive with rehab beyond ice and simple ROM stuff.

Very very little pain, I might have taken the pain meds for the first 12 hours after surgery. I do take meloxicam daily, but I was taking that before the surgery.

My knee hurt BAD after I tore it. It hurt to drive, to walk down stairs, even hurt laying in bed.

I don't know how much of the meniscus was removed.

I tore mine playing dodgeball with the kids at church. Stupid, stupid, stupid. Never had surgery. Mine hurt like crap for a few weeks after the initial injury and I didn't run on it for a long time. I was able to cycle, though, which helped build strength around the knee. I was 34 at the time of injury and have only begun to run again in the last few years.

After the initial injury "healed" I found that as long as I did things inline, my knee was fine. If I squatted at an angle or tried to pivot my foot (like in basketball), it felt like a little flap would flip in my knee. Holy cow painful. The only way to get the flap back in place was to completely flex my knee as far as I could. It seemed that this opened up the knee joint and allowed things to get back to their proper place. Once that happened, my knee was totally fine...pain free again.

I'm 42 now and have been running again the last few years. Honestly, running has helped it. It is much stronger than it was when I injured it. In fact, when I first started back running, my knee ached the day after runs. After a few months and increased mileage and speed, my knee feels like it was never injured. I still have to watch the lateral/pivot movements on that leg, though. Running on trails sometimes give me trouble.

Hello all,

I was wondering if any of you have had a torn medial meniscus and recovered pretty well without the surgery? I just found out I tore my medial meniscus, I believe from playing basketball. I'm apprehensive about getting the surgery. I can still run 15-20 MPW with only a slight amount of achiness, but cannot squat all the way down, and running is really just shuffling along now.

Age 52 had bad left knee pain after running some steep downhills too hard. Sore for a couple of months and tightened up my left adductor, too. Ran a fall marathon well. Was running well the following winter and it came on again after a hard 16 mile hilly run. Got MRI. Recovered and ran Boston. The doctor never called with the MRI results and I got curious...that's when they said I had a torn meniscus. The orthopedic guy said if I wanted to continue to run I should have surgery. This was almost five years ago and it's never bothered me again. I've also trained pretty hard, although I've had other issues including a SFX and a bad posterior tibial tendon...left foot too. Coincidentally I developed what felt like the same pain in my right jknee when coming back from the SFX and a PT stretched the hecll out of the right quad and it went away.

stupidknee wrote:

Hello all,

I was wondering if any of you have had a torn medial meniscus and recovered pretty well without the surgery? I just found out I tore my medial meniscus, I believe from playing basketball. I'm apprehensive about getting the surgery. I can still run 15-20 MPW with only a slight amount of achiness, but cannot squat all the way down, and running is really just shuffling along now.

Did you read the thread?

its torn wrote:

I have a torn meniscus. It's a low grade tear and there is no pain. It's just an odd feeling in my knee. Doc says at my age it's a 50/50 shot it fixes the problem.

My racing days are over and most weeks I run 30 to 40 miles just to stay in running shape.

Are there any 50+ runners out there that did not repair the tear and how did it change your running? If you did get it fixed, did you notice the repair working or not?

Thanks in advance for any info and input.

I'm 59 and had an op for a tear two years ago (surgeon is a runner/tri-athlete). I was extremely sore sitting, driving, etc., and I had a piece removed not a repair (a partial removal heals more quickly). Post-surgery, I could drive the next day, and started jogging (with a limp) after three days. Ran 19:45 for 5k six weeks later. The only problems I've had were some subsequent imbalance issues from coming back too quickly and running with a limp.

I started in the middle of the thread, then went back and read the rest later. Thanks for the responses.

Curious to get an update on your injury....I tore mine in January and am just getting back to running...no surgery just PT