Torn Meniscus?

Do you seriously expect a diagnosis over the internet?

Shut up and go see the doctor.

"Has anyone else had something like this?"

Yes, thousand of people, in fact.

Good luck. Hope it's something minor and heals quickly.

Do you get any popping or locking in the knee when you bend it? Is the knee swollen?

Sounds like you may have partially torn your meniscus, especially if the knee is really weak. I waited a month to find out if I had a torn meniscus and I actually ran really well on it after sitting for 10 days, then the knee started to hurt really bad. I would definately get and MRI asap or see a surgical consult if pain persists.

No Worries though I tore my meniscus and had to sit from August-December rehabing and came back in track and dropped my 5k pr from 1602-15:40, then in XC went from 26:21-25:37. You just gotta stay focused!

Torn Meniscus Surviver wrote:

No Worries though I tore my meniscus and had to sit from August-December rehabing and came back in track and dropped my 5k pr from 1602-15:40, then in XC went from 26:21-25:37. You just gotta stay focused!

The implication of tearing your meniscus are more long-term. Just because you're running OK now doesn't mean the knee is OK. It depends on the condition of the meniscus but if you've lost some or all of it you'll be prone to developing arthritis in the knee.

go to get an MRI done, and to an ortho specialist. Or if you prefer, to a PT first who might give you an answer more quickly, but will likely say the same thing. best of luck to ya

go to get an MRI done, and to an ortho specialist. Or if you prefer, to a PT first who might give you an answer more quickly, but will likely say the same thing. Best case scenario is just a strain of sorts, but from your description, I would take a guess of (best case scenario) a torn PCL and the weird feeling you have now is the swelling inside the knee joint capsule. best of luck to ya

marijuologist wrote:

The implication of tearing your meniscus are more long-term. Just because you're running OK now doesn't mean the knee is OK. It depends on the condition of the meniscus but if you've lost some or all of it you'll be prone to developing arthritis in the knee.

Gotta second that the long term prospects.

Had my meniscus operated on in June, was running again with some soreness by September, and back up to 50 miles a week now.

Surgeon said I might have some arthritis in the future, hopefully a long time from now. For now everything is feeling okay. Has takent the quads a long time to really get strong again and be able to run and not jog.

By way of the background, I had a torn meniscus from jumping off of the curb and making left turns at the same time while running loops around the block. On one of those turn/jumps I torqued the knee and tore the meniscus. I was able to still run but not able to get above 30 miles a week, or finish a run without a lot of pain and stiffness.

The surgeon said it would be better to have the surgery now while I"m relatively young, since due to the low blood flow in that part of the body, it is not prone to healing quickly with age.

Good luck!

Oh, also, make damned sure whoever does your MRI reads the fucI#ng thing and gets back to you.

My doctor read the MRI, wrote in his report that I had a torn meniscus but never contacted me.

A year later I had the same problem, after all I hadn't heard back anything so I though I was fine.

I had left my job and during the COBRA phase of coverage, I asked to see a sports specialist, who said the MRI report of a year ago clearly said I had a torn meniscus. Oops!

I had to fly back from overseas, and continue paying my COBRA so cover the surgery.

The surgeon said the doctor is a good man who doesn't deserve a blemish in his record for this oversight. But I'm thinking burn baby burn. Glad I asked for the sports specialists or I wouldn't have known the content of the report until it was too late to have the surgery paid for.

It might be a good idea to ask for the MRI report for yourself just to be safe.

Also, I've noticed I don't have the same cushioning in the knee when running down a steep incline. As the quads strengthened I was better able to run downhill, but cushioned shoes are going to be really important as well as not torqueing your knee again.

Good luck.

Is the popping or clicking a good indication of meniscus damage? I hurt mine while back and while most of the pain is gone, but it still doesn't feel "right."

not necessarily, but it could be.

if the meniscus is torn, it could become lodged between the bones and lock the knee, and you would know for sure you have a fairly nasty meniscus tear.

if you know what runners knee is and are able to rule it out, then you should be able to tell the difference between that and meniscus damage. in my case anyway, i felt it along the medial line, that is between the bones on the inside of the knee. there was no popping but there was clicking, the clicking is often reported.

i would feel sore the first 2 mile of a run, then feel fine for the next 3 or 4, but by 5 or of 6 miles, i would feel the knee swollen and in pain. and afterwards, i would go and look for the ibuprofen.

if you have insurance, go in and get an MRI, and get the doctor to discuss it with you, and a copy of the report. be aware that not all MRIs will catch the damage, so if you're feeling bad, insist that the doctor or better yet, a sports specialist look at the MRI. otherwise you could run the chance of the condition not being diagnosed.

if you are lucky, and the tear happened in an area of the knee with good blood flow, and you are young, you may have some decent recovery with months off from running.

if you are older, or if the tear happened in a part of the meniscus with poor blood flow, the kneee will not repair itself and you have no option other than surgery if you want to run again. you can go without surgery, but, you will not heal.

in any case, that's my experience. so far, i'm recovering fine from my meniscus surgery. good luck.

in general though, if the knee is st[quote]tomtex wrote:

Is the popping or clicking a good indication of meniscus damage? I hurt mine while back and while most of the pain is gone, but it still doesn't feel "right."[/quot

I spoke to a friend of mine yesterday who had injured his meniscus. He was able to cycle ok and was due to have an operation, by the time he was due to have the operation he had worn away the injured bit and didn't need the op. I'm guessing this is not typical though! Good luck!

Did you have surgery to repair your meniscus? Your story is reassuring. I ran in college and graduated in 2003, but I'm considerably faster now than I was then. I don't want this to ruin my progress. I'm already pretty upset about possibly having to miss a chunk of the year; I had big plans for the spring racing season.

Torn Meniscus Surviver RE: Torn Meniscus? 1/4/2008 9:21PM - in reply to lohalloran Reply | Return to Index | Report Post

Sounds like you may have partially torn your meniscus, especially if the knee is really weak. I waited a month to find out if I had a torn meniscus and I actually ran really well on it after sitting for 10 days, then the knee started to hurt really bad. I would definately get and MRI asap or see a surgical consult if pain persists.

No Worries though I tore my meniscus and had to sit from August-December rehabing and came back in track and dropped my 5k pr from 1602-15:40, then in XC went from 26:21-25:37. You just gotta stay focused!

Did you have surgery to repair your meniscus? Your story is reassuring. I ran in college and graduated in 2003, but I'm considerably faster now than I was then. I don't want this to ruin my progress. I'm already pretty upset about possibly having to miss a chunk of the year; I had big plans for the spring racing season.

Def demand to get an MRI. I f-ed up my knee in the fall after CC one year and went to see a regular doctor who thought it was just a sprain and wouldn't authorize an MRI and had me wait on it. Turns out I had a button hook tear so after some resting on it the meniscus moves back into place and I had no pain walking or doing light work on it, but every couple of weeks I'd get some intense pain again and the dr kept saying it was just another sprain. Finally I demanded to see an ortho and the second I explained symptoms he knew it was a tear and I had surgery. He tried to stitch the tear together to try and avoid bad knee in the future, but with this surgery recovery was 6 weeks on crutches and then another 6 weeks of walking and rehab so I missed an entire spring of Track. Turned out ok for the next year as I was running fine in CC and Track, but then the stitches burst and I had to have surgery again, this time cutting out part of the meniscus. Only had about 4 weeks of downtime with this one, so I missed the indoor season for track, but was back and running PRs again by the end of the outdoor season and competed without injury my last year at nationals. I was a hurdler too, so it's def possible to continue to run and improve after having surgery.

Did sort of the same thing when I tore my meniscus. I was playing football, got twisted and landed on when I was tackled. I got up, the thing felt really weird, not like SHARP pain but a hard core dull ache. Then I couldn't walk for a bit and it stiffened up. So I jogged around on the sidelines and went back in. The next week or so it was really stiff and sore, but I figured I'd bruised something. Eventually I was able to walk and run, but not with complete confidence, weird feeling. I played some more football, nothing major, but it wasn't 100%. Then one day I kneeled on the thing to look under my bed and got just an awful sharp pain. Rolled around on the floor for a bit. It was sore for a week again, did the same thing again and figured I should see a doctor.

Got an MRI, and had a tear of my medial meniscus that had infused into the joint or something. Definitely get it taken care of, and don't putz around with "rehab". I got sent to PT twice before the insurance company would let me get an MRI. Suprise suprise, I get the MRI and there's the tear.