Who's had knee surgery to repair Meniscus damage?

My left knee has damaged meniscus. Contemplating whether or not to get it fixed. It only hurts on hard landings while boarding. It also bothers me when I run on it, kneeboard (rarely), or any other time it is completely flexed. I can walk around and do my daily work without problem. Who's had the surgery and was it successful? would you do it again? How long to recover? My offseason is a good 5-6 months long now! The injury itself happened in early June.

meniscus clean up is nothing now days. You'll be back in business in a couple of weeks. The hard landing problem may not go away, but the completely flexed problem may go away. I'm not a doctor, but I think the hard landings and running pain will go away if you work on strengthening the muscles around the joint.

I have had both knees operated on for meniscus clean up. Both from basketball injuries. I was able to play again in 3 to 4 weeks. In my experience, if you have issues with the meniscus you will at some point need an operation. Also, in some cases they may attempt to repair the tear instead of removing it. The recovery for this is much longer.

I had the cleanup a few years ago from skateboarding. After a few weeks you are fine. Now I can't even tell which knee was hurt without looking at the scars (everytime I get a physical i forget which knee it was). We will see how well i do in a few years.

I had it done last thursday.

Nothing to it bro. Had it done on both knees back when I was in highschool. Its better to go ahead and get it outta the way. The recovery won't take anytime, and it will only get worse no matter how much you try to improve your leg strength. Trust me, I tried that route twice!

i have grade four tears on both meniscus in my front left knee and i was told they are too torn to fix and either have them removed or live with it..

i guess it depends on the grade of tear but mine hurts the same way yours does..i can live with it for now but who knows later..

I've had 3 left knee surgeries for torn cartilage (medial meniscus). First and 3rd were arthroscopic, 2nd was invasive. It fixed the original problem, which was my knee collapsing on me and hemorraging for no reason, but now it catches and I have to pop it (like popping your knuckles) - kind of like it's not aligning correctly anymore. I hurt my right knee skiing like 4 years ago and have never had it looked at cuz I don't want knee surgery again - I would only do it if I start having real serious problems with it (meaning something other than pain with activity). With arthroscopy, the recovery time was really quick. Oh - and the 2nd surgery removed about 3" of torn cartilage.

(Message edited by kylielogan on October 19, 2006)

Ive had banged up knees since HS football, but like some of you, I didnt want to have sergery til I needed too. I played 4 years of college basketball on it and wakeboarded on it for a decade. a couple of weeks ago I banged it up playing basketball and tore some cartilage and it was folded over into the joint so much that the joint didnt sit right. So I had to go in and since I have beat it up for a couple of decades prior, there was nothing to fix, only removal. Its only been one week, and the fix was obvious immediately. Now its just going to take a few weeks to get over the trauma of the procedure (cleaned up back of knee cap as well) and Im all set. Im doing PT now. I was able to walk on it immediately and never had any real pain per se. But its funny how your body reacts to the invasiveness of the procedure. While it appears that I walk normally with no noticeable limp, I do not. My quad doesnt fire properly (body protecting the joint) so Im relearning how to walk. It actually takes concentration on get the quad to fire. Seems odd to have to learn something thats been completely natural your entire life.

Originally tore my meniscus playing ball in HS also. Had it scoped the a couple of years later another injury playing ball, scoped again. Now I basically have no medial meniscus left and arthritis has set in...wish I had waited as long as possible to have the surgery. Tore my MCL and meniscus in my "good" knee in Jul...no surgery for me unless I have no other options. The extent of the injury may require surgery sooner rather than later. If they do have to cut meniscus out you're not getting it back. Just my thoughts.

JG so you did have the whole thiong removed,thats exactly what they told me i needed done as well..

i wasnt sure how that would work out and im waiting until its absolutly necessary to have surgery ..

I dont want to find out after having the Medial and lateral meiscus removed will end my wakeboard career so i live with the small pain and discomfort for now but keep me posted on your recovery especially when you get back on a wakeboard and try it out ..

which parts did you have removed medial and lateral or one or the other??

my mom just had the surgery and walked out of the hospital. shes a wuss and recovered completely in about 4 wks. you should definitely be good-to-go by the start of your season.

ps- the kneeboard, is probably the LAST thing you should be on. just a thought.

I had the surgery about 10 years ago and I watched the surgery on video. The medial meniscus was not just torn, it looked like spaghetti. Since you can't get any more cartilege just yet, surgeons like to preserve as much as they can. It took almost 18 months before it was right afterwards, but I was 46 when I had it done. It has been great since then. I've had lots of minor injuries from basketball, soccer and snow skiing. I've got pain in both knees and I know I've got some meniscal problems there, but I will wait until there is significant limitation in activity prior to additional surgery. I'm holding out for injectable replacement cartilege!

I've heard cadaver cartilage can be used in some cases. Anyone have that done?

Bill, no, not 100% removal, just removed the damage as opposed to sewing it back down or "repairing" it. Basically its been chewed up for a while, but at least it was staying out of the way. Once it tore enough to fold down into the joint it had to be fixed. However, because it was so jacked up anyway the damaged portion had to be removed rather than repaired. Plus the removal is a much quicker healing time than the repair. I dont even have my stitches out yet and I "feel" like I could ride (while I know I dont have the stregnth back in it to cut hard yet).

It was basically all cleaned up so some removal was done on both. However, I think the main trouble spot was cartilage removed from the area at the bottom of my femur.

Les, I believe my aunt has had the injectable cart. We were discussing it last weekend and she has to have it redone about ever 8 months, but she says its great. I believe its called fibrin gell. I believe in theory it could be the catalyst for regrowth, but she seems to require that it be redone every 8 months or so.

I just injured my knee two weeks ago in a pretty bad wakeboarding crash (I heard a pop and felt my knee crunch really hard). I had an MRI last week and they found a small medial meniscus tear but the dr said since it is on the exterior portion where there is blood flow, it may actually heal on its own. I also strained my ACL, had a deep bone bruise and a hairline fracture in the bottom of my femur. I am doing PT on it but it's still really stiff and I don't have full range back yet. I am hoping not to need surgery on the meniscus and will see the dr next week. Has anyone had a small tear like this that healed on it's own? Also, has anyone strained an ACL and are there problems with it in the future?

I say that the hard landing and running pain will go away with strengthening, because the stronger my knee has become post-op, the less pain there was in running, and hard landings.

Tracy - It all depends on how strong you are. I rode for about 3 years, with a serious ACL deficiency with no problems.

and then one day......it happened.

i had my meniscus repaired (sewn back together) about a month and a half ago. i had a brace up to my hip for 4 weeks and was told by my doctor its about a 6 week recovery after the brace is removed.

thane did you just mess up your acl worse this saturday or is the post in jest??

ACLs will repair themselves over time provided its not a full tear. This is the same with a sprain. You should be fine. I'm just now walking on my torn MCL. Feels weird after being immobile for 6 weeks. You don't have to have surgery for torn MCls which is nice, but the recovery seems endless.

thane---what happened?

I hurt my knee in oct. of '02. went to the doc and he did that whole, pull on my tibia test to see if it was a torn acl. he said I was fine, and sent me on my way with no MRI. I stayed off it for about 6 weeks, and started riding again. Rode pretty hard for the next 3 years, and then in august of '05 hurt it again, went to the doc. He also did the whole pull on my tibia thing and said that I was probably fine, but wanted me to have an MRI. MRI came back and showed a decent amount of scar tissue and completely torn acl. I went for a 2nd opinion and both docs think that it was 80% or possibly completely torn in oct. of '02.

Here's the thing: I think if I would have put a little more work into staying strong and stretching, I think I would still be riding with a partially torn ACL. for the 3 years that I rode with the deficiency, it never ever bothered me.

I had ACL recon in feb of 06, and I've been riding for about 2 months or so now. feels good.

Thane...other than bracing, and preventative, is there anything a doc can do for a partially torn ACL?? I think I got one.

Depends how bad it is. With small or slight tears, it's often best to let it heal itself. REHAB REHAB REHAB. Ibuporofen. Ice. You know the drills.

Go see a good doc who knows knees well!

Foxrep - Most doctor's are conservative, which means that they won't operate on the partially torn ACL. If you go to enough Doctor's you'll find one with a wild hair in his crack, that will tell you he can fix it.

OK...Nov. 14. 4 pm...I'm seeing Dr. Singer at OrthoCarolina. This group does all the ortho for the Carolina Panthers, Charlotte Bobcats, etc.

Now I'm torn on getting it done.....right now I'm hunting like everyday, climbing trees, etc. and snowboard season is right around the corner.....BUT I don't think I can take another big hit, or another summer on the water like this....plus I'd like to walk without a limp when I'm 60!

It's pretty much turned into a constant dull ache, and I've even got some tingling sensations in my tib/fib area. Somethin' ain't right!

They will get you straight. Don't tell them you want surgery. Ask them what the appropriate treatment is. Most docs don't like being told what to do. It's likely they will go in arthoscopically and do some investigating, figure out what your problem is. YOu'll be fine. Just follow their directions...

Yeah, ive had my knee banged up on numerous occasions with dull pain for long durations. All were resolved without surgery. I would avoid surgery if possible. I only got surgery because I hat cart torn and folded down into the joint causing it to hang and wobble. While my surgery was fairly minor, the resulting setback is frustrating. My procedure has been completly painless (except for the insane itch that occured when my leg hair grew back, haha). I feel great and my major muscles are still very strong, but that isnt whats affected. Its my fast twitch coordination and balance that have really suffered. I can probably squat 500lbs without a problem, but I cant manage to stand on one foot with my eyes closed without bustin my arse. Im only a couple weeks out of surgery.

I busted my ass getting as strong as possible for 5 or 6 months before I had my surgery, and for the past 8 months past my surgery, and I'm still not 100%. I'm getting there, but I'm not there yet.

Thane, so bottom line do you wish you had the surgery the first time or would you have just been more careful to stretch and stay strong? I just injured my ACL wakeboarding and my dr thinks it is partially torn (grade I-II) after looking at the mri and doing clinial stability tests. He has me doing rehab. now and it seems to be progressing pretty well--I am hoping he's right because the radiologist came back later (after my dr had reviewed the films) with a report saying he thinks my ACL is completely torn.

For anyone that has had a torn ACL, what are the main symptoms you notice once the swelling has gone down but before surgery?