Any advice for torn meniscus?

[vicb]

Ugh, just got my mri results back and looks like I have a torn meniscus along with ITB friction syndrome

All my trouble started when I was at Disney in May! According to my DD's fit bit we walked 40 miles in 5 days. I guess my 56 yo knee rebelled, even though I had been working out at the gym and pretty active before the trip. At first Dr. thought just tendinitis from all that walking but it got worse and now here I am.

Anyone else been through a similar experience? What was your treatment plan?

Hoping to avoid surgery and try PT first but won't know till my consult Monday.

Thanks.

 

[rwdavis2]

Depends on how bad the tear is. Surgery usually works and the first time I tore one the surgeon did not even send me to PT and I was fine. Up and walking the next day with a cane and back to work in 5 days.

It's most likely PT won't help the meniscus but you'll have to wait to see what the doctor says.

I've had IT band issues that were taken care of with PT along with a torn hamstring.

Good luck.

 

[DisneyHardin]

I've not had one, but one of my good friends did back last fall. She had the surgery and was in a full leg brace thing and on crutches for a week or so, and within a month was totally healed and walking fine.

 

[Mrs. Ciz]

I tore the medial meniscus is both knees two years apart. The first one (right) was more of a wear and tear issue. I'd been doing walk run intervals for years, and my knee kept bothering me. I'd rest for a couple of weeks, then try running again. Pain would come back. The final straw was going on an 11 mile hike with my 70 year old dad. I got up the mountain fine, but coming down was so painful. I was limping and my knee was very swollen at the end of the hike. I went in for an MRI and then straight to surgery to have the tear trimmed off.

The second knee (left) started bothering me a little bit a couple of years later. I thought I might have the beginnings of a tear but wanted to wait a few months to do anything about it. Then I tripped over a door jam and really tore it badly. The pain was instant and intense; I couldn't even walk. I went straight in for an MRI. Turns out the torn piece of meniscus was stuck in my knee joint. That's what was causing so much pain. I scheduled surgery as quickly as I could. While he was in there, the doctor scraped out some arthritis. He didn't do that to the first knee. My left knee feels so much better/stronger than my right knee now thanks to the scraping.

I never did any PT prior to my surgeries. PT will not fix a torn meniscus. I also didn't do any PT after surgery. I just went along about my active life.

 

[vicb]

Thanks for the responses! My Dr. is on vacation this week so I only got to talk to a nurse who wasn't very helpful in answering any questions (she's probably not supposed to). I have been on google all day reading up on things because this was not the injury they suspected from my ultra sound.

Well I had a great time at Disney but this was not the souvenir I'd hoped for

 

[CarolAnn856]

I've had two, one in each knee, both resulted in surgery not long after the diagnosis. The pain and stiffness was bad both times, and the tears were large enough that PT wasn't going to do anything to correct it. The surgical procedure is not bad at all, and I was walking without crutches out of the surgical center. Tons of ice and rest for a few days and then was back on my feet. PT after is really important, especially if you have other issues. I didn't with the first, which was an injury, but have been having ITB problems with the second, which was just wear-and-tear (surgery was back in April).

 

[ponyboy]

I've had surgery on my right knee twice for the same thing, I just got diagnosed with another tear on the same one a few weeks ago and I also have a tear in the left one they diagnosed last year. If you want to try and avoid the surgery then just tell them you want cortisone. Sometimes it works great and sometimes it doesn't help much at all. So far I've avoided surgery for the last two tears with the shots.

It also depends on how it's torn. It could be a situation where the tear will get worse if it's not repaired and cortisone might not be a good option. So a lot of it will be situational dependent.

I can tell you that the surgery recovery is a lot easier when you're 20 something vs. almost 40. First time I felt good pretty quickly. Last time I was sore for a while. My plan is to try and hold out on another surgery until they come out with robot knees and then get them both replaced and join the NFL as a kicker.

Good luck!