Can anyone share what their first run felt like after a meniscus tear when they didn't have surgery? Tore mine in January, Dr. and I decided the best approach was no surgery and take a conservative approach and take some time off of running and let it heal. Have been biking/swimming a ton. The bridge back to running is Run 2 Min/Walk 3 Min X5...did it today and curious if anyone else has taken this approach and can share what those first few runs felt like.
Triathlon Forum
Login required to started new threads
Login required to post replies
Re: First Run after Meniscus Tear [MadisonMan]
[ In reply to ]
the problem is, that many meniscus tears will not heal.. so waiting for it to heal isn't going to help.
With luck enough scarring will form that the pain becomes less.
tore mine sometime in the summer last year, ran on it for several more months while the pain continued, just took 4 months off while doing numbers of rehab exercises like these.
After 3 runs I can report:
1. The pain in the knee/joint is identical to when I stopped running, mild but persistent and does not get either worse or better with running.
2. previously I was getting a variety of odd pains around the knee, presumably due to the extra load/stress on various parts due to the malfunction around the meniscus.
The rehab seems to have helped with those, so the only pains are in the joint itself.
With luck enough scarring will form that the pain becomes less.
tore mine sometime in the summer last year, ran on it for several more months while the pain continued, just took 4 months off while doing numbers of rehab exercises like these.
After 3 runs I can report:
1. The pain in the knee/joint is identical to when I stopped running, mild but persistent and does not get either worse or better with running.
2. previously I was getting a variety of odd pains around the knee, presumably due to the extra load/stress on various parts due to the malfunction around the meniscus.
The rehab seems to have helped with those, so the only pains are in the joint itself.
Re: First Run after Meniscus Tear [doug in co]
[ In reply to ]
Doug thanks for the comments.
Agree on the meniscus not healing and scar tissue needs to form, we (MD/PT, and myself) were hoping that would happen over the 9 weeks of no impact. In all reality, the doctor said the tear may have been there for months before the MRI and other issues caused the pain, etc...
Similar to you, I ran for a bit and was haivng pain all over the knee and finally got the MRI.
Going to play this by ear and hoping with time the scar tissue will form and it may be uncomfortable for a bit.
Agree on the meniscus not healing and scar tissue needs to form, we (MD/PT, and myself) were hoping that would happen over the 9 weeks of no impact. In all reality, the doctor said the tear may have been there for months before the MRI and other issues caused the pain, etc...
Similar to you, I ran for a bit and was haivng pain all over the knee and finally got the MRI.
Going to play this by ear and hoping with time the scar tissue will form and it may be uncomfortable for a bit.
Re: First Run after Meniscus Tear [MadisonMan]
[ In reply to ]
Tore mine December 30, ran almost every day until February 24. Tried to complete 100/100 challenge but decided that timing was right for menisectomy. Those 7-8 weeks I kept runs short but did some racing with very little discomfort in knee. Pain was never more than a 3-4. Had surgery Feb. 26, took 19 days off from running and got back at it. First couple of runs there was some pain in the first quarter mile, then went away completely. No problems since. FWIW, some of the posts here on ST helped led toward the decision to have surgery. Leaving for Boston on Saturday! Only expectation is to finish without injury or too much misery. Will worry about reBQ over the summer. Good luck getting back to running. It’s all about patience is what everyone keeps telling me.
Thx. Best of luck in Boston. I had to cross that off the list as my Ortho said let’s not do surgery