Meniscus tear

[mackenzie]

I am living with a meniscus tear in my right knee ...... its uncomfortable but the consultant that i spoke to in lockdown reckoned that, as i'm in my late 60s, and have got arthritis in my lower legs, i could actually end up being worse off if I had had surgery on my knee, so i left it.

Is there a link to arthritis with it?

 

[Eaststander1]

Is there a link to arthritis with it?

The consultant seemed to think there was ...... I'm showing signs of having arthritis in my knees, due to 20 year old ankle injuries, and he said that having the meniscus surgery could actually leave me in a worse state, so I decided not to take the risk .... he also said that as my knees weren't actually 'locking,' or 'giving way' as i walked , they didn't really see it as being any any real kind of emergency.

 

[Wretched Vengeance]

I am living with a meniscus tear in my right knee ...... its uncomfortable but the consultant that i spoke to in lockdown reckoned that, as i'm in my late 60s, and have got arthritis in my lower legs, i could actually end up being worse off if I had had surgery on my knee, so i left it.

All the best with that, mate.

 

[bluefrom78]

Had what was described as a "bucket handle tear" in my knee in 2013 in my mid 30's whilst playing hockey, had arthroscopy (went private through work BUPA) under general anaesthetic to cut out the offending piece and tidy up in there. I'd had a partial tear of my ACL 10 years prior so the consultatnt cut out the torn section which wasn't actually doing anything and could potentially get in the way. Was back home the same day, had to go and see someone at the GP to get 2 stitches in the incisions out a couple of weeks later and to check it was healing ok and not infected.
As others have said, do whatever physio exercises they give you, if you don't then your recovery won't be as quick as it could be. "Fortunately" my injury was just after the end of the league season so had my op in July, was on crutches for a few weeks and eventually I was back playing hockey in March 2014 and did Reading half marathon the following year. My timings could be slightly off as it was over 10 years ago now...

Had a minor cartilage tear in 2023, doing shuttle runs on grass as part of pre-season training. Consultant advised a cortisone injection to reduce inflmation and see how it went. He also noted my ACL had finally given up the ghost some time in the 10 years between my two cartilage issues but wasn't done during the incident that tore my cartilage. If the cortisone didn't help then the options were arthroscopy to tidy up the tear or full ACL reconstruction.
Went with the cortisone injection in September 2023 and was back playing after Christmas. For me the consultatnt advised more stringent recovery due to my other issues. Currently just over a year on and still playing hockey and running, whilst i can "feel that I've got a knee" for want of a better term it's not given me any reason to stop playing or doing running so far (touch wood).

For cortisone injection, was a 5 minute job (ultrasound guided injection) and they gave a local anaesthetic, pain-wise it was then similar to getting any other injection. Bus there and back as they advised me not to drive, just in case but could walk without issue. After local wore off at home and I started moving my knee from horizontal to any sort of angle it sounded like someone had emptied rice kripsies into my knee, no pain but it sounded all kinds of wrong. Guessing it was due to them injectiong more liquid into the knee joint than is supposed to be there.

 

[richardtheref]

Had what was described as a "bucket handle tear" in my knee in 2013 in my mid 30's whilst playing hockey, had arthroscopy (went private through work BUPA) under general anaesthetic to cut out the offending piece and tidy up in there. I'd had a partial tear of my ACL 10 years prior so the consultatnt cut out the torn section which wasn't actually doing anything and could potentially get in the way. Was back home the same day, had to go and see someone at the GP to get 2 stitches in the incisions out a couple of weeks later and to check it was healing ok and not infected.
As others have said, do whatever physio exercises they give you, if you don't then your recovery won't be as quick as it could be. "Fortunately" my injury was just after the end of the league season so had my op in July, was on crutches for a few weeks and eventually I was back playing hockey in March 2014 and did Reading half marathon the following year. My timings could be slightly off as it was over 10 years ago now...

Had a minor cartilage tear in 2023, doing shuttle runs on grass as part of pre-season training. Consultant advised a cortisone injection to reduce inflmation and see how it went. He also noted my ACL had finally given up the ghost some time in the 10 years between my two cartilage issues but wasn't done during the incident that tore my cartilage. If the cortisone didn't help then the options were arthroscopy to tidy up the tear or full ACL reconstruction.
Went with the cortisone injection in September 2023 and was back playing after Christmas. For me the consultatnt advised more stringent recovery due to my other issues. Currently just over a year on and still playing hockey and running, whilst i can "feel that I've got a knee" for want of a better term it's not given me any reason to stop playing or doing running so far (touch wood).

For cortisone injection, was a 5 minute job (ultrasound guided injection) and they gave a local anaesthetic, pain-wise it was then similar to getting any other injection. Bus there and back as they advised me not to drive, just in case but could walk without issue. After local wore off at home and I started moving my knee from horizontal to any sort of angle it sounded like someone had emptied rice kripsies into my knee, no pain but it sounded all kinds of wrong. Guessing it was due to them injectiong more liquid into the knee joint than is supposed to be there.

I had a bucket handle tear about 12 years ago. Consultant predicted that within 2 years I would need the other one doing. Sure enough 18 months later the other one went.
However, when I had my 1st one done I came out of the op and a physio came to make sure I could handle stairs etc. He said everything was fine and so I started putting my clothes on. At this point a nurse came in and asked what I was doing. She then informed me that whilst I was under my heart rate went dangerously high and they nearly stopped the op. Wasn't allowed to leave the hospital until my blood pressure and heart rate returned to normal. 8 days later I left the hospital with no change.

Blood pressure returned to normal with medication about 6 weeks later. I am now permanently on blood pressure tablets and was also diagnosed with diabetes. Now prior to going in for the op I had had the pre op and everything was fine. The theory they came up with was that whatever was in the anaesthetic didn't agree with me.

 

[melrose40yarder]

I have done the meniscus on both knees right one twice.I have had 4 ops on the knees.The 1st one it was 11 wks before i was back on the golf course.The other 3 it took 7 weeks the physio is the most important thing to do.The consultant has been putting off a replacement on the right one for 2 yrs now and although my right knee is permantely swollen it does not affect mobility so i will follow his instruction.

 

[KS55]

The nhs did nothing wrong imo , they ask you what you are in for so there are no mistakes

Yes. I had a long Q&A session concerning my hip treatment. When I asked “Don’t you know.?” they confirmed they were just making certain. However, with my kidney stone, I got urgent referral on a Sat morning and nobody had actually told imaging dept they wanted a scan for that condition. Irony, the scan showed break up of stone. As you can see, my aged body is falling apart at the seams. What next?

 

[smevchenko]

Tore my meniscus and ACL in right knee in 2013 playing football. Had meniscus repaired first and waited 6 months to have ACL reconstruction. Generally been fine since.

Last year, had some issues with the same knee, got it checked out and had another tear of the meniscus.

Had surgery this year in late March, arthroscopy to tidy up the cartilage.

I was back walking 20-30k a week within a couple of weeks, and running 5k+ within a month no problem.

If you are fairly fit, you shouldn’t have any issues and should be a relatively quick recovery.

 

[Rammy Blue]

I don't create many threads.

However, I was wondering has anyone had this and required surgery. A torn meniscus.

I've torn mine and require an operation. Unfortunately, I have also sprained the ACL, tears in the quadricep tendon and a bone marrow edema . But apparently those can be dealt with by physio.

Fortunately the surgery is being done privately - work is paying.

Just curious to the timeframe for recovery as I want to get back to training and doing my job.

Any help/advice would be greatly appreciated.

Only saw your reference to this in the Rodri thread.

I annihilated my knee playing football at the end of January, unfortunately for me it was misdiagnosed a few times initially because I had zero swelling which even my surgeon said was utterly bizarre when he did first operation.

I couldn’t place weight on my foot and couldn’t straighten my leg, but was told it was just soft tissue damage.

After a few weeks eventually forced through an initial X-ray to get to the MRI stage and phoned every day until I got a cancellation to bring forward the MRI.

Waited 7/10 days for the MRI results and was dumbstruck when I saw them, I remember vividly opening the email and double checking it was correct results as it was like an essay of damage - did about 5/6 different bits of damage, but the main 2 were a bucket handle tear of medial meniscus and full rupture of ACL.

Saw the surgeon and as it had been 8 weeks since the injury was rushed in for the meniscus repair as the longer they leave it the worse the prognosis as there is poor blood supply to the inside of the meniscus - this is I suppose where it will relate to your injury - if they do a meniscectomy then it doesn’t take as long to recover but will likely result in advanced arthritis in future. If they do a meniscus repair, which is what I had, where they stitch it back in place rather than remove the affected part, then long term it’s better but the rehab is longer. I wasn’t allowed to weight bear for 6 weeks which was hell.

My surgeon does Prem footballers, Super League players and top athletes, and he advised we did my knee as 2 stage, as if he’d done the ACL whilst repairing my meniscus he said there was a high risk of me having a limp for the rest of my life. Consequently I had the repair in April and then done 4 months of strengthening ahead of me having my ACL reconstruction next week where they replace my ACL with part of my hamstring. At least I’ve had the summer, and now don’t really miss playing golf over the winter months.

Hope yours goes to plan, any questions just let me know, I’ve spent months speaking to consultants about all the different aspects.

 

[Wretched Vengeance]

Only saw your reference to this in the Rodri thread.

I annihilated my knee playing football at the end of January, unfortunately for me it was misdiagnosed a few times initially because I had zero swelling which even my surgeon said was utterly bizarre when he did first operation.

I couldn’t place weight on my foot and couldn’t straighten my leg, but was told it was just soft tissue damage.

After a few weeks eventually forced through an initial X-ray to get to the MRI stage and phoned every day until I got a cancellation to bring forward the MRI.

Waited 7/10 days for the MRI results and was dumbstruck when I saw them, I remember vividly opening the email and double checking it was correct results as it was like an essay of damage - did about 5/6 different bits of damage, but the main 2 were a bucket handle tear of medial meniscus and full rupture of ACL.

Saw the surgeon and as it had been 8 weeks since the injury was rushed in for the meniscus repair as the longer they leave it the worse the prognosis as there is poor blood supply to the inside of the meniscus - this is I suppose where it will relate to your injury - if they do a meniscectomy then it doesn’t take as long to recover but will likely result in advanced arthritis in future. If they do a meniscus repair, which is what I had, where they stitch it back in place rather than remove the affected part, then long term it’s better but the rehab is longer. I wasn’t allowed to weight bear for 6 weeks which was hell.

My surgeon does Prem footballers, Super League players and top athletes, and he advised we did my knee as 2 stage, as if he’d done the ACL whilst repairing my meniscus he said there was a high risk of me having a limp for the rest of my life. Consequently I had the repair in April and then done 4 months of strengthening ahead of me having my ACL reconstruction next week where they replace my ACL with part of my hamstring. At least I’ve had the summer, and now don’t really miss playing golf over the winter months.

Hope yours goes to plan, any questions just let me know, I’ve spent months speaking to consultants about all the different aspects.

Christ, that is quite a horror story. I think a a large part of mine is wear and tear over many years. My knee locked in the straight position, but it also did exactly the same thing three years ago - and that was after a fairly simple Sunday night run. I think I may have been carrying some sort of problem since then and fully aggravated it when in the gym and squatting. I was abroad with work and sent for an MRI, then flown home. Got first class so could have been worse :)

It seem arthritis is inevitable and a few posters have mentioned it also.

You've been right through the mill. All the best and hope everything goes well.

I appreciate you sharing and and the offer of advice.