So I went in yesterday for meniscal repair, and the orthopedic surgeon found that my lateral meniscus was actually detached. Curious whether any other ST’ers have dealt with a similar injury (pretty uncommon apparently), how long your rehab was, and how you’ve done since…
I managed to do this in a stupid accident, it was floating about in my knee for a week and then the surgeon just removed it.
Rehab was the same as for a normal meniscus operation but due to changing jobs I took a lot longer than needed. When I started training seriously again I found that running long or too often caused extended pain so being a cyclist/swimmer at heart I took it as a good sign to stop that pesky running…bear in mind I’m 6’2" and 95kg so running was always hard on my knees…
For cycling there are no real effects, just a reluctance on my part to do any real power based training so as not to get any problems in the future, swimming is not affected but I was told to avoid breaststroke.
Concentrating on technique and a smooth low impact style helped a lot when I was running, if I’d carried on I would have started going to the gym more to build up the supporting muscles.
Thanks for the response. In my case the detached meniscus was probably not the result of any one incident/accident. The surgeon, who I do have a lot of faith in, was surprised to find it, and repaired it rather than removing it; repair was the option he and I discussed prior, in order to give the best long-term prognosis.
I was groggy during our post-op discussion, but I believe I am looking at approx 3 months of rehab. Like you, I have a large frame, but unlike you, I do like to run. I think not doing that will be hard, mentally…