bump - got the MRI back and have a medial meniscus tear. i still need to meet with my Dr. to get an in-depth interpretation of the MRI results. i have an appointment with an orthopedist and have started PT - I'm nervous though, because my Dr. saw the results and told me to stop PT and told me to keep my appointment with the ortho - I'm worried they're going to recommend surgery.
Don't get surgery.
This is Jim Kiler wrote:
Don't get surgery.
Ditto. I've been through this. My ortho doc recommended against surgery. In short, his experience was that surgery wasn't helpful for long-term damage.
43 Years old mid-distance guy here. Tore my medial meniscus. Looks like a complex tear. No locking of the knee, no instability, still have full range of motion. Just pain on the inside of the knee after exercise. Tore it with some plyometric exercises, so probably degenerative tear.
Got an MRI after my first consultation with an orthopedist. Got diagnosed during my second consultation, and a partial meniscectomy was immediately planned. Called off surgery a few days later because I have serious doubts.
The doctor never mentioned the risk of early osteoarthritis, had to find that online. The more I read, the more I get the feeling that meniscectomy is a short-term fix, that will do more harm than good in the long term.
For now I'm going to try easy/moderate bicycling/eliptical/rowing, be very careful with twisting/lifting and take anti-inflammatories. I hope the pain will go away by itself eventually. And I'm going to find a new doctor.
I tore a small flap at age age 34. Never had surgery and have learned to manage it. Was running 30-40 mpw on it up until age 44 when I blew out my other one. Had to have surgery on that one due to a big chunk floating around. Totally sucked. Surgery took a looooong time to recover. 2 years after surgery I am finally able to run 25 mpw.
I started cycling on my off days after I hurt my first one at age 34. That made a huge difference. As my knee/quad got stronger, I had less and less issue with the flap. Basically at this point (12 years post flap injury) I don't even notice it. Occasionally if I pivot or do some non-linear action, the flap will move and I will have to re-seed it, but that is very infrequent.
I am glad I didn't have surgery on the first small flap injury. I guess if I can run 10 miles and continue to run track workouts without it bothering me I'll just do that. I can always have surgery later.
complex medial meniscus tear wrote:
The doctor never mentioned the risk of early osteoarthritis, had to find that online. The more I read, the more I get the feeling that meniscectomy is a short-term fix, that will do more harm than good in the long term.
I think the risk of osteoarthritis is higher risk if you already have osteoarthritis pre-surgery. From what I have read, if you are arthritis free at the time of surgery, you have a much, much lower risk of developing it later on post-surgery.
Encouraging to hear that cycling worked out well for you.
At 52 or so I was doing a workout with a buddy before dawn and stepped in a pothole and twisted my knee. Finished the workout but over the course of the next few weeks I started noticing the pain was not getting better. I attempted to do the wait and see approach. I was already doing a bunch of cycling which didn't seem to bother it but it really never got better when i ran. So after 6 months I had the flap cut off so not a repair. I took the full week off as the doc prescribed and then slowly started back running, cycling as well.
Man was I mad that I took the 6 months to pull the trigger as I was able to get back at semi-serious training pretty quickly. I say get the surgery and get back after it. It is what it is. Do the right stuff with strengthening and add in some cross training and if the knee is more seriously damaged you'll know.
Of all the knee stuff I have found this to be the most manageable.
Agree. Meniscus is easy fix
Thank you, it's reassuring to know things can turn out well both ways.
How long have you been able to run post-surgery?