Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Meniscus surgery

Had mine done on the 5th of this month. Im hooked up to the cold water circulating wrap right now. The more i wear it the better i feel. I have my first pt today. After a month of limping around im looking forward to getting stretched out. Hope your recovery goes well, it should.

My wife had surgery for a torn meniscus almost a year ago. She still can't kneel but the doc says she'll heal fully in time. She's diabetic and that makes healing a lot slower.
He sewed the 2 broken ends together. The sutures weren't strong enough so he tied the torn ends together, drilled a hole all the way through the one and ran the line through it, pulling the sewn ends down into the hole. Then he tied it off to a button on the far side of the bone. That's there permanently although it's no longer needed. He said he can remove the button if it bothers her but you can't see it and she can't feel it so there's no need.

This procedure takes a lot longer to heal than a knee replacement but it's a better fix. He said that when he does these, he often has an artificial knee on hand ready to go in in case it's necessary. The x-rays and MRI's don't show everything and he often finds things in there that he couldn't see. Having a knee joint ready to install if it's bad enough saves the necessity of another surgery.

Every one is different. I've had 3 meniscus repairs, 2 on left knee, 1 on right knee.

My GUESS: your day one feelings are the drugs, so don't be dumb, rest.

It will be bloated and stiff, but pain from the meniscus like you had won't come back. You will have to get range of motion back, hence the PT. It's straight forward and you can do it on your own, but that takes two things: 1) knowing what to do 2) Actually doing it! #2 is the hardest. You will have to push that knee via PT to get range of motion and strength back, with PT you go 2-3 times/week and they can tell if you are keeping up on your own, and trust me, if you don't get it moving they will and it will hurt! Do the PT, make progress and everyones the better.

You mentioned arthritis, My first one had that as well and he told me flat out I was heading for a replacement, but not for years. He was right, I know have a TKR, but there was many years between those two things.

This post is meant as encouragement, not medical advice. I had a broken wrist that couldn’t be fixed completely. One of the balls was split down the middle. The wrist was stiff, near frozen for over ten years. One day I was processing firewood and just said to myself F-it, if the wrist don't work they can cut it off. I stacked several cord of wood handling each piece with that hand. The wrist loosened up and works better than the other one. The moral of the story is do not give up hope.

I had both knees done 3 years ago (aged 51) and surgeries were about 2 months apart. recovery was pretty quick, couple of days it was all healed up.

one knee was much better the other, not so much. for people saying physical therapy helped, BS. my physical therapy was stupid.

just stretch on your own, don't be stupid and strain it for a couple of months but keep moving. that's about it.

Did they require an MRI with contrast before the second procedure? Before I had the second procedure done on my knee, they said they needed the MRI with contrast to discern the old damage from the new damage. For the record, I am not a fan of a 20ga needle in the knee.

Yes sir they did an MRI beforehand. Hopefully I can get a couple more years out of it before having to start injections due to the amount of tissue that has been removed. I will know more when we do the follow up late next week.
Have a great day!

Thanks everyone for the info and encouragement. Today there is still no discomfort. I plan on going for a short walk in a little while and then doing a flight of stairs to the reloading room. Tomorrow i plan on trying my wife’s exercise bike for the start of my own PT.

Mike

Mike,
I have had 6 knee surgeries. Meniscus is common and not all that big of a deal as far as surgeries are concerned.

As for the arthritis... Just keep in touch with your doctor, there are ways to slow that disease process, and a lot of things you can do to alleviate pain without taking opioids or anything like that. Since you have already had meniscus surgery you could be a candidate for Synvisc which will promote more cartilage growth. And nothing helps arthritis more than cartilage growth.

I had min done 15 or 20 years ago. A couple days taking it easy and then good to go. Been great ever since. Had the other knee done after an ACL injury way back in 1977 after a sports injury. Wish that knee was doing as well as the one that had meniscus surgery.

Better hope insurance will cover the Synvisc. Mine did for a couple of shots over the course of a couple of years. Then they stopped covering it. That sucked, as with a cortisone shot followed by the Synvisc a few weeks later, I was good to go for 6-9 months.

I’ll just add that cortisone and sun USF-type injections don’t work for everyone.

and that part is why our insurance quit covering it.

They decided it was an "experimental' treatment at that time, or so I was told.

Didn't matter to them that the stuff worked well for me, 3 months total relief and another 3-6 months decent relief before I needed another.

Mike,

Take it easy for a bit - even if it does feel pretty good and I'll echo what the others have said around PT - if only to get some of the exercises down.

I'm just a wee younger than you and have had a partial meniscectomy to each knee. Doc scraped some of the arthritis behind my knee (yes, at our age we all have it) during the last procedure and that seemed to cause a little more discomfort/healing than the knee a few years prior that didn't involve a scrape.

My first round on Synvisc was free; I was one of the trial patients.

FOR ME, it was amazing stuff. My injury was from trauma, so I have some unique things going on in my knee... But for me, Synvisc gave me the only 1.5 years pain free I've had since the accident (which happened in June of '84). Since then I've had it all, and now I have an artificial knee joint. But I was pretty impressed with Synvisc. It worked wonders the first time, and was a complete failure the second time... But by that time, the whole knee was worn out and it was just time for an artificial joint.

I had pain walking & running in the left knee at about your age. Had two meniscus tears fixed. After about 15yrs, started having pain again and found out from the orthopedic doc that it's arthritis in the knee now. Half the cartilage is now gone in that knee. Signs of arthritis 10-15years after the meniscus repair is apparently common. No complaints--I got 15 extra years of pain free use from it. I am at the "manage pain" point right now. I got a cortisone shot 2yrs ago that helped with the initial pain for a couple months. I cut back on my running (still hiking w/pack) and that seems to have helped as the pain has not resumed (yet). Ultimately, I will wear this knee out and and at some point the pain will push me into the total replacement--and that seems to be a pretty straightforward solution--when the time comes.

When do you know you're ready for a knee replacement? My legs are getting more bowed outward and my ortho tells me that I will eventually need a partial (medial side). I've got very good range of motion and flexibility, but damn they ache and hurt like hell.

I’ve got the same thing but with something in the left that locks it up on occasion after twisting and a big pop. If if get down on my left knee it will push something out of place and it really pisses something off. I’m not sure how long I can keep dealing with it.

Got that surgery 35 years ago and I'm still walking.