Post opp meniscus surgery and still have pain

So i posted a few weeks back about the surgery and now ive had the surgery and here i am posting again. To those that have had it i’m reaching out. Whats normal. Whats not. Im about 6 weeks post opp. Followed PT tot he T. Did 3 sessions a week for 3 weeks. Cut back to 1 on weeks 4/5 as my PT basically said I follow all the at home instructions so well and that ive essentially regained all range of motion and my quad looks strong. I didnt run till week 4 and it was 1.3 miles. Very easy. Didnt swim for 2.5 weeks as well didnt bike for 3. So here I am today in pain. Honestly if I had to put a number on it id say 5-6 out of ten. 2 weeks ago I was walking with my wife and i had to stop bc it hurt so bad. Im not a baby either when it comes to pain. Pushed through an ironman on a torn calf bc i wanted to finish the damn thing. I put off the surgery for 3 years and just lived w pain until it got to bad. I still have swelling most days. Not huge but it there. I have pain to touch on the medial side. Doc said he took of 60 percent of the medial and he said when he got in there the lateral needed to have a portion removed as well. He said around 20 percent. They also did a plica release. Doc said cartilage looked fantastic. My coach has me doing my 2nd run this friday. Biking ive done no more then 20 miles at 135-155 watts. Essentially just playing on new wahoo snap. So my question is should i still have discomfort/swelling at 6 weeks post opp. I emailed the doc and his PA wrote me back saying everyone is different. Give it 6-8 more weeks and then follow up. I appreciate the replies in advance.

I had the surgery in late April 2013. I had no pain or swelling after the surgery and so far so good. I did some easy running at about 4 weeks and did a sprint tri at 8 weeks (with easy running). (I guess that is not exactly what you wanted to hear.).

I had no swelling but still had discomfort at 6 weeks. Did a Sprint TRI 9 weeks out with a very slow run. Its been 3 years since my operation and I still have occasional discomfort.

I know people who started running 3 weeks after surgery with no discomfort and others that had couldn’t run for a year. Everyone is different.

Good luck on your rrehab!

Just had a partial meniscectomy on Monday for a medial tear, but relatively minor. Seems like recovery varies quite widely depending on the tear and the surgery. In my case, I used crutches to get out to the car after surgery and then into the house. Haven’t used them since. No pain meds since yesterday morning. Have walked up and down several flights of stairs yesterday and today. Rode the trainer (no resistance) for about 5 minutes a couple of times. No PT prescribed. Tons of swelling still, of course, but basically no pain other than the incision points.

ok so just give it time and quit bitching is the medicine i should swallow. Appreciate the replies!At least swimming is pain free!! The joys of multisport training.

How old are you?

At age 28 I had two meniscus repairs on the same medial on the same knee. (One was also ACL, doesn’te really apply here)
On the second (the solo meniscus) I was jogging in under two weeks and fully active in under a month.

At age 48 I had a meniscus repair on the other knee. Couldn’t jog for about 2-3 months and wasn’t running without problems (medium pain and some swelling) until about 8 months.

Everyone’s different and in my case age really does matter.

just posted this in the other thread…

I am 58

had this Dec 18th…MRI confirmed I had tears on both sides but only pain on one side…the non pain side was a surprised…I could have lived with that, no problem…but pain was getting in my way on the other side…

surgeons said it was a bit rougher than he initially thought once in there…

  1. Nordic skied and indoor biked right up to the surgery…cant do anything to make it worse right?..grinned and bared it…
  2. 3 days after surgery I did rowing with surgery knee off to the side…worked well…also mimicked poling with pull down weight machine.
  3. Did elipitical trainer 10 days after surgery, not pushing hard
  4. Nordic skied classic trained on it 13 days after surgery…still hurt a bit…not bad…a bit stiff afterwards.
  5. raced hard on the knee on 1/9/16…Nordic ski race 21K classic…didn’t notice it much during the race…a bit sore…decent result for me, not great but not bad.
  6. tried to run on it on the treadmill yesterday 1/12/16…after elliptical for 75 minutes…it hurt, no go…I quit after 30 seconds.

it hurts the most post surgery when I stand and train in 4 hour stretches or more…sore and very stiff…I am a Leadership trainer…more than exercising on it.

at this point I have some annoying pain and stiffness less than 4 weeks after surgery but can Nordic ski race and train on it…

right now I am wondering if the pain will fade and when I will be able to run…and if I am causing any long term effects by training on it now…follow up appointment next week and I am going to ask the doc these questions…

36 years old for reference. Ill just keep up the biking and swimming. It just feels like my knee isnt my knee if that makes sense. It feels stiff and almost like im walking on a board. I guess thats bc the cushion is gone!! You know when you drive by that person running and it looks like they are in so much pain bc their form is so bad?!? I have that to look forward to!!!

I am 64 and about 9 weeks out from medial partial meniscectomy. Did PT post surgery for about a month (8 or so sessions). Spun on indoor trainer after one week. Was back riding road bike on flats at the end the second week. Got back on MTB about the 3rd week. At this point I am riding road or MTB 3 or 4 times week with no to minimal discomfort. did my first run about week 6–about 1.5 miles and knee actually felt pretty good. Have run twice since then with worse results–mild to medium discomfort, not so much during, but after the run. I have decided not to run again until the knee feels close to 100% just walking around. I got the OK from my ortho to try running after about a month, but I decided to be conservative and waited about 6 weeks. I was also told that my articular cartilage, where present, looks pretty good for a guy my age with a long history of endurance training. I do have full thickness defects in the cartilage in a spot or two, but Synvisc (or Othorvisc) injections seem to alleviate the symptoms associated with cartilage wear.