Had this a few times.

If only to suck out debris and possibly minor shaving to smooth any rough areas then you should back within a few weeks.
Main obstacle is for swelling to go down.

If you dont have any serious damage in your knee then it should feel real good and clean, like an oil change.

Doc said the rest of my knee looked strong and fit. I hope you are right about the oil change! Really want to do another race in May....haven't signed up yet due to surgery.

make sure and ask back for what he takes out and I think a lot of docs now can give you a dvd of the camera inside.

G - first, be at least a little prepared for "secondary cartilage surface findings," the piece had to come from somewhere. Second, since you have a locking phenomenon, although the long piece, or loose body as your doctor will call it, may be the source, meniscus disease may also be the culprit. Try to have regional anesthesia, numbed up below the waist, so you can watch it. You'll have a whole new appreciation here for what's going on inside YOUR knee and should issues pop up in the future, YOU'LL be a perfect position to guide your own care.

Good luck! (Follow doctors orders!)

John

---

John H. Post, III, MD
Orthopedic Surgeon
Charlottesville, VA

Request a spinal with no sedation, ask questions, watch the live feed, and get your pictures and the surgical notes. :-)

Knowing EXACTLY what they did, where, and how much will help in the long run.

Aside from that, do your PT happily and religiously--get a referral, even if you don't think you need to. Err on the side of caution, and know that for every one person who is "back to running in five days" there is another who "could barely turn the cranks" at week four. You are YOU, so base your recovery on that. Not on what everyone else is doing :-)

No two recoveries are exactly the same--even in the same person.

---

---

mmm-mmm-Momo Charms
Handmade beverage charms, jewelry, and miscellanea
http://momocharms.wordpress.com

Agree with all of this.

John

---

John H. Post, III, MD
Orthopedic Surgeon
Charlottesville, VA

Ok, so I just couldn't stay wake for this proceedure. End game though, they removed a 12 x 14 mm piece of cartlidge that was floating back and forth through my knee joint. Had to make a 4th incision to find the peice in the back of my knee joint. Trimmed a little of where the peice broke off and "cleaned" up some furry looking stuff on the cartlidge. Stiches removed today, was cleared for bike / elyptical today, swim (no legs) next week, and back to "previous mileage" in 3-4 weeks pending how it feels. Any advise? I am going to start Physical Therapy next week, just so I don't over do it. I tend to push the envelope sometimes. I biked 30 min today, easy light spin for 20min, 5min a little heavier resistance and a 5 min cool down. Feels good to move!

G.s.

I had a "clean-up" a long time ago. It was relativity minor stuff in the grand scheme of things.

Day surgery - in and out in a few hours.

I seem to recall being back on the bike in about 2 weeks and running within three . . but I agree with others including the MD on the thread that everyone's recovery is going to be a bit different.

Take your time.

---

---

Steve Fleck @stevefleck | Blog

Going through this. Surgery 6 weeks ago to trim flap (medial) and smooth out under knee cap. Very minor flap per ortho and went great. Progress is slower than anticipated. Could swim fine after portals healed. Have been doing light spinning a couple of weeks. But, this week tried a bit more tension on the trainer. Pain after. Still cannot run. Taking another month to try running again. What I cannot determine is the pain coming from where they trimmed the meniscus or from the portals/damage that are not healed. It is quite invasive and portals below the knee and to the right still swollen and hard and tender. Anyone else have post pain and could you determine whether pain is from the meniscus or simply from the trauma of the instruments going in.

I'll throw in my most recent experiences, for those who are wondering if they're healing slowly or rapidly... I've had enough surgeries to definitely say it's different every single time. For real.

I had an ACL debridement/partial resection, notchplasty, medial pat fem plica and fat pad excision, excision of the remainder of the lateral meniscus, a couple of large impinging osteophytes removed, and a general clean out/brush up of the lateral compartment and trochlear groove.

I am just over 4 weeks post-op (surgery was Jan. 13). I still have noticeable effusion, although markedly less so than even a week ago. Pain/catching in the distal area of the patella. My IT band is irritated, as I stopped rolling and have increased activity. I had a big Baker's Cyst flare up that was pretty painful and hampering my rehab, but in the last few days, it has subsided to a normal level. I am walking unaided, and mostly normally...it took 3+ weeks to get here, tho. Descending stairs is stiff, but doable slowly and consciously and in small doses. My ROM was 130 at my last PT visit (I have to work to get it there, though). Mind you, I had less than 90 going in to surgery, so even when I was super puffy post op, I was doing better when I hit 100 :D

I can cycle on the trainer, light resistance, normally and without ankling for up to 40 minutes. (Again, couldn't pre-surgery) Any prolonged standing/walking still causes inflammatory response and stiffness. Swimming makes it stiff, b/c the knee doesn't bend much while I'm swimming. Yesterday was my first elliptical adventure, short time, very little resistance. I wouldn't even try running at this point. When the ET is okay, I'll progress to pool running. Then combine walking outside. I'm in no hurry.

I would say compared to where I was on the day before this most recent surgery, I am at about 150%. Compared to "normal" (whatever that is anymore), maybe 70%?

---

---

mmm-mmm-Momo Charms
Handmade beverage charms, jewelry, and miscellanea
http://momocharms.wordpress.com

I am about to have a very similar surgery in the coming months. I have a 7mm X 3mm flap tear of the medial meniscus, and the flap is stuck in the inter-condylar notch. Also noted was a half thickness defect of the weight bearing MFC. 2 previous surgeries with plica resection and a medial meniscus tear of the posterior horn. I am currently experiencing significant pain when I weight bear with leg strait and can't really cycle. Significant catch under the patella when I put my foot down and also raise my foot off the ground. Forget running and I can't kick in the pool. I have no medial stability in the joint at all, it seems like maybe one of the ligaments is not doing it's job and/or the meniscus is just toast. I have also read the plica resection can causes trauma to the knee synovium capsule which also provides some stability. I am in the queue to see Toronto's best knee specialist but he has a 2-4 month wait for an appointment.

The situation totally sucks. In three years I went from a Cat 1 cyclist to currently not being able to ride. I also cannot ski (downhill or X-country), play squash, hockey and any of the other life activites that I absolutely love.

Between the plica/fat pad and the hypertrophied ACL (basically, synovial stuff gone wild!! Not nearly as sexy as it sounds), I couldn't do ANYTHING. I lost all muscle, and eventually, the leg was unstable--not b/c my ligaments were unsound, but b/c I didn't have any muscle control, proprioception, etc.

I have grade IV articular cartilage lesions covering basically the entirety of my lateral compartment. No lateral meniscus (well, I had about 5-7%--rim of posterior horn...NOW I have none), but it was the other stuff that was killing me. I could deal with pain--I couldn't deal with a loss of function.

Do be aware...that one of the questions we asked ourselves (me and docs) was: did all of the trauma in the knee cause the mucoid degeneration/synovium gone crazy? B/c sometimes too much of that is just as bad (as I dicovered when my ACL could no longer fit thru my notch)

---

---

mmm-mmm-Momo Charms
Handmade beverage charms, jewelry, and miscellanea
http://momocharms.wordpress.com

Yeah I don't even know what normal is anymore as well. Keep me posted please.

So I've been biking light for about 30min 3x a week since my last post. Additionally, I did a 15 min "ARC Trainer" session after my bike. That felt GOOD! The flex in the arc trainer (and the sweat) really felt good. A little stiff/sore after, but I think it was a good day. I start actual PT Thursday, my biggest question at this point is: How do I know, how much is too much?

As for not being able to do anything you love....driving me crazy too. I may get in the water later this week for a swim and I've been keeping my sanity with upperbody P90x.

Keep up the good work.

Pain will let you know. Fatigue and soreness is good. Pain is bad. ;-) If you have a good PT, they will be able to help you discern the difference, should you be the typical hardheaded athlete :p

As for me...despite having made steady progress and feeling great, in the last couple of days, all of my plica/synovial symptoms seem to be reoccurring...including loss of ROM and increased pain. WTF. :D

---

---

mmm-mmm-Momo Charms
Handmade beverage charms, jewelry, and miscellanea
http://momocharms.wordpress.com

Rocker the same thing happened to me, within weeks of my last arthroscopy to resect a medial plica the symptoms returned. A year later I am actually much worse off and have other knee problems.