What are the symptoms of a torn meniscus?

I'm not sure how helpful this will be, but I can say that I tore my meniscus once playing basketball. I knew something happened at the time that it occurred, as there was a pop deep in the knee. It swelled a little and was mildly painful, just enough to prevent me from doing things like jumping or hard running. I didn't get it fixed for 3 years. So, bottom line, I would be surprised if it's torn right through, but not surprised if it's worn down or partially torn. I am not a doctor. Repeat: I am not a doctor.

Cowpoke wrote:

My knee started making popping and grinding sounds and seems like it is catching. This only happens when I go from a crouched position to standing up or I am lying on my back with my knee bent and go to extend it. I saw a nurse practioner today and she thought it might be a torn meniscus. It does not hurt running and I have done anything out of the ordinary in the past couple of days to cause this to start. Any ideas would be appreciated.

Those are the symptoms. Your meniscus is a doughnut-shaped gasket in your knee. It tears in many different ways and too many different degrees. What happens is the tear starts out small and over time gets bigger. Imagine tearing a piece of paper wear a piece flips over on itself, where over time it inexorably becomes a larger, and more painful tear.

Whether or not it becomes a major issue, who knows. You'll get swelling and eventually extreme pain if it does.

Thanks for the info Malmo. After I noticed yesterday I went and ran 5 miles HARD it did not seem to affect it but I don't want to do serious damage. The Doctor recommended RICE for it but of course when I've had any injury thats all they recommend.

They recommend RICE because that is the single best thing you can do for any injury.

With a meniscus tear, I'd expect you'd be able to do things like that. It will be walking down the street one day and stepping off a curb that will finally bring you to the ground.

Yep thats the symptoms alright. It sounds minor. A really torn meniscus means your knee locks and you are in extreme pain.

Go see an orthopedist an think about getting surgery. Recovery is 2-4 weeks for removal and 3 months for a repair. A minor tear can be shaved and if you rehad hard you can be running again in a few weeks. If you dont have the surgery you are going to be feeling popping, catching, twinges and pain and its going to be annoying. You will also finally end up catching the loose piece in your joine and really tearing it.

Trust me, Ive had 3 meniscus tears, its worth getting it out of the way.

Good luck.

I guess I didn't emphasize that point, but I agree with lohalloran. As I said, I didn't get it fixed for 3 years, but what I didn't say was I spent those three years thinking it was going to heal with just a little more RICE, a little more strengthening, etc. Nope. Three years wasted. Not to mention that the better shape you are going into surgery the quicker the recovery process is likely to be.

Well I definitely agree that I need to have it fixed sooner than later. I am at college and have to use the student health services doctors since I am out of range for my normal insurance provider. However I have another appointment Tuesday who knows leg injures. I can then see an orthopedist that Thursday. Hopefully between the two of them they can figure it out. Now I have two questions:

The $100- What are the chances that it will get worse from running a 5K I signed up for on Sunday?

The Million Dollar one- How did this occur? I didn't go any out of the ordinary activites Tuesday or Wednesday and didn't feel it until Thursday early AM. I started up running two and a half weeks ago and am around 30 miles for this week. I was doing 40 most of May and June and less in July and none in August. From what I have read it is usually a result from high intensity sports or motion. The last thing that might have occured and I may lose some of you, but I work on the farm at the University and Thursday morning I was climbing over fences to let the cows into the pens. Could jumping down 2 feet be enough to cause it even though I didn't feel anything?

I saw a second family practioner today and his thought was that it might be Plica Syndrome instead of a meniscus tear because of the lack of swelling, pain etc. Any thoughts?

I am trying to get my insurance at home to cover the cost of seeing an orthopedic doctor here but who knows if they will.