If you’ve had surgery on your meniscus, in particular a partial removal, have you been happy with your results? Would you do it again?
I’m a 39 yr old male and from MRI have been diagnosed with a horizontal tear in my posterior medial meniscus and a 5cm bakers cyst. I’ve been to three orthos and they would like to cut the bottom half of my meniscus out, leaving the top half (50% removal). I’ve discussed repair with them, but at my age have been told that it would most likely not be successful (tear again) and would need surgery to remove it.
I have been a runner for 15+ years (marathons, etc) and did some cycling prior to running. I have not run in 6 months due to pain/swelling after running. I have gotten back into a bit of cycling for cardio, but miss running. I still have a bit of pain in my knee even when doing cycling only. I believe when I try to run, the pounding is causing leaking and thus the bakers cyst.
I’ve read articles that say menisectomy or partial menisectomy leads to osteoarthritis which leads to TKR and I’ve read the opposite that not having the tear removed leads to OA and TKR?
I had around 25% of my meniscus removed 4 1/2 years ago. things have generally been good since then. I belive it was all in one area, as opposed to being the top or the bottom.
i suspect thtat knee is more likely to become arthritic than the other is. after 4 1/2 years, hard to give any real long-term feedback.
I had over 50% of my inner miniscus removed when I was 17. I am now 32.
At the time, the flap was lodged between my leg bones and locked my knee solid. The original injury was in gym class messing on a crash mat (hyperextension), but I really tore it and locked while running for a baseball.
I had orthoscopic surgery. 3 little incisions, 3 stitches. I was running and playing street hockey 3 days later. (I used a neopren brace, and luckily, I had no tendon or ligament damage).
I was told that I would have arthritis within 10 years. As of last year (15yrs post surgery) I have ZERO signs of arthritic damage.
Things to note: I was not a runner or triathlete at the time. I didn’t really start running until about 4 years ago. I did play lots of sports, so the knee has not exactly been babied.
I do get a sore knee when the weather changes. I also get bouts of chondramalasia(sp?) that I can easily rectify with physio. And, my running is adapted so I always have a bent knee to shock absorb. It really protects the knee, but my hammies are really short, so I don’t exactly tear up the streets with my run. My quads are strong, and it shows on the bike.
had meniscus tear and repair, along with ACL reconstruction. Some of the meniscus was removed.
it takes time to heal, 6 weeks or more, so LET it. After that ease into things. I’m very happy with my results, 14 years later.
people like us are CLASSIC cases for midfoot or forefoot running… I’ve had zero knee pain since moving to that style, center of gravity above or in front of my feet when striking the ground.
I had meniscus partial removal about 18 months ago. At the point when I did the surgery I was practically begging for it. I was having lots of pain and could not run at all. They did PT for almost 6 mos. b/c I could not have a MRI for definitive diagnosis.
The arthroscopic surgery was easily and I was walking on the leg by evening; started PT after the weekend on Monday and started on the bike.
Some people run within about two weeks of the repair. It took me much longer than that to get back to running and even now I have gotten nowhere near where I was. I started out on the elliptical and deep water running when getting back to runing was taking too long for me. I have been working on form and running a little differently. I get some slight swelling on long runs occasionally that I treat with ice and vitamin I(buprofen). I also just started taking BAXYL, which I have been told will be very helpful.
I also hve been having some problems with the other knee – apparently its not uncommon that both knees are injured.
I would just get the repair over with. As an ortho told me (and I researched myself) if you have a tear and get it fixed you MAY get osteoarthritis…if you don’t get it fixed you will DEFINITLY get osteoarthritis.
Not to bring everyone down, but I had mine done 3 years ago (32 then) and I gave plenty of time for it to heal. Started running agian, felt okay but the swelling never went away. I had 2 cortizone shots that helped with it, did a half a year later then I couldn’t run anymore 2 months later. Went to NYC (Long Island actually) and met with a real specialist who reviewed my more recent MRI’s and said he needed to go in. He found a half dolar size legion missing on the head of my femur that needed microfracture surgery and the meniscus was gone. Would have I done it again, yes, but with my second surgeon with more surgeries under his belt as he was in sports medicine, not so much with mine from upstate. I still run after my microfracture but not nearly the same. I believe this to be a rare case as the stories above I hear about more often. Yes, I do have osteoarthritis and still have pain. I have also turned to be a midfoot striker and basically land straight legged with my injured leg as I cannot put full force on it anymore. Make sure you speak to Dr.'s who do 100’s of them a year, and one who is familiar with runners/athletes not just a random orthopod from east bumble F. Good luck.
I had an ACL repair and partial menisectomy in 1996 (ski injury). Just last year an MRI showed moderate degenrative joint disease in the medial compartment with some osteophyte formation. I have a pretty constant ache. I also had a partial menisectomy in my right knee in 2001. No pain or DJD there at all. The doctor said I could continue running, although with limited mileage. I currently run about 15 mpw. Obviously not doing IM ;). But at least I can still run some.
had 60% of the posterior medial horn removed in 2006 at age 58. unfortunately i ran with the tear for almost a year (took celebrex to get thru IM) which caused the other knee to carry more load, which caused major league tendinitis . the operated knee took a while to get comfortable running about 6 mos. do the rehab and lose any excess weight gained from lack of running.
the operated knee is good except on cold days. doc said i would get OA, but i’ve held it at bay and seems to do better than the knee with tendinitis. one thing you might explore is prolotherapy. i did not find out about prolo for the meniscus problem, but it sure has worked wonders for the knee with tendinitis.
i have given up on IM distance, stick mostly with sprints because i don’t want to overdue the running part. as far as biking the knee is fine for the longer distances 30-50 miles. freestyle and backstroke are ok, but breaststroke kick causes a little soreness.
though not as fast as i once was, ran a 22:30 5k at age 61 on about 10 miles running per week and carrying about 15 pounds too much weight. that is the one thing about not running as much as i used to, swimming and biking just doesnt burn the calories like running. of course i should push away from the table.
i ice knees after running when i can and despite studies findings still take tissue rejuventor (glucosamine chondroitin) from hammer products.
i think i have about 3-5 more years of tris if i keep the running reasonable.
again, google prolotherapy and consider before the surgery. if surgery err on the side of PT and start slowly and keep muscles balanced.
I just had a meniscus repair for a partially torn meniscus 16 days ago and am already swimming and cycling with no pain. My Doc says I’ll be running like I was ( IM Training) in 6 weeks. I tried to rehab it medically for 6 months ( no running) after the MRI confirmed the tear. I have hit the PT, ICe and Vitamin I hard and am very pleased with the results. I had a superior Doctor who is world famous for joint repair for athletes, so I feel fortunate.
Small tear and removal 15 years ago. These day’s I have issues remembering which knee had the problem. Yes I would do it again. 50% could be completely different.
Medial meniscus tear with baker’s cyst 4 years ago. Cyst made it look like I had a second knee cap, but on the inside. 20% partial removal of the meniscus. I was 59 at the time. 3 IMC’s since, 4th one coming up.
I had a partial meniscus removal and repair 7 years ago in conjunction with torn ACL, MCL, partial PCL and kneecap fracture incident to some dumbass who thought he knew how to play volleyball. Rehab was tough and it was over a year before the knee “felt right”. More like two. I understand this is typical for those types of injuries. Since there were a lot of damages other than the meniscus, it’s difficult for me to state what degree of difficulty was attributable to the meniscus, but, once it healed, the reconstructed knee is probably in better shape than the natural one.
Once I rehabbed to the point I could start running again, I started training and have been doing 1/2’s and marathons and tri’s ever since with no significant problems. My wife is a medical professional, and I wound up with an awesome ortho surgeon that specializes in sports injuries etc. Personally, I think that makes all the difference and I would vet your docs thoroughly before choosing one to do the procedure. All, in all, I would suggest having it fixed.
Had partial meniscus removal in my left knee about 2 years ago, I was 22, and have had a small amount of swelling still on that knee when i reach really high mileage weeks. After the surgery the doctors said it would take about 12 weeks for all the pain and swelling to go down and could resume normal training, it actually took about 18-20 until it felt really good again. Just be aware that it may take more time to heal than they quote.
A traumatic vertical or bucket handle tear in a younger athlete is VERY different from the horizontal degenerative tears seen in older/high milage athletes. Vertical tears that obstruct the joint or that occur with other knee injuries can often be minimally removed and sometimes repaired. The horizontal tears in a degenerative meniscus more often involve large tissue removal at surgery and can’t really be repaired. Preserving meniscus cartilage is a concept that seems to be gaining in sports medicine. The pendulum may be swinging away from so much arthroscopic removal as “treatment.”
I’ve noted several physicians on this forum giving excellent advice. I’ll add my 2 cents. A second (or third) opinion is always a good idea when surgery is considered. But you are over thinking this one. In my experience (13+ years, thousands of arthroscopic surgeries), any relatively young and/or athletic patient with a symptomatic meniscal tear benefits from removing the unstable fragment. Horizontal or “cleavage” tears often have a more complex appearance on direct vision with sometimes small, sometimes large unstable portions. Unstable means subluxable into the weight bearing portion of the joint. These can cause mechanical symptoms and sometimes articular cartilage damage. The articular cartilge damage is bad for everybody, especially runners. The cleavage tear is, indeed, usually degenerative and can be accompanied by early arthritic changes (“chondromalacia”). It is the presence or absence of articular cartilage damage that determines the risk of arthritis later. The injury or degenerative tear itself can contribute to that risk. Removing the torn meniscus itself does not particularly increase the risk of arthritis. It may not change the natural progression of degeneration. Preserving meniscal tissue is the rule, and has been, since the advent of arthroscopic surgery. Most cleavage tears occur in the “posterior horn of the medial meniscus” and usually represent less than 25% of the medial meniscal volume. If that makes you feel better :). Any experienced (or inexperienced but well trained) orthopedic surgeon with a sports and/or arthroscopic background can safely (and easily!) perform the procedure.
I’ll add my $0.02 in the FWIW dept. I’m a 51 yo male who had several knee ops back in the late "70’s as a result of HS and collegiate basketball. The first op was a torn ligament which in today’s terms I assume means torn acl. I didn’t heed the docs advice and was back out playing ball 3 or 4 weeks later. This led to major reconstructive surgery less than a year later including a cast for months and then a progressive knee brace. For a 19 yo at the time, it was very difficult to withstand months of not doing anything. The doctor who performed the surgery said that I would probably start experiencing severe arthritic symptoms within 15-20 years. That did not happen and thankfully has not happened to date. I did visit an orthopede 5 years ago when after trying to compete in my 1st triathlon in many years, my knee experienced massive swelling causing the doc to withdraw about 100ml of fluid. After the MRI, the doc told me I should stop most physical activity as I had NO meniscus left. He said alternately I could try glucosamine. Every couple of weeks for the first 3 months, my knee would swell. But then miraculously the swelling and fluid buildup disappeared. I can only attribute this to the use of the glucosamine (1500mg per day). I have no recurring pain in my knee and have successfully completed 7 HIM’s in the past two years after moving up from oly distance races. I don’t run as much as I used to but still average 20-25mpw. I just bike and swim more. So there u have my experience. Good luck and let us know how it all works out for you.
The articular cartilge damage is bad for everybody, especially runners. The cleavage tear is, indeed, usually degenerative and can be accompanied by early arthritic changes (“chondromalacia”). It is the presence or absence of articular cartilage damage that determines the risk of arthritis later. The injury or degenerative tear itself can contribute to that risk. <<
So if someone has pretty much no articular cartilage left, what would you tell them? Give up running?
Being a runner, it is rare for me to tell anyone not to run. I’ve seen some pretty arthritic knees go on to run marathons and complete ironmans, even Kona. So if running is your passion, do the best you can with what you’ve got. There’s already some good advice on the logistics of running with less then perfect knees on this thread (lower mileage, lower pace, optimal form). I would add correcting any unilateral muscle weakness and hip/core instability to that list. If you truly have bone on bone arthritis (as seen on a weight bearing X-ray or arthroscopically) you’d have to have a high pain threshold to get any enjoyment out of running. If you have severe angular malalignment (varus or valgus/ “bow-legged or knock-kneed”) due to the arthritis, resulting in stretching the medial or lateral collateral ligament, I would suggest not running. That scenario is rare in the younger age groups, but does complicate the reconstruction. Good luck.