Dudelsack 

My wife just had an MRI that showed a monster tear of her medial meniscus, and she doesn't even remember how she did it. She will be joining the 1st opinion - 2nd opinion - maybe 3rd opinion merry-go-round. I bet she is going to need surgery. I'll keep you posted.

Dudelsack 

For what it's worth, her physical therapist is the one advising surgery He's says he's done all he can do.

JohnJ80

Not much you can do to work PT around torn cartilage. It's there, it's interfering with the joint and with the soft tissue or it's not.


J.

ascenzm

Hi Bill,

You replied to my initial post in the Introductions forum so I figured I'd check out the 50+ forum. Interesting thread. I am a runner who used to bicycle and took up running to keep in shape for bicycling (could not really ride in the cold winters here in Pittsburgh). I stuck with the running and dropped the bicycling.

I had my right knee scoped in 1994 to remove an inflamed plica and I've dealt with nasty cases of runner's knee (patello-femoral syndrome) in both knees in the late 1990s. I did not run for about ten years due to these injuries but started back running in 2006 after the knee were felling okay.

I understand that most meniscis tears are medial side tears. I was diagnosed with runner's knee and a tight IT band in February after seeing an ortho doc for right knee lateral side pain sitting or walking. The doc took X-Rays and diagnosed me as having runner's knee. He had me do formal physical therapy but it has not helped me at all. About 6 weeks before i saw the doctor I slipped on some ice. I did not fall but my right foot slid sideways irritating my right knee's lateral side which ached for a few days then got better. After reading this thread, I think I will go back and see the doctor to ask what he thinks. Perhaps an MRI is in order.

Mike

ascenzm

One friend who is a runner tore his meniscis while he was hanging drywall. He was standing with a piece of drywall (sheetrock) over his head and twisted suddenly. He heard a snap from one knee. The odd thing is that the knee did not hurt until later when he went for a run. He had the knee scoped and never even needed to use crutches. In fact when he returned to see the doctor a week later for a post-op visit, he figured he'd better use the crutches when he walked into the exam room.


Mike

Dudelsack 

Surgery scheduled for Thursday. I'll let you know how it goes.

GeorgeBMac

Yes, please do... I hope all goes well.

Tell her the old guys (and girls) are thinking or her.

qcpmsame 

Prayers for a successful knee rebuild for Mrs. Dudel, hope all goes well for her. Please do keep us posted on how things go for her.

Bill

Biker395 

Good luck with the surgery!

Is the tear in a place where it can be repaired?

Dudelsack 

Extensive tear of the lateral meniscus. A week ago my wife's knee blew up and she developed a Bakers cyst. An MRI showed the anatomy.

I'm taking this week off and can play the nursing assistant. She's scheduled to go to Colorado in May to help out with a new grand baby. If feels slightly ad hoc to me, but when the family PT says she needs it, that's pretty reassuring.

Dudelsack 

For you prayer warriors, well-wishers, and idly curious: my wife did fine and is snoozing at home. The next few days/weeks will tell how well it really went. Doc said her knee was pretty tore up, so she might not be training for marathons any time soon.

msujmccorm

Glad all went well. Speaking from experience, tell her to take the pain meds as scheduled for the first couple days even if it doesn't hurt. A lesson I learned the hard way!

GeorgeBMac

Glad that the surgery went well but sorry to hear that it was 'pretty tore up'. I hope she recovers quickly and fully...

Dudelsack 

Thank you for the above. She's fine now, but I have a feeling tomorrow will be a bit tougher.

GeorgeBMac

Tougher on her -- or on her 'nurse'?

qcpmsame 

Dudel,
This news made my night, glad to read she is doing well as can be expected. Keep us posted on how she does in her recovery.

Bill

Dudelsack 

She actually feels unexpectedly well this AM. Her nursing team includes two granddaughters who leave in about an hour back to Pittsburgh, so it might get ugly a little later.

dbg

Similar experience here. Mine was an easy recovery. No crutches. In fact the next morning I was moving furniture around and bounding up and down stairs. I was actually worried I was too active too soon. But the doctor told me that being a biker I would have no recovery problems and would not need physical therapy. He echoed one of my mantras, "just keep riding."

MuddKatt

I had both knees done by arthroscopic for cartilage. I then ripped/shredded ACL and Meniscus. My doctor said it looked like spaghetti.
Friend of mine had the same injury approx. the same amount of damage. Friend had a graft done per recommendation of his doctor. I explained about the diagnosis on my friend and asked my doctor if I should have a graft. He said he didn't believe in doing it that way. He said we clean it up by arthroscope and then consider the graft as a last resort and if needed we go back and do it down the road a few months.
He was right on.
This was when I was alot younger also and could heal faster. My friend spent 6 months with PT, I was out bouncing around in a matter of weeks. I did have to get a CTI brace for things like skiing as the knee had a tendency to pop out. I would find, over the years, if I didn't keep up with exercise, it hurt more and would pop out more. If I keep strong the muscles around the knee keep it going great.

GeorgeBMac

I have wondered about that...

Growing up, the only person I knew with a joint surgery or replacement was my uncle -- and that was due entirely a bad automobile accident where his hip was crushed.

But today, it is quite commonplace.

So, what's the difference? Could it be our generally decreased fitness levels and increased weight?

mtnroads

I think it's because we play harder. When I was growing up none of my parents or their friends were runners, or mtn climbers, or serious cyclists. Active? Yes. But not in the way our generation is.

I had both my knees scoped in the mid 90's when I was trail running 15-18 miles. When I hit 45 I was getting some knee pain again so I turned more to cycling to preserve the knees. Now at age 58 I have had for 2 years another slight medial meniscus tear in the right knee but some good PT and regular biking has kept the pain away and mobility up. I plan to avoid surgery as long as possible since it usually involves cutting out a pretty good sized chunk of the remaining cartilage to remove the tear and each time you do that you increase the likelihood of arthritis down the road.

Dudelsack 

Can't speak for the general population, but in my wife's case poor conditioning and habitus must have played a role.

The question is whether minimally invasive procedures lead to over utilization. It's become a religious/ideological issue I think. In my wife's case we would have stalled forever on some sort of weird arthroplasty, but with minimally invasive stuff I was actually telling her yesterday I thought she was doing too much because she just felt that much better.

GeorgeBMac

Glad to hear that she is feeling better...
... Does that mean you get time off to take a ride? (I think they call it 'recess')

ascenzm

I first read this thread back in April when I joined BikeForums. At that time I thought my knee issue was Runner's knee. I know think I have a torn lateral meniscus (have a MRI scheduled on Tuesday). I revisited this thread and saw your response to my old post. I am impressed that you did not need crutches after your surgery. Did you get surgery soon after you injured the knee? My concern is that I've been having knee pain for over five months and if I have to have surgery my recovery will be slow.

Mike

ascenzm

I have the same problem with Internet Explorer, but not with Google Chrome. Mike