dmanthree

It never seems to stop. One step forward, another back. Need to have the meniscus repaired, so I'll be on the sidelines for a few weeks. Figures.

Breadfan

Do your research on that healing time. I had my torn meniscus repaired and they told me a few weeks. Yes, I could walk, right out from the surgery. I rehabbed correctly but it took 1.5 years until it quit hurting and still bothers me from time to time. I will say riding a bike was the easiest and playing golf was the most painful in that time, but it still hurt just walking, and steps still hurt even now, if it is a bunch of them. I read a lot about it and others had my experience while some went right back to sports. I think age may have a lot to do with it, I was 53 at the time. My only other alternative was to stay off of it for months and hoped it healed. That was something I didn't feel like I could do. Good luck with the repair!

rumrunn6

my op was only 17 minutes start to finish. standing on it that night. wasn't into cycling back (1997?) so don't remember about recovery. sports surgeon told me to be kind to it. no marathons

everyone's knee situation is different. I could not go up stairs with that knee bearing all my weight. I had a small tear/flap that was getting in the way. the short surgery fixed that

good luck, be patient.

philbob57

I thought meniscus surgery didn't have that great a success rate. I can't remember my source, though.

Cortisone, or have you already tried that? In my case, the doc couldn't tell me if my pain was from the torn meniscus or arthritis and recommended cortisone. I'm very happy to be able to say it worked, If you haven't tried it, talk to your doc.

BTinNYC 

You are, clearly, a fighter. Most would've thrown in the towel long ago.

rumrunn6

never heard that

in my case they waited a long time & tried lots of things because surgery was the last option. but an MRI is very informative to a trained eye. they made 2 tiny holes, 1 for the camera & 1 for the tools. the knee is bloodless & I got a copy of the tape. the loose flap was plain to see & I almost thought I could have done the surgery myself. just a little snip & cut here & there. I think each hole only took a single stitch

glad your condition, treatment & outcome was good too

philbob57

Thanks. I consider myself lucky. so far, anyway.

I hope you have a quick and complete recovery.

Carbonfiberboy 

I had a snip, was riding Z1 on the rollers 3 days later, on the back at the group ride after a month. The worst issue was breaking loose the scar tissue. There's a bit of that because they blow up your knee like a football to have room in there for their instruments. There are studies out there claiming that doing nothing worked as well as surgery. I gotta doubt that. Maybe in some cases, studies are often cherry-picked. I went from dragging my leg behind me to functional in like I say, 3 days. That was about 20 years ago, never had a problem with it.

rumrunn6

yeah, when I asked my surgeon if I could get it on video tape, he said sure, bring in a full size VHS, which I did. seeing what was going inside left no question what the solution was. when I asked if I would be awake, he said: "you're not gonna wanna see what we're do to your knee" meaning how it gets manipulated in ways we don't normally see our knees move. yes, I remember mine was swollen afterwards as well

dmanthree

Thanks for all the encouragement! Surgery sometime next week, and then I guess I'll find out how long before I'm back on the bike. Which, due to past "things" is a Tacx Bike Smart trainer. No more road work for me. But it works and I really like it.

rumrunn6

wow, talk about "burying the lead"!
anyway, good luck!

dmanthree

Heh, heh...
I didn't want to go all "soap opera" on this. But yeah, next week, but it's only arthroscopic and will take about 30-45 minutes. Hoping to be back on the bike in a couple of weeks, maybe three.

What gets me is that I have n idea how this happened. It started a few months ago when I was walking. Yes, really. I thought I sprained something, so I did the usual ice and ibuprofen thing, but that just didn't work. So...doc, exam, MRI, and this. Oh, well. Onward and upward.

rumrunn6

my surgeon said mine was from a lifetime of activity, even tho I had an "event" that seemed to be the final straw. I was at my in-laws house, at a family gathering, on the front lawn, playing with a Mexican balloon. it's a game? where ppl take turns tapping the bottom of the tall skinny balloon (6' tall?) & it goes airborne straight up then kinda straight down & one has to keep tapping it to repeatedly keep it up in the air. anyway their front yard is rather uneven & at one point I hyperextended? my leg / knee. after which it became uncomfortable but I kept playing like an idiot. then it really didn't feel right & swelled up. I knew I messed something up. it was quite a long time of trying to get it to heal including increasing amounts of ibuprofen at doctors orders, for weeks. so many ppl, including doctors, didn't believe there was a significant problem. but I did. I mean I couldn't bare my weight on that knee climbing stairs. eventually they decided it was worth the expense of an MRI, & then there was no question

dmanthree

I think you might have provided an explanation of what happened to me. When on a walk last March I may have hyperextended the knee when I hit a little pothole in the sidewalk. I "reached" for the pavement and it wasn't there, so to speak. It started hurting shortly after that, and hasn't changed since. Hoping the surgery is straightforward and fixes it. Kind of sick of the break/fix cycle. But, at this age (68) I can't complain.

rumrunn6

yup, best to do no harm

took a spill a cpl winters ago. didn't listen to my intuition & injured my shoulder. totally avoidable. was lying on the ground, in pain, nowhere near anyone, on a remote forest service road, in February, thinking what a total moron I was. I recovered totally I guess, but that shoulder will never be the same & it's still cranky if I sleep on that side for too long

Russ Roth

Tore mine along with the MCL the week after Easter, I feel like I should have gotten a second opinion on not needing surgery. Although I've been able to ride I haven't been able to put in real effort and walking has been a real pain. 4 years ago I had a tear in the right knee. Needed a crutch for 1 day, was hobbling for a week, did a crit in three weeks, got better results doing one after 5 weeks and did a cross race pain free at 7 weeks. Really not impressed by the whole "just let it heal" approach.

dmanthree

The doc told me as much. He said the meniscus doesn't get a lot of blood so healing might never happen. Also, this has been going on for three months with zero improvement, so I'm opting for surgery. I can still ride pretty well, but like you said, walking, climbing stairs hurts. And anything involving lateral motion or torsion just flat out kills me.

dmanthree

I had a bad crash about a year and a half ago and a broken clavicle was part of that event. Got the surgery, and some nice hardware, and all is good. I was extremely lucky in that I got some help and received some really good medical care.

rumrunn6

dmanthree any update?