get minimum 2 opinions from ortho surgeons .. discuss the MRI with them and how you wish to continue physical activity and your remaining goals

For sure. Just hope my running days are not over.

I had that for over a year. Found a cheap knee brace that has straps that wrap around the knee. Did a great job holding the brace in place. I was able to compete in a couple half IM's and other races without an issue. Went to two surgeons, one wanted to operate right away. The other one (who has a lot better reputation) wasn't as eager to operate and said it was something you can run with a long time without an issue.

Getting surgery next week since I will be in my off season and already hit my insurance deductible.

There have been lots of discussions on meniscus tears. Have you tried using the search function?

I've had a meniscus tear in both knees. The first one we did surgery for. That took several months to recover from and I've had no issues since. The second one was a minor tear and we decided not to do anything. After a couple of weeks rest, the pain went away. For the most part, I no longer have issues although occasionally, it act up. I suspect there is some internal rubbing causing inflammation and pain. When this occurs, I just stop what I'm doing. The issue seems to mysteriously disappear relatively quickly. In one case, I was on a warmup run before a duathlon and the pain was so intense I couldn't safely run without possibly causing another injury. I stopped, walked for five minutes and was able to race 10 minutes later. Quite strange.

How’s it going since your surgery?

things have been great since surgery. After a week I was riding, 10 days swimming and 2 weeks running.

After 8 weeks I am back to my where I was with zero issues. Very glad I did it.

I'm assuming they just "scoped it" and removed the damaged part and that was it?

I am headed in in a few weeks to have a radial tear fixed. Damaged part removed (menisectomy?), not repaired per say. Said there is a similar downtime after the operation. I ran on mine with a year for a couple years until it finally got more painful about eight months ago, to the point where I was taking days off on a regular basis. Some days it was miserable, others I didn't feel a thing. It's an odd injury.

Yep scoped.15% removed.

I had a similar tear along with degeneration of the cartilage. I had a stem cell transplant at a Regenexx provider and have not had an issue since. Both running and cycling have been normal on that knee. The other knee however is going to need the same treatment.

You likely experienced an internal derangement where some small amount of tissue was displaced. When walking it reseated itself and you were fine.

Recent research shows scoped meniscus tears have the same outcome as physical therapy one year out. Meniscus wearing is part of aging whether one runs or not. It’s quite normal and can be handled non operatively quite easily.

I've read the research and after speaking with my PT she mentioned I have damaged cartilage and that's where she believes the pain is coming from.

I just had meniscus surgery on Friday. So far all is good.

After a day or two of hobbling around (mostly because of the large bandage around my knee and not pain), I'm walking around generally fine. Did 3.5 mile walk with the dog this morning on top of 5 miles yesterday (2 walks). I plan to do an easy trainer ride later today. Doc said no runs or outside riding until after my followup appointment (next Wednesday) when the stitches come out.

Great news! Was is just the meniscus they worked on?

Just the meniscus.

FYI - I tried the wait it out method to see if it would get better. Did 3+ months of zero running and thought I was doing good. Went for a super easy 1.5 mile run and was hobbled and nearly in a wheelchair by the end of the day. After the MRI the doc said we might have more success with doing total rest again combined with PT but no guaranties. In the end, I decided on surgery to get it over with. It didn't hurt that we're at the end of a health insurance year and have met family deductible and due to a recent job change we lose our current insurance in a few months. No brainer to do it now.

That makes sense. We are switching our insurance so I can go to a specialist, works on pro athletes, in my area. Have to wait until the beginning of the year.

Thanks for the post!