Torn Meniscus

I hear drinking beer with that lortab does wonders :aj:

My dad just got his meniscus fixed up not to long ago. They went into the knee and cut away the tears to smoothen it out I guess, am I talking about the right thing? Either way, he took the first week easy, on crutches some of the time, bandaged for a few days, after a month I think it's preety much good to go I guess, haven't heard any complaints about it?

I had mine done last year, but mine was un-repairable. So almost all of it was taken out, along with a lot cartiledge. I was on wrapped up and on crutches for a week. No therapy afterwards, just follow-up appointment I think 3 weeks into it. I was also out of work for 3 weeks. Mostly because I don't work in an area where I can sit. I stand and walk around all day. I then limped around for over a year. Being on my feet too long gave me problems and still long distance walking gives me problems.

With just a scope being done, it shouldn't be to long for you to be up and around. I am in the same boat as you, I have had my knee scoped due to the minuscus being torn. And I didn't want to be in the shape that MXGIRL230 is in, (sorry to hear that by the way), so I started working out 5-7 days a week and it really helps with the knee problems but you have to use your own judgement when it comes to how much you think your knee can handle when doing it (you don't want to over work it). Don't get me wrong, my knee pain is still there, but it is better than before I started working out. Plus I got to listen to a Dr. at a arthritis convention talk about some new synthetic cartilage that they are on the verge of bringing to the public specifically for the meniscus (and of course other joints soon to follow), they were only a couple of years from finalizing it, so I'm going to hold off on major surgery as long as I can anyways. I never was a fan of the Hospital anyway.

Yeah I was in much more pain before I started working out. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to work out my legs right away. My knee just couldn't handle it. I had to use very, very light weights for any lower body workouts. I couldn't even use the eliptical machines at all. I could only use the stationary bikes. I started riding my bicycle more and that seemed to help. Now I ride to work and we ride our bikes to the gym. That has seemed to have eased the pain quite a bit. I barely limp anymore unless like I said before I have to walk a long distance or up and down hills.

What sucks is the tear I had was pretty severe and the cartiledge was frayed extremely bad. The doc didn't know it was that bad until I had the surgery done. Then as I'm laying there watching the whole thing (I had to watch, wanted to see what was being done) and as he's noticing the tear is pretty bad he warns me that I'll probably need a full knee replacement by the time I'm 35ish (I'm 23 :().

Wraith I think I have heard (well seen) you mention the artificial cartiledge thing..I hope that is within a couple of years, that would be nice. As of now I don't have much in there. So impact hurts pretty bad. That would be good news. When that is available and if I could get State Farm to re-open my claim, I could get that done. I would be very happy! Good news for me and my knee!

Sounds like I just had a more severe tear than everyone else. You guys are lucky!

ask your doc about physical therapy. i don't think it is considered routine to do pt for a routine scoping any longer. when i had mine repaired about 7 years ago, my ortho did not prescribe until i came in with complaints about painful walking and he could see the muscle difference from across the room. or simply ask for the exercise sheet and do it on your own - they are rather trivial exercises - the one that helped me the most was an isometric with a rolled towel under leg and above the knee joint. bike riding (using clips so you get the spinning action) is the best maintenance exercise for the knees and surrounding muscles.