I have been diagnosed with a medial meniscus tear in my left knee. I injured the knee while standing on the sidelines at a basketball game and two players collided with my leg and hyperextended it. While I have not had many knee injuries in my life (I’m 30 years old) this one felt really bad immediately but then the pain subsided and I was able to walk again (with a noticeable limp) fairly quickly. I even got up the next morning (before seeing a doctor) and went for my morning run. It was sore throughout the run, but no worse afterwards. The afternoon after the run is when the sports medicine doctor looked at it. I am scheduled for an MRI to confirm the tear but that is at least a month from now. I will also be going to physiotherapy in the meantime, but my main question is for anyone who has experienced something similar…
Can I still go running without risking more serious damage. I know I’m probably not “supposed” to but if I can handle it without any significant pain or change in the status of my knee, would it be alright. Has anyone else “run through” such an injury?
It is best not to run for now. If you have a miniscus tear, depending on the extent of the injury, you will most likely need surgery and then rehab afterwards. I tore my miniscus on my left knee two years ago and there was no way I could run without pain. You are 30, so recovery and repair should be better than I was at 50.
After the surgery, I ran three months later but arthritis has set in and now it is bone on bone. Running is mainly over as I have arthritis in both hips as well. Ensure you have a good sports doctor and the proper diagnosis.
I ran 2 IM’s on a torn meniscus (still is). It swells from time to time, especially after long training days. I have been taking *Glucosamine *at it helps. I also have celebrex that my sports medicine Dr. prescribes for me
As a Famiy Practice Doc who does some sports medicine:
At 30 with an acute trauma mechanism you likely have a vertical tear or bucket handle which could easily extend=worsen with impact or twisting activity.
DON’T RUN until you know the extent of this injury. Many, many athletes have sustained further damage to their precious meniscal cartilage by “running easy” or “just one more” ski run, etc.
If you’re limping and have a clinical diagnosis from a good sports doc,
DON’T DO IT!
I’ve had surgery about 3 years ago and now my knee is bone on bone with osteoarthritis. I saw a sport doctor and she prescribe me an unloader knee brace by Ossor. Check out www.ossur.com . Knee brace works pretty well. I’ve done 3 IMs with it. It’s not 100% but, it keeps this old Ironman going. I also take celebrex once a day. Your knee will probably be never the same but, once you get it diagnose properly, get back into it, you only live once, and get use to the pain. Good luck
Opinions and results will vary so you will have to make the call. 3 knee surgies are in the books for me and 2009 was my last official year in triathlon. ACL/PCL repair on one knee that is doing fine. The knee that took me out was the twice trimmed up medial meniscus on the opposing side oddly enough. I’m bone on bone now according to my MRI two weeks ago. Showing mild signs of arthritic pain as my tibial plateau is just getting obliterated with running. My ortho is an extremely competitive age group runner 34ish 10k’er. He told me if I wanted to blow it up I could go a couple of more years until the pain was unbearable…then hobble around. Or go back to cycling and stay active. I’m doing the latter…and selling a lot of stuff:(
You will get advice such as ‘get a 2nd opinion your ortho is in the stone ages’. My ortho is a dear friend of nearly 12 years and has no vested interest in me other than to help me maintain my athletic lifestyle as long as possible. If he was in it for money he would tell me to run and blow it up so he could throw me on the operating room table again. As it stands now he thinks I could cycle the rest of my life and that my knee will actually start feeling much better once I stop pounding it with running. Told me to keep doing the same exercises he prescribed post-surgery. Some people will keep asking a doc if they can run until they find one who says ‘sure you could run’ and then that makes it okay?
Just use your noggin, certainly let pain be some sort of a guide…and good luck!
Your answer: Yes. No. Maybe. Depends. There are as many answers as there are people. But my opinion would be: wait for the MRI to evaluate the situation. Then either resume running, have the surgery, or some other alternative. But I’d wait for the MRI before I’d run again (well, newer, smarter me would wait. Old me wouldn’t. Which is how I ended up being new me…learning the hard way ;-)).
Adding to the “Don’t rush to surgery” column. Currently running with an MRI confirm medial meniscus tear in the left knee. Laid off the running for 90 days after the confirmation. Started an aggressive program of icing and compression after any exertion that produced pain, and daily doses of Kaprex and Glucosamine Sulfate. (Much more effective in my case than Chondroitin)
The ortho who “fixed” my ACL in the other knee said “Let’s cut. The sooner the better.” My second opinion ortho, who works with athletes, said, “If you can deal with it, leave it alone. You’re not making it worse by running on it. Give the red zone, or vascular portion, time to heal, and then listen to your body.”
The knee is able to support running at pre-injury level - sometimes with mild, tolerable pain (see below), and sometimes with no pain at all.
PLUS… I am now concentrating on midfoot to forefoot running, emulating barefoot running. This is both with conscious effort in standard running shoes, and wearing the Vibram Five Fingers, which are a radical departure for this former heal striker. But - No Knee Pain when running in the Vibrams. None.
Of course, each case is different. Talk to a number of docs, and listen to your body. Good luck with your decisions.
I was diagnosed with a tear 5 years ago. I rehabed and it haven’t had any issues with it since then but I’m not playing any twisting type sports. The doc said that I didn’t have to do anything with it unless it really started bothering me.
You have to wait 30 days for an MRI? Oh wait, you have Canadian healthcare. Sorry, don’t mean to hijack but I cannot believe you have to wait 30 days for an MRI. Push to get in sooner!
And, I have the healthcare agrument all the time as I’m originally from Canada and almost watched my Mom die because she had to wait 30 days for a brain scan.
Unfortunately I understand what you mean when you say most people keep going to a doctor until they say yes you can run. I have looked for that a lot. I just want to here that i can run again. I have chosen not to because it scares me for the pain to come back worse and i want to be able to walk right. I have what my doctor would say…a small bucket handle tear in my left leg and even though it was small , when i first realized that i needed to take a break from working out excessively i could not walk, the pain was unbearable and i was crawling on the floor in my house to get any where. I don’t remember my knee ever locking, however, it did give out twice. I was only 16 when i did this to my self from constantly working out and i never gave it a break. The thing is when i tore it i thought it was just a normal running ache and kept going wouldn’t stop, until i was forced to. My knee has never healed completely i stayed on R.I.C.E for 7 months, basically just resting in bed, which helped. The pain was not at all as severe. I get pain now if i walk for too long, after a run( during the run it gives me bad pain in my shins), or any jumping exercise’s. I would say its definitely a struggle to find a satisfying workout i always seem to do a workout i probably shouldn’t because i just want to feel like i use to , feel happy from being myself. honestly, being active is just who i am its my life and is sucks to not have that any more. its been two years now and my right knee is torn too , i know its not a bucket handle tear but i’m not sure exactly what it is. It was always torn i just could never feel it, i knew it would be due to my past working out and moving/ jumping rope tore it. I try to forget that i loved running and it was my passion because i don’t want to be depressed and sad all my life, sometimes i will think about it and i want to cry because i want my life back, but i look at it as i have a new lifestyle now and i want to be happy and i am happy now in different ways… i do have only one life and i choose to live pain free and happy. I am great full that i experienced running , i am thankful god gave me that moment.