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How did you resolve a torn meniscus.


  • Total voters
    40

ella_g

Getting off the lift
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Dec 4, 2016
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206
@James Here’s articles about 2 different studies. Should be able to read without subscriptions (I don’t subscribe to either). @vanhoskier i agree re just running, when I hit 50 miles / wk without crosstraining I run into trouble. Thing is I really like running and don’t really like any kind of cross training, especially the stuff that helps the most like circuit training. I basically run until I’m injured then am forced into the swimming pool. Not so smart ....

https://www.runnersworld.com/genera...-much-healthier-knees-than-scientists-thought

https://mobile.nytimes.com/2017/01/...tps://mobile.nytimes.com/search/Running knees
 

Wendy

Resurrecting the Oxford comma
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As someone who is a likely candidate for a knee replacement in a decade or so, running has helped with blood flow in the joint. Selecting the proper running shoe is important.

The worst thing I can do for my knee is to go skiing with no prior exercise or training to increases blood flow and builds surrounding muscle support.
 

Snowfan

aka Eric Nelson
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Had my meniscus worked on yesterday. Enjoyed a full nights rest for the first time in months. No pain due to nerve block that will wear off in a couple days. Doc says I'll need a new knee in a decade or so so I'll be sure to wear out this one while I have it.
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Big J

Getting off the lift
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Sep 10, 2017
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A meniscus tear is obviously a very common knee injury.
After a fall at The Jane twenty years ago, two different orthos advised me to undergo arthroscopy. But, at the time, I was a thirty something gym rat, so of course I opted for ice and PT, and I was soon as good as new.
Fast forward to this year: on day one at Loveland, I tweaked the knee, while flopping onto the chairlift after about lap 20. My left boot became wedged under the low chair, and my ski railed to the left for a moment, until the chair lifted away from the snow.
I have skied six days, with manageable pain, but after a day of stomping around in the snow, chasing pheasants, the knee is somewhat painful and swollen.
My doctor of choice is not available, until the New Year, and I have a condo available all next week, so of course I will be skiing.
But I am curious as to how others have fared with meniscus injuries, understanding that healing of the meniscus is largely determined by the type of tear and its location.
What are your experiences?
I had meniscus surgery on my left knee before last season and skied carefully on it 10 times after the surgery. Before the surgery I skied 12 times with it torn without too much of a problem. I then further damaged it in the summer and the pain became too much. So, I had the surgery. Fixed me right up but a year later is bothering me again. I also had a problem with my right knee and it is worse than the left that I had surgery on. My ortho says I should have it done as well. I am a bit dismayed that my left knee has begun to give me problems again. I may just put off the surgeries and ski again this year and see how it goes. I am expert level and was Pro Patrol in Germany and volunteer in Colorado. I am 60 years old. 5'10" and 240 somewhat fatboy pounds. I am also aware that losing excess weight is beneficial to ones knees. I am a seasons pass holder and now mainly a cruiser. I hope this gives one insight on having or not having the surgery.
 

Rich Peters

Booting up
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Dec 9, 2016
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9
Roll back to January 2012, left knee arthroscopic surgery to repair a torn meniscus. To this day it is pain free, Dr. said I should "clean up the right knee at the same time".
Nope, I didn't listen. I still wasn't skiing in 2012 from an extended time off, like maybe 30 years!
Ok, moving forward to about 5 years ago and picked up skiing again. This time all in, new technique (for me), new equipment, gear, etc. and lots of skiing.
My son Jed is my ski buddy and one of my best friends. He's been a rock for me and has helped me both skiing and introducing me to crossfit.
Fast forward to this past season, my right knee is painful, I feel a clicking when I walk sometimes, but mostly a grinding. Off to the orthopedic guys. All four of them said you aren't quite ready for a replacement yet, but we'll give you a cortisone injection to help you finish the season. That was in August 2018. First shot was ok for about a month, waited for another couple months then got another. Didn't work, I mean no relief at all. Stopped crossfit, pain too much, still skiing tho.

Fast forward to May 2018.....saw Dr. at Tahoe Orthopedic and Sports Medicine. Met Dr. Alison Ganong, discussed stem cell therapy and PRP (Platlette Replacement Therapy). July 2018 Dr. Ganong removed some stem cells with white blood cells and injected into my right knee. Now it's only been about 5 weeks since I've had the injection, but I am optimistic this will do some good. Will it grow meniscus, no, don't think so, will it provide an opportunity for healing using my own blood resources, yes.
The procedure is more complex than I've described here and results vary from patient to patient. But for me, I'm in PT, and will soon go back to crossfit. That's the positive we are taking out of this. My suggestions.....stretch, stretch, stretch, and get as fit as you can in the off season.

By the way, I don't plan on a knee replacement for another 8 or so years, if at all!
I'm 72 now and will continue my goal of skiing at least 40 days (or more) every year.....so far so good!
 

Dave Marshak

All Time World Champion
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I just got back from the doctor after an MRI.

I looks like I'm in for arthroscopy on my meniscus, and and a knee replacement if I live long enough.

Still hoping for a total body transplant with Gleyber Torres as the unlucky donor. Not that I wish him harm or anything, just saying he's the perfect donor.

dm
 

no edge

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Me too, Dave. About two months ago I fell down the basement stairs... top to bottom. I knew I was in trouble but waited to see a doctor until two weeks ago. MRI shows meniscus problem and I am scheduled for surgery two weeks from today.

I have no symptoms walking and jogging. But I went to the gym and lifted with squats and deadlifts and that turned out to be not good. So I guess I need to get the surgery. All I want is to go skiing.
 

no edge

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Scheduled for This Friday. Hope I am doing the right thing. I think that I could ski on it unless my knee moved to the inside aggressively.
 

VickieH

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Denver area
Seems better to get it fixed now and ski all season than to ski part of the season, oops, and then get it fixed.

Start focusing now on post-surgery, rehab, and what your successful outcome will feel like.
 

no edge

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Got the surgery yesterday and it was less painful than I thought it would be. I think the damage was not too bad. I was walking without crutches last night and today. I felt sick from the general but that is fading away.

The doctor is a guy I ski with and he said it was good that I took care of it now. We'll see.
 

tball

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My surgeon says I should be fine to ski a month after surgery for my small medial meniscus tear. Does that seem crazy?

I'd rather get it done before ski season gets into full swing as it's keeping me from sleeping at night without an ice pack, Tylenol, and ibuprofen. I forgot my ice pack on a recent trip and the pain was unbearable at night even with Tylenol and ibuprofen.

It doesn't bother me other than sleeping and running. Don't want to give up either. :D
 

Snowfan

aka Eric Nelson
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My surgeon says I should be fine to ski a month after surgery for my small medial meniscus tear. Does that seem crazy?

I'd rather get it done before ski season gets into full swing as it's keeping me from sleeping at night without an ice pack, Tylenol, and ibuprofen. I forgot my ice pack on a recent trip and the pain was unbearable at night even with Tylenol and ibuprofen.

It doesn't bother me other than sleeping and running. Don't want to give up either. :D

Mine hurt a lot also. I had it fixed in March of this year and skied 21 days later with no ill effects. Feels fantastic now.
 

Doug Briggs

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The first three. I had bucket handle tears and others. Sometimes they got stitched up, other times stuff just got removed. I know my menisci have been heavily damaged over 60 years of life, 55 of them skiing. Fortunately I don't have any chronic pain, clicking or other obvious repercussions from all that damage.

The poll is flawed. ;-) All of the above would include these options: it just got better over time and it never got better. I chose one, but the first three options are what I've done.
 

Andy Mink

Everyone loves spring skiing but not in January
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My wife tore hers and had cleanup surgery in 2009 or 10. Then she broke her tip/fib in the other leg. Using the repaired knee for support for several months didn't make the prior tear happy. Fast forward a few years and she's skiing again but feels weak turning on the repaired knee. Yesterday we skied the WROD at Mt. Rose. She was on her Fulluvits at 98 under foot. Her knee was bugging her. She hopped on the 157cm Z-90s I was using and took a run. While the skis are too short, she immediately noted that turning them did not hurt her knee nor did it feel weak. I'm guessing the skis, though somewhat narrower than her 98s, felt better because they are shaped to be easier to turn. So, maybe for those afflicted with knee pain the studies showing wider skis cause or exacerbate knee problems are more accurate than not. Just a non-scientific, one subject, one run "study"!
 

SSSdave

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Since my earlier post last March, my right knee meniscus has occasionally bothered me just as has been the case for many years. Then for periods of as much as a few months no symptoms. All my bump skiing last winter did not seem to bother it but rather other off trail hiking activities. Likewise during the summer hiking or backpacking trails was not much an issue but sometime rambling over difficult off trail terrain that requires a lot of odd gymnastic movements. Things like climbing over logs and moving through talus.

Last few weeks I've had some troubles and then a couple weeks ago suffered for the first time ever a plantar facitis injury on my right heel bone that I've had trouble fully healing from. So upon re-reading this thread found the below site on the web that seems to lean towards self healing and minor physical therapy. Also has some excellent info on meniscus knee physiology and exercises, some that I have not read elsewhere.

https://www.alwaysfysio.nl/en/meniscus-tear-treatment/
 

Captain Furious

A ticking time bomb of fury
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Mar 20, 2017
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I got an MRI last week and learned that I had a radial meniscal tear in my right knee. I can pinpoint the day of the injury but not the specific point in time as I didn't feel pain until the following day. It appears that it happened during a fly fishing trip out in Wyoming.

Fast forward to yesterday, 10/31. I had surgery and it appears to have gone well. Doc told me to keep my weight bearing down with the use of crutches until Saturday. Wildcat is now open on the weekends so it's a bit of a bummer that I can't get some early season turns in but that's OK. I'm shooting for mid-December for just easy groomer zoomed runs so that I can be ready for skiing the bumps by Christmas / New Years time frame. We don't normally get any big snow falls until the end of December in New England anyway so I'm not missing a whole lot.

I'll update everyone once I'm back on the mountain. As an aside, this experience has taught me the value of getting back into shape. Starting 11/9, I'm going to implement a daily AM stretching routine and by Christmas, I plan on getting back to the gym. I haven't worked out since I tore my triceps tendon in January of 2015.
 

Captain Furious

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Here is my Update... I’m not 100% pain free yet. But I expect to go skiing for the first time on 12/1/2018. We’ve been getting hammered with snow in northern New England and I can’t wait any longer. Surgery was on 10/31. I feel like it’s been enough time, especially because I think the residual pain is from the actual surgery and not due to any knee instability.

Bill
 

EricG

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Meet with more than one Dr before you get anything done. Make sure you feel confident in what they are telling you. You may even want to talk to a PT before you go under the knife.

Make you are as strong as you can be before surgery as it will make recovery much easier. I have postponed my next surgery as I’m just not strong enough right now, (work, PhD studies & family have cut into my time). I’d rather take it easy on the slopes this year instead of having an awful recovery.

As someone whom has had almost a dozen surgeries between my knees and hips I encourage you to understand what’s going to be done & any alternatives before committing.
 

tball

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I got it done Thursday.

20181206 .jpg

DIAGNOSIS: Left knee meniscus tear
PROCEDURE PERFORMED: Left knee arthroscopy, meniscectomy - Date: 12/6/2018

Here's hoping it helps my pain or at least doesn't make it worse. Symptoms that brought got me here have been severe pain at night that wakes me up even with Tylenol, Ibuprofen and sleeping with ice packs. I'm also not able to run without two days off between runs. I could live with not running, but need to sleep. It hasn't impacted my skiing much.

I'm not sure how I tore my meniscus. Probably any number of stupid choices I made skiing. I've been sleeping with ice packs on my knee for probably ten years off and on and it's getting worse. Two docs and my PT think surgery should help or is at least worth a try.

Bad timing with the best early ski season in memory here in CO. Oh well, such is life. I needed the time through this fall to train and get back into shape following some other stuff. Good news is training went well, and I went into this with some decent fitness. I traditionally also have a hard time skiing in December because of the holidays and end of year work stuff. That hasn't changed, just that skiing is fantastic as opposed to typically marginal. Once again I'm thankful for the long ski season in Colorado and look forward to great skiing into June!

Extra good news: my knee feels great on day 3. I was told to use crutches as necessary the first couple days, and haven't needed them too much. I'm walking with a close to a normal gate today, just going easy on stairs. No painkillers beyond Tylenol and Ibuprofen. I went to a Chrismas party last night without my crutches, and almost certainly overdid it yesterday but woke up feeling great after icing it all night.

At this point, I have every expectation to ski the first week of January, as my surgeon said I probably could. Follow up appointment this week will hopefully confirm I'm on track for that. At the very least, if the surgery doesn't relieve my pain, it wasn't a huge deal, at least so far. Fingers crossed. Everyone is different, of course!
 

EricG

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I got it done Thursday.

View attachment 60337
DIAGNOSIS: Left knee meniscus tear
PROCEDURE PERFORMED: Left knee arthroscopy, meniscectomy - Date: 12/6/2018

Here's hoping it helps my pain or at least doesn't make it worse. Symptoms that brought got me here have been severe pain at night that wakes me up even with Tylenol, Ibuprofen and sleeping with ice packs. I'm also not able to run without two days off between runs. I could live with not running, but need to sleep. It hasn't impacted my skiing much.

I'm not sure how I tore my meniscus. Probably any number of stupid choices I made skiing. I've been sleeping with ice packs on my knee for probably ten years off and on and it's getting worse. Two docs and my PT think surgery should help or is at least worth a try.

Bad timing with the best early ski season in memory here in CO. Oh well, such is life. I needed the time through this fall to train and get back into shape following some other stuff. Good news is training went well, and I went into this with some decent fitness. I traditionally also have a hard time skiing in December because of the holidays and end of year work stuff. That hasn't changed, just that skiing is fantastic as opposed to typically marginal. Once again I'm thankful for the long ski season in Colorado and look forward to great skiing into June!

Extra good news: my knee feels great on day 3. I was told to use crutches as necessary the first couple days, and haven't needed them too much. I'm walking with a close to a normal gate today, just going easy on stairs. No painkillers beyond Tylenol and Ibuprofen. I went to a Chrismas party last night without my crutches, and almost certainly overdid it yesterday but woke up feeling great after icing it all night.

At this point, I have every expectation to ski the first week of January, as my surgeon said I probably could. Follow up appointment this week will hopefully confirm I'm on track for that. At the very least, if the surgery doesn't relieve my pain, it wasn't a huge deal, at least so far. Fingers crossed. Everyone is different, of course!

Fingers crossed for you to have a quick and smooth recovery.

Trust how you feel, don’t push it too hard too fast.
 

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