UnfilteredDregs

So, last Sunday, I was stopped in a left turn lane at a light and this dope coming from the intersecting direction makes a left...

Right into me. I see him coming, hop up on the pedals, I get hit, right side, roll onto hood, roll off... Drivetrain bent, frame twisted, headset shifted...etc..

Words are exchanged, I ask for info, driver takes off. I got the plates, and a witness- NYPD Captain...some karma there. I'm going to lawyer up.

Nevertheless, I'm definitely injured. Hurts, some clicking, a throbbing dull pain. I can walk on it, I should be off my feet, I have a brace on and I'm seeing the specialist next week. I'll probably end up with an MRI for confirmation.

Hopefully it won't require surgery...

So, question for you folks who've had this injury before...How long until you returned to cycling and what did you do in terms of PT to prepare your knee and move things along?

Thanks...

rpenmanparker 

If indeed you have a torn meniscus, it must be cleaned up surgically. Cartilage does not heal. Good news is that you can be walking normally immediately and cycling within just a few days of the surgery and back to your normal distance and effort within about 2-3 weeks. At least that was my experience. It takes months to be pain free during running, but cycling caused me no pain after just a few rides. I started off slow, just 3 miles for the first two rides, but quickly added time and mileage after that.

One thing to watch out for after the surgery is range of motion (incomplete bending) due to scar tissue. I had that problem and my surgeon just wanted me to wait for improvement. That would never have come if I had not fallen one day and suffered complete compression of the leg (full bend) that tore the scar tissue. Intense pain for days, but when fully healed, I had my full range of motion back. Don't let your surgeon tell you the scar tissue complications are normal. If you have that problem, make sure to demand a second procedure to release the tissue and allow full range of motion.

It is really no big deal.

Carbonfiberboy 

My experience was also that breaking up the scar tissue was much the worst thing. I was on my rollers on the 3rd day. I rode easy on them for a few days, then went out on the road and rode OK, but not pushing it. Normal use riding, hiking, stretching, and weights gradually broke up the scar tissue over a period of about a year. It was probably about a year before I was totally back to where I had been, with full range of motion and strength, can't tell the difference between knees, etc.

But every meniscus repair is going to be a little different, depending on the nature and severity of the tear, and of course on the surgeon.

Long Tom

Definitly lawyer up and pronto. Also, your car insurance MIGHT cover you on your bike. My injury attny says my State Farm would. At any rate, the driver's insurance will. But there's a sizable settlement to be properly negotiated and handled here. In short, the driver's PIP will cover ALL your medical expenses, then, there will be an injury settlement seperate from that. The settlement won't be for a while- you should be medically stable prior to initiating the settlement process, partly so that you actually know to what degree, and what degree of permanence, you have been injured. You don't know that yet.

DO NOT talk to the other side's claims adjuster. When you talk to the other side's PIP adjuster, be aware they are recording everything you say and can and will use it against you. Never let the words "it feels pretty good" come out of your mouth when talking to these people. In fact, don't talk to them. Let your lawyer do that.

DO pursue every single iota of medical care suggested by any medical professional. Every imaging session, every PT session, specialists, everything. This is the one time in your medical life that you want EVERYTHING on the record; you want to pursue everything. It costs you NOTHING, and it all adds to the solidity of your eventual settlement claim. As well as the health of your knee going forward! You have to live with this knee the rest of your life. Dunno how old you are, but at 48, I feel every significant injury I've ever had. This knee will likely never be the same. Be PISSED! Act accordingly.

There's real money at stake here. My brother got hit on a bike and broke his collarbone, requiring surgery. $50k settlement. I think yours will be in that range AT LEAST if you take care of business. Likely more as a knee is weight-bearing and you are an avid cyclist (IE, your knee health is crucial to you)... And again, that's completely seperate from the medical you are getting- or rather should be getting, you dufus <grin>- right now.

Lawyer up pronto and get ye to the doctor.

I just went through an injury settlement. PM me if you have any questions, or better yet, ask your lawyer.

spdntrxi

yeah like others have said.. you NEED to get it cleaned up... there is little to no blood flow and it will not heal itself. Get under the knife quickly. I tore mine pretty good 70% on inside left knee.. have some discomfort and very light swelling but cycling is ok. Scar tissue is indeed the issue... gotta get moving right away.. I torn mine along with my ACL .. I'm no Adrian Peterson or Derek Rose for sure.

JohnJ80

Getting medical advice on a bike forum is always questionable.

I've had a history of knee issues - Basically, you need to have a specialist look at it and it's going to take an MRI to figure out what to do about it. There are all sorts of tears to the meniscus and it depends on what kind you have. If it's just a little tear on the side, cleaning it up is a 15 minute outpatient surgery deal, crutches maybe for a day and then normal activity within two or three but stay out of the water until the incisions heal. If it's more serious, then it's going to depend on what exactly happened and how damaged it is.

Then again, it may not be the meniscus, could be something else. You can also have ligament damage that may manifest itself as pain and swelling (my lost acl felt a lot like what you describe as I was tearing it in multiple events) - could be lots of stuff.
Knees are just tricky, that's all there is to it.

I've had a torn meniscus and had it repaired - trimmed. Did it under a spinal (recommended) and it was done in 15 minutes. I resumed most of my normal activities the next day. I also no longer have an ACL in my other knee - tore over a series of accidents over 5 years about 30 years ago and never had it repaired. Meniscus is in pristine condition because I wear a brace on it for all activities where it's at risk (i.e. skiing) - braces are supposedly not all that effective but it's worked for me. Last year I had a weird injury due to the lack of an ACL where I stepped off of a step with a straight leg (lighting was wrong to see it), causing my femur to slide forward over the meniscus and sprain the popelitus muscle that is a small muscle that winds around the back of your knee to help twist your lower leg and foot. I thought for sure that I had a torn meniscus and it needed to be repaired. My surgeon thought so too until the MRI came back and found that meniscus and ligaments were fine. Turns out PT fixed it and it had to do with the misbalance between muscles on the front of the leg vs those on the back (quads vs hamstrings basically). So, it's really hard to tell what the problem is just because knees are so complex - you'll probably need the imaging to figure it out and you need to get that through an ortho specialist.

Just get off to the doc and get started on figuring it out. You have to do that regardless of what transpires on the legal front.

J.

nuke_diver

I've had 2 (both knees) done as well as some other stuff. Get it checked out but I'm going to say surgery isn't necessarily needed if you can function without. I've retorn my right one and have been avoiding surgery for a long time. Biking is pretty easy on it and I don't do anything else that would require me to have surgery (if you are playing ball or something its different). But the doctor needs to be the one giving you the advice since everyone is different (and yes it was a doctor who told me not to have surgery). Granted it may be that since I have already had work done there was less to worry about that a pristine knee

UnfilteredDregs

I'm going through all the proper medical checks, specialist & MRI this week, I filed a claim with their insurance, I've spoken with an excellent lawyer, the next step is getting a definitive diagnosis. This is superbly annoying, bike is trashed and no riding! Thanks all.

Long Tom

Your 3 seperate claims will be:

-for your totaled bike, this will happen fast, should be enough for an acceptable replacement bike;

-PIP for your medical (pretty much automatic, just go to the doctor);

-a settlement where they pay you some amount of money to basically "be done". This will happen in a year or so. This buys you the bike of your dreams.

sergioflorez

this is a very helpful thread as i might have done the same last week. i was stretching at home and felt the worst pain after my knee slightly popped. i'm out of commission from work and i've been off the injured leg since monday. the doctor that helped me in e.r. said it might be an old tear that finally gave way. x-rays don't really show much and i have no swelling in that area. just pain when i apply pressure to the injured left leg. this would be the second torn meniscus i've had. i received arthroscopic surgery for the first one back in 2005/6(?). i see an orthopedic doctor tomorrow, and get a second opinion on friday. i need to ask for an mri tomorrow. i really want to get back to my biking regimen. i don't want this injury to hinder any long term bike riding.

jtm54

So I have had both my left and right knees worked on this year with meniscus tears. The left was like most have described; easy couple slow days, then no issues. Now I am dealing with the right knee, which was repaired, not trimmed. This has been 4 weeks of crutches and no weight. I took this route because I'm young and like the idea of my OEM parts sticking around. There is a chance that the repair will not work and I will be back in to have it trimmed. Doctor said it could be a total of three months before I'm 100%. I plan to be on the trainer pretty quick after the crutches are off and hopefully a couple out door rides before it gets really cold.

nuke_diver

How is this working out for you? I also had that done on my right knee and I was told at the time it was 90/10 that it would work...but it didnt. The repair held but I lost a lot of flexibility in that knee and discomfort. Then it tore again but I haven't got it fixed cause I can deal with it 99% of the time. My current doctor said that now they have found most of the repairs don't work. I had my repair done in the mid 90's so technology might have gotten better again (my current doc said that about 4-5 years ago when I first went to see him)

jtm54

I'm still in the crutches part for about one more week. My Dr. gave it 80% chance of holding, he did not talk about loss of flexibility. I really don't need that, I would like to stay active outside of cycling. When I first started talking to this Dr. he said his first choice to is to always repair rather than cut out. Hopefully things have changed from 4-5 years ago.

JerrySTL

I tore a meniscus while running. I found that I could ride without pain even be surgery as long as I spun the pedals and kept my rump on the saddle. However I couldn't even walk without pain. After the surgery to scope out the tear, I could ride pretty soon afterwards. However I've never been able to run as well. In fact my knee hurts if I don't ride enough. Riding must strengthen up the muscles and stabilize the knee some.

nuke_diver

My loss of flexibility was, according to my surgeon, unexpected. It has not impacted my ability to cycle at all (in fact cycling is the easiest thing I do with respect to my knees). Depends on what you do outside of cycling as well. I was already in my mid 30s when I had that procedure done and it was in the mid 90's so there are nearly 2 decades of possible improvements. I thought repairing would be better than removing since I already had all the cartilage removed in my left knee before that surgery but in my case it probably would have been better and the recover quicker to have it removed. If it gets too bad I'll have to have that done but for now I deal with the discomfort so long as it doesnt lock up too much (or lock without being able to unlock)

lenny866

Unless the driver had no insurance or a 10K/20K policy......