I have never heard the term crack related to a meniscus injury. I tore mine while training for Boston. I had an MRI done and saw an ortho surgeon. He told me to schedule surgery for his next available which was 4 weeks away, rest it for two weeks and try to run. If it was good, cancel the surgery. It wasn't. I had surgery in April 2014 and did short distance triathlon that year. I was super cautious in my return to running. Have been fine every since. Did an IM in 2017.

I personally wouldn't do the surgery if I didn't have pain in daily life or during my favorite athletic activities.

I too have never heard the term cracked

I had meniscus surgery.

I would not have it done unless it is stopping you from doing what you want to such as running.

Yiu can always have it done later if you decide to

I would find a Surgeion who is also a runner and or triathlete. If you are in the orlando area I could recommend one I am super happy with

I had mine done March 2014, completed IM Chattanooga September 2014. If it is just a scope and trim, and depending on where the tear is, you could be back up and at it pretty quickly. I was running in 6 weeks, swimming and biking in a week post op. I did develop a drift toward that knee when swimming, wasn't kicking as hard. It went away though.

I agree with what others have said, give it some time, but be ready to pull the trigger on the surgery if it doesn't improve. I injured mine in December, and gave it until mid February before seeing the doc and scheduling surgery, couldn't run more than a mile though without it being unbearable.

Surgery is less and less indicated for this type of injury. More and more research is indicating that after 1 year the outcome from physical therapy and surgery are identical.

Meniscus cracks and tears or whatever creative term is used merely indicate arthritic changes within the knee. If this is truly the reason for pain it will likely resolve with time and PT as the meniscal changes have been there asymptomatically for quite some time.

MRIs don’t show pain and can’t typically tell you the pain generating structure. Bottom line is go to PT and don’t rush into surgery.

Funny, my Facebook memory from today was 6 years ago today I had my meniscus repair surgery.

It saved me. I was hobbling.
If you have a bad tear, you're probably looking at needing to clean it up.

This!! Sham controlled studies (fake surgery!) shows that it is not effective to remove the meniscus in many cases. Supervised neglect and/or physical therapy/activity is just as good.

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Endurance coach | Physiotherapist (primary care) | Bikefitter | Swede

Thanks, in fact when I mention crack it is probably a tear (i am French and the injury is fissure du menisque) and tear is probably a better translation.

I've had arthroscopic surgery due to meniscus tears 4 times now, 2 for each knee. My first was in 1984 and I haven't run since but all of them were done after months of hobbling around in pain. Would they have resolved themselves on their own? I don't know but my outcome has been pretty good as I can do almost everything except run. That's why I'm an Aquabiker these days.

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"They know f_ck-all over at Slowtwitch"
- Lionel Sanders

I had surgery in one knee at 58, bigger tear. 70% of medial posterior horn removed. Result of bike crash.


At 65 other knee had more of degenerative "potholes". Got stem cell ( hip bone marrow) and prp. Waited for it to take effect about 9 months and am still running with no pain 70+, but spend more time with mobility drills, massage and better anti inflammatory diet. Work on muscle imbalances and good mechanics/form.

I tore my meniscus training for the NYC marathon. My tear was due to osteoarthritis. After consulting with several physicians and orthopedic surgeons who were familiar with distance runners and long course triathletes I came to the conclusion that the first physician I talked with was right on the money. Finding someone to cut and operate isn't hard. What's hard is fining someone to tell you the truth, recognize it and acting upon. I can still run. I am slow now though by anybody's standards. But I can run and I'll continue to do so until it's no longer possible.

Again, I have osteoarthritis and a left medial meniscus tear. For me the truth is that surgery won't really help me return to my modestly fast running. It can, in fact ,make things worse -- sometimes much worse. That's also going to be true of many surgeries on the knee. There's very little blood flow to much of the meniscus area and thus it does a horrid job of healing. We could have used a better design. :P

If your meniscus tear is from an acute injury I'd suggest carefully looking at the prognosis leaving things as is as well as the prognosis over the long term if it's operated on.

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The difference between stupidity and genius is that genius has its limits. -- A fake Albert Einstein "quote"

Left medial cracked to hell... 10-15% left. Yeah I can run but I'm slow..even slower then I was before. Surgery was the only choice as I could not walk with a normal gate with a piece of my meniscus restricting movement. I have trained myself over the years to do nothing sudden anymore.

This is the best advice.

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They constantly try to escape from the darkness outside and within
Dreaming of systems so perfect that no one will need to be good T.S. Eliot