jacktackle

I had about 30% of my medial meniscus removed just over a week ago. Things are feeling pretty good and I feel I'm ready to at least try to do some light spinning on the bike. If there is any pain, I'm obviously not ready and will give it more time.

Looking to others who may have had similiar surgery as to when to begin, how quickly to progress and any other two cents worth anyone is willing to throw out here.

Thanks and give thanks to your knees!!! (And everything else of course!)

lennyk

Did you get clearance from you doc ?

I've had meniscus cleanups on both knees and didn't have any problems returning to activity a few weeks after as well as making sure my muscles were in good strength.

What part of the meniscus was removed ?
On one of my knees the piece was near the end/back, on the other knee it was a in a more critical load bearing area.

What my docs didn't tell me was that having less of a meniscus causes a higher probability of the bone surfaces rubbing and accelerated arthrtis, ie I have plenty wear and tear now. If I had a time machine I would go back and retired from soccer earlier.

Only when you start reaching the last millimeters of articular cartilage do you realize the damage done from wear and tear.

Carbonfiberboy 

I didn't have as much removed as you. I started riding rollers 1/2 hour/day in zone 1 about 4 days after surgery. I did that daily for about 2 weeks before I went out on the road because I wanted to avoid any possibility of putting stress on my knee. When I went out, I kept the gearing way down and spun up all the hills seated. It took a year to get it back. I had more trouble with the insult to the knee from the surgery than from any missing cartilage, at least so far, about 8 years.

jacktackle

Hey Lenny,

I haven't seen the doc for clearance yet. Due to see him on Thursday. I know I had a horizontal tear which looked to be roughly in the middle of my meniscus.

I've heard that any work on the meniscus will give you some arthritis down the road but if you didn't do anything about it, it would probably be worse since the tear would just continue to grow. LOL...I hear you re: Time machine. Soccer is so hard on the knees! If I had a time machine, I would have been sure to have better balanced my musculature. I have huge quads but did absolutely nothing for my hamstring muscles. Stupid. Live and learn, huh?

Thanks for the response. I may as well just wait a few more days before hopping on the bike.

jacktackle

Wow CRB,

Can't believe you rode rollers just 4 days after surgery!! Is that dedication or just being stubborn? I sat on my spin bike 4 days post surgery

Did you have any discomfort at all while spinning? Did you continue with the Advil during this time? I'm guessing that you must have still had swelling....

Good to hear that you were able to get back to where you were strength/cardiowise eventually. A year seems like forever but I guess you've got to look at the big picture, right? Thanks for the reply...it is appreciated.

lennyk

I played soccer 3 weeks after one of my surgeries,
removing a torn piece of meniscus is like taking a stone out of your shoe
its just the swelling and surgery invasion that causes the discomfort

the best part is they would have flushed out any debris in your knee and smoothened the rough surfaces
so your knee will feel clean and like a new oiled chain

how did you injure yours ?
its best to do some basic compound leg exercises to at least try to bring some muscle balance

jacktackle

Great description of what was done...LOL...Nothing like a new oiled chain

I'm not exactly sure how I did it but I know that the many squats/isometric squats and pushing too big a gear definately made things worse. Short answer: overuse.

Definately learned my lesson regarding balancing muscles. Anyway, take it easy on those knees of yours. Hope you're not playing soccer anymore!!

lennyk

Even running can aggravate my knee so I don't do anything high impact.

Squats more than 90 degrees can put serious angular forces on your knee and squeeze your meniscus causing these kind of problems.

jacktackle

Don't think I'll ever be a runner. Yep...the squats definately didn't help. Why didn't you tell me before I screwed my knees up

tadawdy

It ain't necessarily the squats. Or overuse. It just takes one awkward motion to screw up your cartilage. It's usually a twisting movement; twisting while squatting will do it.

It also sucks to get old. All your connective tissue just kind of starts falling apart.