Microfracture Knee Surgery

That wasn't the point of the statement

I'm dense. What was the point?

the point is, there are different areas that microfracture is used on. In some cases the surgery is done to relieve pain and allow for "normal" function of the knee joint. Running 18 milers at the age of 57 was/is not considered "normal". The doctor felt is was a waste of my time and money to do the surgery if I was just going to go out and f*** the knee up again. He suggested masters swimming or biking.

It really depends on where your defect is. If you have a lesion in a non-weight-bearing area, running again should not be a problem assuming the surgery is successful.

Huh, my prominent ortho in NC had no problem with me running 18 milers at age 45. Sounds like there's a difference of opinion in the medical community. It's been 3 years since my surgery and I have no problems.

Blowing.Rock Master wrote:

Huh, my prominent ortho in NC had no problem with me running 18 milers at age 45. Sounds like there's a difference of opinion in the medical community. It's been 3 years since my surgery and I have no problems.

Guess, he can't wait to make money from your impending knee ,and most likely hip replacements.

Uhh, ,unless , I guess , you destroyed the cartilage in your knee(s) by sitting on a dirty toilet seat.

I feel your pain wrote:

Uhh, ,unless , I guess , you destroyed the cartilage in your knee(s) by sitting on a dirty toilet seat.

Are you high or is this a case of PWI?

Hello again. I am now 6+ weeks post-op, started PT 3 days ago. Doc cleared me to weight bear as tolerated, said I had little or no swelling in the knee, he was very happy. His PA said to keep using crutches, doc said toss them when I am comfortable walking. I can walk without crutches, but the leg is weak. Its a lot better walking with crutches just to keep balance. Woke to a little pain near area of MF procedure, but it went away after I moved around a bit. They pushed me at PT last night, quad muscles were worked good. I still ice it daily, esp after walking or PT. I hope by Xmas I am pretty good with at least walking. Moved my golf trip back to May instead of March, so I hope to be near 100%, it will have been 7 months come 05/2010.

ROM in good knee was 125

ROM in fixed knee was 118 before any PT.

You will not be 100% by May, nor, ever.You may be 80% in three years,so appreciate it.

Sorry it worked out that way for you. My knee recovered fully in about 5 months.

Blowing.Rock Master wrote:

Sorry it worked out that way for you. My knee recovered fully in about 5 months.

Hey, Lazurus post your real name ,your pre-op report, post- op prognosis , your PT regimen and results. Than, give some race results, fore and aft.

You may have had extensive athrocopy, but not microfracture.

Or, you could be seeing a backdoor pharmacist.

And you will indeed pay with, sooner than later knee and hip replacements.

Stop giving false hope to people living in the real world.

Good luck.

Hey man, sorry it didn't work out for you, but that doesn't mean it didn't work for me or anyone else.

The procedure I had was definitely microfracture. There was a hole in the cartilage in my knee. Not rough or thinned cartilage, a hole the size of a corn kernel going down to the bone. I still have the piece of loose cartilage in a test tube. They drilled holes in my bone to get it to bleed (I have a photo showing the holes with blood flowing out), and form a clot.

They sewed me up and stuck my leg in an immobilizing brace for 6 weeks. After a week I spent 6 hours a day with my leg strapped to a machine that very slowly bent my leg, gradually increasing the range of motion for the next 6 weeks. After that I started going for very slow walks.

Once I got up to walking a mile I tried jogging, 200 meters the first time. My surgery was at the beginning of August, my first jog was at the end of October, I got back to real running at the beginning of January, and I ran a 1:29:27 half marathon at the end of March. Prior to my knee blowing up I ran 17:56 for 5k and 37:05 for 10k (1-1/2 years earlier).

The only time I've had a problem with my knee since surgery was once after skiing, and another time after "cross training" with my wife. I quit skiing but not the cross training.

In case you think my doctor's a quack, before moving to my town he was an orthopedist at the UNC Sports Medicine Clinic. He knew before the surgery that I planned to run afterwards. His opinion was that it would work, and it has.

Sorry, but I'm not posting my real name. For all I know you're that crazy broad from the northwest that was stalking me and my wife last spring. There are enough people on the board who know who I am.

Good luck!

Dude, you are one lucky running cadaver ! I do beleive you ,now. You are one in a myriad. I know i pissed you off ,but you were gentleman enough to respond in kind .

Good luck !

Stalk you and you're wife ?

I don't do those things.

However, the young ones here onLR would probably want pics of Mrs.BRM .

Thanks.

I tore my miniscus last year in one of my knees, and I was able to start running again 10-12 days after surgery. I don't know if mine is as bad as yours, but I just got 20% of my miniscus taken out.

I started this post. I had the surgery on 3-05-09. I tried running again as early as 9-01-09. It hurt and my range of motion was not the same. I could not even run 19 min miles. I gave up after a couple of weeks. Tried it again 10-15-09 a little better but range of motion still bad. Gave up again after a real bad run on 11-01-09. Now about 5 weeks later my knee is feeling better and I will go try it out again. I'm bound and determined to run and run fast again. But I know it still may take a year or longer before there is real progress. And my doctor did tell me to give up running.

I meant I could not do 10 min miles. On my second comeback try I was able to get back to 8min miles for up to 4 miles. But the last time I ran I had to walk back because of the pain.

No problem. Maybe your right and I'm incredibly lucky. Could be something in the mountain water - one of the guys I run with is in his 60's and runs on an artificial knee. I couldn't believe it when he told me. He has no trouble going 12 miles at 7-1/2 minute pace.

Blowing.Rock Master wrote:

Sorry it worked out that way for you. My knee recovered fully in about 5 months.

What you are saying is completely impossible. Every knee doctor in the world would tell you it is impossible. The fibrocartilage or scar tissue cartilege would not even be close to being fully formed and if you attempted to run at 5 months the "scab" would be ripped off and you would be worse off than before the start. Microfracture takes a minimum of 8 months to reach a semi rigid form. Significant further healing takes place at least through one year and will continue to immprove in the 2nd year. All this assumes it was successful and mf has a low success rate.

So what really happened to you? My guess is one of the following:

a) you thought you had mf surgery but instead they debribed the injured area instead and you confushed that with mf

b) you had mf but the defect was so small that you didn't even need surgery so hence you appeared to recover quick

c) you are confusing or exaggerating the times and dates

Again, you won't find a single doctor in the country who has ever done a mf say that anyone is out running pain free after 5 months. Impossible!

Knee Surgery wrote:

I started this post. I had the surgery on 3-05-09. I tried running again as early as 9-01-09. It hurt and my range of motion was not the same. I could not even run 19 min miles. I gave up after a couple of weeks. Tried it again 10-15-09 a little better but range of motion still bad. Gave up again after a real bad run on 11-01-09. Now about 5 weeks later my knee is feeling better and I will go try it out again. I'm bound and determined to run and run fast again. But I know it still may take a year or longer before there is real progress. And my doctor did tell me to give up running.

If you read my early post on this, you will realize that your lack of Range of motion is a major problem. It means you either have scar tissue that is blocking your range of motion or you still have swelling in the knee. Scar tissue formation is a major and common side effect of mf due to the massive bleeding it causes. Blood in the knee joint is the mother of scar tissue. If you actually have scar tissue in your knee you will never get rid of it by stretching, you need to have surgery to remove it. Failure to remove scar tissues results in permanant damage to the patella and trochlia articular cartilege.

If you still have swelling in the knee, which is very common months after mf surgery you need to get rid of that swelling before attempting to run.

Also you must take Glucosimine/chrondroitin which greatly aids the success of mf.