I was allowed to start running 4 months after surgery. It was supposed to be 16 weeks, and we waited an extra week (I think) because it was still a bit uncomfortable. It took me 7 more weeks of gradual progression before I ran 10k without any walk breaks, and then I promptly got a sacral stress fracture, which sucked and is a whole other discussion. So I am not back to full activity, but itÂ’s because of that.

The knee is ok. It feels fine for normal daily activities and doesnÂ’t hold back my training, but itÂ’s not back to the way it was. I canÂ’t kneel/squat fully on it, and it gets a little achy after bike rides and strength sessions sometimes. I hope it eventually returns to normal, but I guess IÂ’ll see.

On the bright side, my swim has improved a lot.

Sydney, I am by no means suggesting that your input isnÂ’t useful here, but it sounds like your injury did not affect the root of the meniscus, correct? IÂ’m sure itÂ’s still a literal and figurative pain, but I think outcomes are better (or at least more certain) if the root is not involved. And I also agree with your PT that some discomfort after surgery is, if not guaranteed, at least to be expected. Hope you continue to improve!

Thank you Climber7! Sounds like a long, long recovery road ahead for me as well. I just pray that the sutures will stay and heal properly as OS has warned me very sternly to avoid crouching, deep squats, and no impact activity for now. Best wishes on your continue success to full recovery. Happy holidays!

Here's my experience:


I'm 11 weeks out from a medial meniscus repair. I don't know much about the specifics of my injury except that I'd had a tear for 6mos. In September, I got up from the ground and tore it bad enough to lock my knee up and had surgery two days after. It did not release in that two day span so surgery was expedited.

Weight bearing, as tolerated, from the day after surgery. No bending more than 90° until 6wks. Got back on the bike at 6wks + 3 days. Was able to make a full revolution after ~10min of warmup. MRI at 8wks showed the repair and rest of the knee was good. Everything was progressing well and I was feeling better daily until I started ramping up the cycling at 8wks. I didn't start ramping up the cycling until after I got the MRI results and after I was able to do a full rotation easily. No pain cycling but I am getting a lot of stabbing, throbbing and aching. Putting in about 10h/wk riding, pretty much all <200w with no standing or sprinting. Clipping out is painful so I remove my shoe while it's still attached to the bike. No running, but a fair bit of dog walking over hilly terrain. I have full extension but I cannot bend me knee completely.

I expected the period immediately following surgery to be the tough part. Getting back to training and knowing the appropriate amount of volume seems to be, by far, the hardest part for me. As an athlete, I'm used to aching after hard workouts but I'm not sure that's doing me any favors right now. Combine that with taking every single twinge as a sign the repair has failed is actually giving me a bit of anxiety.

That's my experience to date.

I found I way way way prefer zero float cleats post surgery.

I just had surgery for a meniscus posterior root tear a week ago and I was wondering how your recovery is going? Have you been able to run again? I am obviously still in the very early stages of recovery with no weight bearing activities and crutches for another 5 weeks but trying to remain positive and look ahead. It is hard to find information about recovery online. Just wondering if I will be able to do any sort of longer distance runs, like half marathons in my future. Thanks for any information you can give.

Thanks for the update. I had my medial meniscus repaired October 23rd. I am looking forward to getting back on the bike at 6 weeks!
Was your flexion limitation because you were not able to or the PT/Ortho wanted to limit you? I'm curious because the PT is pushing me to increase flexion as much as I can't. I'm at about 125° at four weeks post surgery.

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ItÂ’s my understanding that bending beyond 90deg put too much stress on the stitches he put through the meniscus. Surgeon wanted to give the repair time to patch itself up. Both him and the physiotherapist seemed interested on extension from the start though. As in, thatÂ’s always the first thing they check.

Good luck with your recovery!

How were you diagnosed with the sacral stress fracture? Since around 10 weeks post op, I have this this intense pain in my groin and the popping sound on my right hip (non surgical side). I don’t know what it is, but It hurts a lot if I am on my side (like a side lank) and trying to move my top leg up. At this point in time, that is more of a problem for me than my knee. I have not started running yet. Next week is my 16 post op follow up and the OS might give me an ok to start running, but my groin is giving me a lot of problem now. I wondered if I also have some kind of stress fracture without knowing it. Thx!