Has anyone had a torn meniscus?

[TimeforMe]

My knee has been really bothering me for over a week now and the pain is borderline unbearable. I went to an orthopedic doctor today (second time in 3 months) and she thinks I may have a torn meniscus. I have to go for an MRI and will know for sure after that. Has anyone had this and what can you tell me about it? Did you have surgery? How long was the recovery? How much work did you have to miss?

Help!

 

[ZanneMarie]

My 15 year old son tore his lateral menisucs last fall. His doc thought that it was a pretty bad tear. He had surgery a few weeks after it happened. We were told that they will not repair themselves/heal on their own.

The doctor was not sure if he was going to cut out the torn area or sew the tear back together until he opened it up and took a look. If the tear was cut out he would be in crutches for a week or so and would be pretty much back to normal in a few weeks. If he repaired the tear he would be in a straight leg brace for several (6?) weeks and may need PT afterwards.

Ended up having it cut out and was back playing football in about 3 weeks. He had the surgery on a Friday and was back in school on Monday. It was really pretty easy recovery for what he had done.

 

[mamacatnv]

You will receive a ton of answers. My Aunt had a torn meniscus, the surgery was 10 minutes, she spent a day on crutches, was up and around out walking within 2 days.

I tore my medial meniscus and shredded my ACL - had the ACL removed and the meniscus repaired. Crutches for 48 hours, off work for a week. 5 months of PT three times a week. That was a year and a half ago. This recovery was mainly due to the ACL issues and not the meniscus.
2 months ago, same knee, tore (they think) the outer edge of my meniscus very minimally (they think) 6 weeks of PT because the way I relearned to walk was actually irritating my knee.

I've had several employees have meniscus surgery and not miss 5 days of work. Really depends on how severe etc.

 

[bjscheel]

DH did and had surgery- it's getting on 7 years now, so I don't remember how long he was off work- a few weeks? His was a sudden thing- one minute he's fine, the next he stepped back- just normally, not twisted or anything and was in terrible pain. He had surgery within a couple of days I think.

 

[rn4val]

Had torn medial meniscus last year. Had arthoscopic surgery When woke up immediate pain relief. Of course swollen. But burning pain from tear totally gone. Had crutches but told me I could walk on it. Back to work in a week. Used a trekking pole if going to walk long distance

 

[Mrs. Ciz]

I tore mine doing run/walk intervals in old shoes. I figured it was an overuse injury so I just laid off the running for a few weeks, then would run again, get swelling and pain, rest again. Finally, after a year I realized it would not get better on its own. I had an MRI which showed my medial meniscus was torn. The surgery went well. I was only on crutches for a day, but I did stay on the couch with my leg elevated and iced for about 3 days. The swelling gets really bad if you don't stay off your feet.

I will tell you that I was surprised by how long it took my knee to be completely pain free. Walking still hurt after 2.5 months. Exercise hurt even longer. I would say I could do everything (run, lift weights) pain free about 18 months after surgery. I'm 45, a younger person may heal up more quickly.

Good luck to you!

 

[DSNY4ever]

My husband has had ACL surgery twice and surgery for a torn meniscus once. The torn meniscus surgery was pretty easy. They scheduled him for a Thursday, he worked from home on Friday and was back at work on Monday (on crutches, but he has a desk job).

Good luck, don't walk on it, get crutches now! My husband wore away some of his cartilage in his knee by walking around with the torn meniscus for too long before his surgery. After his second ACL surgery they had to remove the meniscus in that knee for good.

 

[WDWBlue]

I had this surgery two weeks ago, arthroscopic. No crutches, doc encouraged walking. It was uncomfortable the first week, annoying dull ache now. But I was back to work 4 days after surgery.

Ice and elevation.

The severity of the tear and the work he has to do will dictate how sore it will be and how long recovery will be. He had to do much more work in my knee than he thought he would have to do, based on the MRI.

 

[asta]

Based on my experience you will get a lot of relief from surgery if the pain is from a torn meniscus. I fell and tore the meniscus in my left knee in two places. The tear resulted in part of the meniscus rolling up under the knee cap. It was like vise pinching pain with every step. Don't ignore yours and risk letting it get that bad. The meniscus can't repair itself like other tissue so it will probably need to be trimmed. After surgery and a few months of physical therapy (very important for regaining strength),I was past a good deal of the pain.

My other knee is very arthritic and extremely painful. It has been operated on to clean up the wear and tear on that meniscus. The surgery did very very little to help with that pain. I hope for your sake that it is just a torn meniscus and not arthritis.

 

[TheDisneyGirl02]

I had my meniscus fixed 8 years ago and I moved to Florida less than 3 weeks after my surgery. My doctor told me to use crutches for a day and then no crutches after that. I had about 2.5 weeks of PT and then I was off to work at WDW!

My other three knee surgeries were all ACL reconstructions. Those were not nearly as easy and were MUCH more painful. When I had my left knee done, I thought it was just a torn meniscus and I was going to be out of work 4 days including the day of the surgery - well, it turned out to be a meniscus tear and a complete ACL tear and it had to be reconstructed. My four day recovery period turned into 2 weeks!

Good luck with your knee!

 

[TimeforMe]

Thanks for all the replies. It sounds like it's a relatively minor surgery. It's definitely not arthritis, so that's a good thing. I have to go Monday for the MRI--wish it were sooner. She gave me an anti-inflammatory which seemed to help quite a bit, but then today I did a lot of walking in work and it was throbbing again. I can't wait for the pain to go away!

 

[Liberty Belle]

My brother had the surgery a few months ago. He tore it while lifting weights.

He did not follow doctors orders and tried to do too much immediately following the surgery and that set his recovery back some.

 

[Tennis_Ed]

I'm 67 years old and play tennis 5 times a week. I had a sever radial tear of the meniscus at the root/horn junction. My orthopedic doctor recommended arthroscopic surgery to repair the cartilage, however I researched this type injury and read a study published in the New England Journal of Medicine where patients with this type of injury were divided into two groups one group got surgery, the other physical therapy. The group that had therapy did just as well as those that had surgery. I opted to forgo surgery and give the PT a try. I did heavy PT twice per day and went to the therapist 3 times a week. I did no physical activity for 8 weeks. My condition improved steadily and the pain became minimal and intermittent. I went back to playing tennis two weeks ago and my knee feels fine today. I continue with some PT each day. I recommend anyone with this injury take a hard look at PT as an alternative to surgery which is painful and will set you back for months. It will require some work on your part but it may well be worth it in the end.

 

[Geoff_M]

Had one in each knee, about 5 years apart. I had pain and occasional locking of the knee when I walked. Both were scoped out-patient. A day or so on crutches, with no scars. Both are fine now.

 

[Pea-n-Me]

My DS had a sports injury and was diagnosed with a torn meniscus by MRI. He went for arthroscopic surgery, but when they got in there, it wasn't actually torn, it was just a soft tissue injury, so they closed it back up and sent him to PT for a few weeks.

My understanding from talking to the orthopedic surgeon (in this case a surgeon specializing in sports injuries) is that in young people, up to the age of 25 or so, a torn meniscus can often be repaired. But after that, the blood supply to the area diminishes, so they tend to just remove torn cartilage instead of repair it. Obviously this may vary with a lot of factors, including not only age, but location and severity, etc.

http://orthoinfo.aaos.org/topic.cfm?topic=a00358

Good luck with your surgery.

 

[mamadon]

I'm 67 years old and play tennis 5 times a week. I had a sever radial tear of the meniscus at the root/horn junction. My orthopedic doctor recommended arthroscopic surgery to repair the cartilage, however I researched this type injury and read a study published in the New England Journal of Medicine where patients with this type of injury were divided into two groups one group got surgery, the other physical therapy. The group that had therapy did just as well as those that had surgery. I opted to forgo surgery and give the PT a try. I did heavy PT twice per day and went to the therapist 3 times a week. I did no physical activity for 8 weeks. My condition improved steadily and the pain became minimal and intermittent. I went back to playing tennis two weeks ago and my knee feels fine today. I continue with some PT each day. I recommend anyone with this injury take a hard look at PT as an alternative to surgery which is painful and will set you back for months. It will require some work on your part but it may well be worth it in the end.

Hello - I am so glad I just ran across your comments. I have been searching online for comments by anyone who might have had an injury similar to mine! You are the first I have found! Two months ago I was diagnosed with a medial meniscus root tear, following casual running for a week in an effort to get back into running. Apparently this injury is pretty uncommon. I am 44 and have never had a knee injury (never had any serious injury actually) so this has really thrown me for a loop. I play tennis once a week and was planning to join a team in the fall when my children are finally in school all day. So … I am devastated. At the time of the injury, I was in severe pain and agreed to a cortisone injection. Thank goodness, because it was like a miracle drug. I was totally pain free for one month. During that time, I had an MRI and found out what the injury was. So I knew it was just a matter of time before the cortisone began to wear off. For the past month, I have pain and the feeling of swelling and tightness after only minimal exercise. I have been to PT once and was given 6 exercises to do at home. I have done them twice a day and need to go back for another session. Like you, I have read the same study which compares surgery and PT. As you probably know, the surgical repair has only been done for the past 7 or 8 years. I live in Memphis, TN. The top orthopedic surgeon here said he would not have the surgery done on himself because it is so new and complicated. He really kind of dismissed the injury and said that as long as I can walk and am not in too much pain, just get on with my life and do what I want to do. He did say to avoid squats and lunges. I have been in contact with the renowned surgeon in Vail, CO (whom you have probably researched as well) whose office staff said that he does the surgical repair procedure twice a week. They said that a root tear HAS to be surgically repaired b/c having a root tear essentially makes the meniscus ineffective, and continuing activity on it will only bring rapid onset of osteoarthritis. I'm sorry for such a lengthy comment but I just felt so much in common with what you said and wanted to get your opinion, (although you've already stated it!). I am feeling like I have the second half of my life beginning which will now consist of not being able to squat down to do yard work or easily kneel down to play with my children on the floor, no tennis which is my absolute favorite sport, and osteoarthritis beginning one year very soon. I wanted to ask … Where do you live? Does your surgeon feel confident in doing the root tear repair yet you still decided against it? Could you give me an example of the "heavy PT" you are doing? And what do you think about the bending/squating and turning involved in tennis with relation to your root tear? Also how long ago was your injury? Thank you SO much for any comments you could send back to me.

 

[aprilgail]

I've had several employees have meniscus surgery and not miss 5 days of work. Really depends on how severe etc.

Wow they were lucky- I need mine done but was waiting until I retired because the Dr said no work for 8-12 WEEKS. There is no way I was going to be out of work for 2-3 months so I just pout it off until I retired. I am retired as of this week but now to busy for the summer so I think in Sept I will have it done.

 

[minkydog]

iI had meniscus tears on either side of my knee, called a "bucket handle" tear. My ortho did an arthroscopy which revealed much more damage to the knee than the MRI showed. In fact, he told me afterward that I could have had total knee replacement. The meniscus was damaged beyond repair and there was significant arthritis of both surfaces and behind the kneecap. He cleaned things up, took out the torn meniscii, and I was no-weight-bearing for at least 8 weeks, followed by 5 months of PT.

I have not been happy with the surgical results. He led me to believe that it was solve the pain. When I told him at the 4 month mark that I was unhappy and thought the pain would be better, he told me, "What did you expect? You have 57 year old knees? Knees hurt." Seriously? Exit, stage right~!

So, now I see my rheumatologist about every 2 months for cortisone injections and I've had the Synvisc shots two years in a row, and i just started Remicade infusions. I need a TKA, badly, but I will be finding a new ortho for that. Which is a shame because I really liked my old one. He was great with non-surgical treatment, but I have lost trust in him now.

As far as my continued recovery, my knee is crunchy and unstable. I can, at last, go up and down stairs fairly well, as long as I have a hand rail. When I am walking on uneven ground, like when we go camping, I take a walking stick or cane. Pain in the butt! Perhaps if I were younger the outcome would have been better. At this point I am saving up my sick days for the TKR, looking at 2016...

 

[rwdavis2]

Had them in both knees. Over about 10 years, surgery worked for the first time. The second time in the one knee lasted about 3-4 years then one last one to take out all the cartilage. Within 18 months of the 3rd surgery I had the knee replaced.

If this surgery works and the tear is not too bad you should be fine. My problem was being overweight/obese which just kept wearing way the cartilage.

To minkydog, I say my physical therapist for something unrelated to the knee and she asked what other pain I have. I told her sore and stiff in both knees. She replied, "Welcome to the big city." So you orthopd was not really to far off the mark. At our age it just goes with the territory. Good luck with the TKR, I'm glad I did it.

 

[Journey4air]

I'm 67 years old and play tennis 5 times a week. I had a sever radial tear of the meniscus at the root/horn junction. My orthopedic doctor recommended arthroscopic surgery to repair the cartilage, however I researched this type injury and read a study published in the New England Journal of Medicine where patients with this type of injury were divided into two groups one group got surgery, the other physical therapy. The group that had therapy did just as well as those that had surgery. I opted to forgo surgery and give the PT a try. I did heavy PT twice per day and went to the therapist 3 times a week. I did no physical activity for 8 weeks. My condition improved steadily and the pain became minimal and intermittent. I went back to playing tennis two weeks ago and my knee feels fine today. I continue with some PT each day. I recommend anyone with this injury take a hard look at PT as an alternative to surgery which is painful and will set you back for months. It will require some work on your part but it may well be worth it in the end.[/Q
Are you still doing well after choosing PT over surgery? I just found out I have a tear in the posterior horn of the medial meniscus and 2 baker's cysts,
and I am freaking out. I will do anything to avoid surgery. Were you in any pain?