Meniscus Injuries

They are a pain, poor blood supply to that area, my physio recommended waiting for the swelling to subside, then stationary or road cycling, no weights, no impacts, I couldn't ride moto for 8 weeks.

About 20 years ago I tore some meniscus and a partial mcl tear . Had to get meniscus cleaned up . By the time surgery took place about 3 months after the injury I was about 90 % recovered. Took about 4 months after surgery to feel decent. Still doest feel great. I actually think I felt better right before surgery then I do now.  Honestly should have left it alone. I did find out a couple years after surgery I was only the 3rd patient that orthopedic surgeon did surgery on. Take that for what it's worth.  But I do recall the first few weeks were quite stressful after the injury. I had started a concrete finishing business about a year before. I had to hobble around at work as soon as I could.  Wore a knee wrap. Since the injury I won't ride or ski without braces .

Even if torn do not rush to have surgery if you can avoid it. Physio it for months if you can. https://www.health.harvard.edu/staying-healthy/physical-therapy-as-good…
Also some evidence scoping can increase arthritis risk. I have torn meniscus several times and had both knees scoped. It can feel real bad and not require surgery and vice versa. Again don’t rush. If you get surgery or not strength training is your friend. 

Also stationary bike too apparently https://youtu.be/6PNBjKJ9hxQ?si=_3pCnh3zHPeAuQiv

Mine was miss diagnosed..

Was not torn ...sure felt like it.

Reverse sled pulls when you want to strengthen the knee. Google kneesovertoes guy

Partially tore mine about 15 years ago, didn't have surgery because no insurance or money for it. I did 600mg of ibuprofen in the morning to get the swelling down so I could get on with my day then 2 or 3 boosters of 400mg throughout the day. It took about 6 months to not hurt so bad then 9 months to a year to be basically healed. I'm still careful when kneeling with my knee flexed all the way because I can sometimes feel get pinched in that position.

Edit note: swelling was mostly internal, so that when I woke up in the morning I couldn't bend my knee, after the ibuprofen kicked in and it loosened up I could get around fairly normally. I never used crutches or took much weight off it which was probably a mistake.

Tore my meniscus’ in 97 and, 2019. Both times were relatively minor but, quite the hindrance. 
Both times took about 4-5 months before returning to normal. The one thing that helped was wearing an Ace bandage or, a knee sleeve. For some reason the compression really helped. It helped a lot actually. Don’t get a neoprene one. I made that mistake and, it just made my leg sweat and, became uncomfortable. Don’t get a sleeve that has metal bars in it either. They’re garbage and, the small metal bars end up poking through the sleeve anyways with some use. Just a simple Ace bandage with no bars and, no straps. 
 

Best advice I can give you is have patience. There will be days it feels decent. Other days you’ll be wondering, WTF. Just give it Time. 
 

When I tore mine, it never swelled, it just hurt. 

Rehab w PT daily.

Torn my Menis March '23, just started feeling better in Feb '24.  Yes can take a while for full recovery.

Some evidence sugg'ing most Arthroscopys are unnecessary.  PT in the swim pool is great.

Tore mine couple years back.  Make sure you get the best doctor you can.  I’m lucky, I live in Houston Metroplex.  We have some of the best doctors in the world.  The guy that did my knee is a stud, does lots of pro athletes and not just local pros, all over the country.  I had a double meniscus tear, tore up pretty good.  I walked out without crutches after surgery.  

As chance said, be patient, give it time.

When it's painful, just remember you are lucky, there are more painful injuries, testicular torsion is like somebody repeatedly kicking you in the nuts!

I tore my acl and meniscus they had to stitch up my meniscus. It was tore close to the main blood supply artery and were worried about it not healing. 

I had to keep weight off my knee for 6 weeks. On crutches they told me it was so the meniscus would heal properly. 

Finally at 9 months after surgery finally rode my bike last weekend 10.5 months from last ride. 

Really depends on the kind of tear and where it’s located on the tibial plateau. Different tears cause different issues and require different types of healing and/or surgery. MRI will tell the story. In the meantime keep it elevated as much as possible. It sucks but it’ll work out in the long run. 

Partially tore mine falling over in a turn years back. Decided not to have surgery and healed on its own. Just had to be careful of not twisting for a little while. Hasn’t bothered me since. 

I had a bucket handle tear (look it up). Someone on here diagnosed it right away because it was a plant & twist injury. Not sure that sounds like yours. Anyway, the "handle" part would pop out from time to time and hurt like hell and lock my knee until I laid down and massaged it back into the crevice. Not ideal for GNCC races LOL

I did heaps of PT but I was always scared that it was going to pop out and the news you will read on the injury suggests that it won't heal on its own. I eventually had surgery for them to remove the handle piece. It was minor and it's been great ever since.

Partially tore my once. Got surgery (didn't need to remove it or cut a lot of it out thankfully), it took 3-4 months to recover.

Tore the lateral meniscus this past April,  same as you didn't go down, but dabbed my foot. I heard/felt a pop, instant swelling and pain. Knee was never right, pain, couldn't bend well, hard to walk on, finally got surgery in October. Turns out the meniscus had flapped over and was catching on things. My leg is still on recovery, trying to get the muscles as strong as my good leg. I think waiting to have the surgery has made my full recovery time longer due to basically limping around and not being able to use the bad leg 100% . Good luck with your mri outcome!

This is what I had. Mine got worse with time, until it popped out and my knee was stuck in a bent position. They had to go inside and shave a bit off. 
 

 If you can avoid it, don’t let them shave any off, it’s not good in the long run. 

Usually tear the ACL first and meniscus damage follows…did they perform manual test for ACL tear?  look up Lachman test… 

In 1999 had a small meniscus tear diagnosis after I felt a small "pop" and got some swelling.  Doctor wanted to do surgery but I asked about waiting and he said go for it as he said it was up to me to endure the pain.  I used a stationary bike a lot, hiked, rode dirt bikes and I pushed off surgery until I tweaked it again in 2014 while working in the garage.  More pain, more swelling. I tried to power through it again but it would catch often causing lots of pain and swelling.  I would have to "wiggle it around" to get it freed up after it locked. Got it scoped in April 2014 where they only had to perform some cleanup on a small flap and a frayed edge.  Thought it would heal sooner but it took months to feel comfortable again but it's held up well for almost 10 years (I'm +60). Before the surgery, they told me they would trim it if they could, repair it if they had to, or remove it totally.  I would not know until I woke up.  For those reasons, push it off as long as you can as you don't want it removed totally...It's "only" pain and the possibility of it locking while you are out somewhere.  Good luck!

Eric

Current thinking is that, unless it’s got some severe damage like geez177 posted, surgery is not preferred.  Surgery may give some improvement in the short term but they have to remove material to effect the repair and that will accelerate you towards arthritis.

Take your time... if you feel it "clicking" or catching inside the joint.. that's a good time to have it cleaned up. If no clicking or catching than I wouldn't have it scoped. 

I did have a repair on one years ago by one of the Steadmen fellow doc's. 6 weeks on crutches. But it was a big tear and it clicked for sure. 

Depends on the tear, some dont heal on thier own and lead to knee instability, locking etc....may lead to further injuries. Mri will probably determine the best course.

What he said is correct. I had the same exact situation as you described. Had my leg come off the peg and my boot went straight down like a jack hammer. Felt the whole knee implode inside. So, I Popped what I thought was my meniscus and tried to soldier on for a year. MASSIVE mistake. When I finally had zero stability and couldn't even get my leg over the bike without getting on the stand first, I went to the doctor and had the MRI. Both of us thinking I had a Bucket handle tear in the Meniscus. Well, the results came back, and I had the tear in the Meniscus, but I also completely tore my ACL which is very common when you tear your Meniscus with a straight down impact. I had the surgery to replace the ACL, clean up the meniscus and fix my kneecap area. Everything is good with my knee except the meniscus. Once you tear it, it will never go back to normal. Hopefully this is not the case for you because if the ACL or MCL is torn get the surgery immediately. Fingers crossed for you it's just the meniscus and you can rehab it by cycling and doing light leg work outs. Walking backwards is awesome for making everything around the knee stronger. Ice that sucker literally as much as you can. It works. Also ask your doctor about the Rossur Unloader knee brace for the Meniscus. It works awesome to keep all the movement away from the meniscus while walking and getting it better.

Sorry you had that happen a big weekend like that. Good Luck 

Small tear in mine in 2018. PT recommended no surgery on the notion of letting it heal & **keeping the muscles surrounding your knee strong & in shape***

All good on my end 

I’m wishing you the best my man but I’d bet you have a torn ACL. I’ve done both knees and seriously fucked the meniscus in one of them because I went so long without treating that ACL tear properly. Just years of my knee popping out. 
The other knee I didn’t have fixed and just spend lots of time trying to keep them strong. I’d rather not do the surgery and just keep trying to heal them as best as possible with conditioning. Knee surgeries are no joke. 

You can never undo a surgery.  I’ve had a bunch with a couple that should not have been completed. If giving your body time to heal, living healthy as possible and PT can’t get you back to where you need to be only then consider a surgery. 

So true

Remind me to write the story about when it all goes bad riding at a OHV park in California. When the ranger runs you over in a 6x6 polaris ranger and ... lies about it. And you end up in the hospital with surgery on both legs and in a wheel chair for 6 weeks. 

Ya.. it happened. UNREAL!