Two years ago I had -

"A horizontal tear in the anterior body segment contacting the superior surface that extends into the anterior horn where becomes somewhat more vertical."

I spent a year trying to rehab with therapy and riding. I'm not sure what issues you are having but I kept getting this incredibly painful locking feeling in the knee. I could still move it but it was difficult and it happened when I did anything that involved twisting like kicking a soccer ball.

I heard lots of horror stories about going in for surgery and have my meniscus totally removed and needing knee replacement a year later. That kind of thing so I was terrified of getting it done but I got to the point where my therapist was saying I just needed to get my leg stronger and I finally said do you have any other patients who's legs are as strong as mine? I was riding hard an hour a day on weekdays and 2-3 hours on the weekend. She didn't have much to say to that and thats when I decided to contact the surgeon.

I had the surgery and my only regret was that I waited so long and endured so much pain and discomfort for no good reason. What my surgeon found was I had a little sliver of my meniscus that was like a flap and it was catching on the joint. Think the most painful hangnail you could have. She said there was no way that would ever heal itself with therapy or any other treatment. Only solution is surgically cleaning it up.

The other thing is they can do MRI's and X-Rays but they honestly have no clue how bad it is or what its doing until they scope it and actually see the meniscus.

Hope that helps. Ask any questions if you have them. I know it sucks.

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God's in his heaven, alls right with the world -Nerv

N=1

My meniscus tear took place 11 years ago while I was living in Middle Earth. While waiting to see an orthopedic surgeon, I saw PTs and an Osteopath. Different exercises and strengthening routines, but both told me to cycle more. Upon seeing the surgeon, he asked me what I hoped to accomplish with surgery. The pain had subsided. Increased cycling & the exercises strengthened the surrounding muscles. His clinching comment was that if I were an All Black, at my late 40s age, he would not recommend surgery (& he performed surgeries on several ABs). The only "thing" I lost was the ability to do a breaststroke kick. Upon returning to the States, I've met with two different MDs over the past five years who both told me they would not recommend meniscus surgery for me.

Talk to your MD. Find a good PT who has experience in this area. Then decide what is best for you.

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#swimmingmatters
Laugh hard. Run fast. Be kind.
The Doctor (#12)

Tore my lateral meniscus in 2015. Saw an ortho who told me to give it another two weeks of rest and try running. If it still hurt, we would do the surgery. Two weeks later, I tried running and it still hurt too much to continue. I had the surgery. They took 15% of my meniscus. I was biking with no tension within a week and full riding the following week. I waited to run for 6 weeks because I didn't want any setbacks. Started with the usual run 1', walk 1', etc. I had a season of sprints in 2016 and was back to long course in 2017,

For what it is worth, I was able to walk around and bike without pain. If I didn't want to run, I would not have had the surgery unless it presented a problem down the line.

Just had another MRI (first one was in 2016). I'll be seeing my long time ortho on Thursday (I raced his uncle decades ago).
Possible plans of attack: more 5 part gel lub, surgery or knee replacement. I have a copy of the MRI, it's amazing how much info is in the test.
Note that a friend had his other knee replaced on January 3rd, he was back ice skating 4 weeks later.

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Kevin

I had a torn meniscus in my left knee and I lived with it for about a year or so. The orthopedic surgeon told me that as along as it wasn't limiting me and there was no discomfort, or the discomfort was at a level I could tolerate, that I didn't need to rush to have it done. When it finally starting causing me issues, such as having my knee lockup, I had the surgery done to remove the damaged portion. The surgery was very easy and I had no pain post op. I was back on the bike within a few days, once the swelling form the surgery went away.

I don't know if your doc is recommending repair vs. removal. I'm not a doctor but it is my understanding that meniscus repair is significantly different in how long recovery and rehab take.

Went through the same thing 2 years ago. Opted to have the surgery and raced an Ironman less than 4 months later. Documented the journey and rehab on YouTube. (Never finished editing the last couple of episodes but the race went great)

https://youtube.com/@joe_klinedinst

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Joe Klinedinst - JK Endurance
http://www.JKENDURANCE.net

Had surgery 28 years ago after an injury. All good until this fall. Biking was fine. Running hurt. Came on like a light switch. One day was fine. Next day, not so much. Kept biking but quit running around thanksgiving.

Long doctor delays and denial on my part but finally got in. Apparently the surgery lasts about 20-25 years so I got a few “extra years”

Surgeon fixed it last week. Already riding and planning to run next week

20 years from now. I’ll do it again.

Thank you!

Great videos and very encouraging. Thanks for sharing.

Well things have deteriorated over the years. We decided to do a total knee replacement in May.

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Kevin

10 ironman races and tons of miles since my surgery many years ago. Knees have never been better. Find a good athletic based surgeon and get it done. Rehab now starts within a day to 3 post surgery and I was able to run within 2 weeks. That was years ago and now the PT has started far earlier. Good luck, but I'd suggest getting out done ASAP.

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Kiwami Racing Team

Just a warning that this isn’t always the case. I was expecting this, but the surgeon discovered once inside my knee that rather than cutting out the damaged meniscus he could stitch it back together, which should give a better long term outcome. The downside - 3 months of walking in a straight leg knee brace. I was able to ride a bike on a trainer after about a month though. The upside - I made a 100% recovery and 12 years on the knee is good as new.

Agreed; every case is different. That said, in 12 years much change has happened and joints are very seldom immobilized anymore. Philosophies and practice has shown early movement results in far shorter recoveries.

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Kiwami Racing Team

My wife has had surgery for meniscus tears in both of her knees. Each time she went in expecting a quick recovery and then, after surgery, was told she had to be non weight bearing for 3-4 weeks. This was because the cartilage damage was worse than the MRI showed and he did a procedure called "microfracture". She can still bike without any problems but her running days are over.

If you have the type of meniscus tear where your knee locks up, or its causing terrible pain, then you really have no choice but to go with surgery. If its doing neither of these then its worthwhile to consider physical therapy. If surgery is done, the surgeon can either repair the tear (if its in an area with good circulation) or cut out the damaged area. If the damaged area has to be cut out, there's no longer cartilage protection at that area and you may be at increased risk for an early end to running (if that's what you like to do). Cycling would likely still be fine.

I was diagnosed about a year ago with "... moderately complex tearing ..." of the meniscus in my left knee (along with some fairly significant OA issues in the medial compartment), so it's interesting to me to read the various ortho approaches discussed in this thread.

I'm fortunate to have access to pretty well regarded Ortho docs and PTs, in both in Seattle and Flagstaff. I consulted with multiple docs, both ones focused on Sports Med angle & rehab, as well as surgeons. As expected, there were some differences in the recommended approaches among these docs (on topics such as hyaluronic acid, PRP, etc).

However, one aspect where they were all in synch was in advising that I NOT have any surgery to "trim / clean up" my meniscus. That really surprised me, especially to hear the same feedback from the couple ortho surgeons I consulted with. They advised that these days they only recommend surgery in cases where the tears are impeding range of motion in the knee (the proverbial "locking" of the torn portion into the joint), which was not the case for my tears. And that this was based on more recent research that shows that maintaining as much of the meniscus as possible -- even if portions of impaired due to tearing -- gives better long term results that removing portions of the meniscus.

Given how many people I know who have "... had their meniscus cleaned up ..." in the past, the unanimity of the feedback I received on this topic from the ortho community really surprised me -- but that's what it was...

From what I've read, as well as discussing with friends who are ortho, the conservative approach to treatment is advised, especially if you want to keep running. So, what you (Mongo) have been told is spot on but I still see a lot of friends/family who have it done without going through PT.

 


I had surgery as soon as I could get it scheduled. Minimal recovery, Zero issues since then (3-4 yrs ago), and I abuse the shit out my knees.

But, every case is different