Injured Knee

CricketKate

About a week ago, I injured my knee while jogging. The Dr thinks that I have a torn miniscus and may need surgery. I was just getting into a good cardio routine and I hate to give it up. Does anyone have any suggestions for Knee Friendly Cardio?

Amarillo_NDN

waterarobics

mlb929

My suggestion would be get a second opinion and do a bunch of internet research. Is it on your outer or inner knee? I had trouble about 5 weeks before my marathon and my Dr. told me the same thing. I went to the chiropractor and he worked on it for me, he was able to get it back. If it is on the outside, it will heal on it's own, but will take time. I have had problems with both inner and outer meniscus problems. If it is on the inside of the knee, keep heat on it to increase the blood flow, I used a wrap. My inner tear took about 2 years to heal. You need to avoid squats or work such as that. Any non-impact, like bicycling, elliptical, or even rowing if you don't do deep bends. You may also try a rebounder. It may be better to switch to pilates until you get pain free.

I still ran my marathon and have continued to run since that time. Menicus surgery is nothing to take lightly. I sought a second and third opinion and the other two didn't want to operate.

vickiele1

I agree with MLB - meniscus tears will heal, but they do take a very long time. I'm not sure how old you are, but age, weight, amount of activity will all effect the healing process. I would definitely get a second opinion.

Vickie

Funnydream

Interesting replies. I tore my cartilage a year ago and am about to have some surgery in December to "trim" the tear. I didn't even KNOW it would heal naturally if left.

I have found that swimming makes it much, much worse, although cycling is absolutely fine. Walking is great, up to a point but if I overdo it I do get a lot of pain. It has been a difficult year for me, trying to lose weight (which I have done successfully) whilst having this knee problem. At the start of the weight loss programme, I did go to the gym and resistance work didn't seem to make it worse. Pilates was great, as was yoga. Like I said the only really awkward thing was doing breaststroke, and the side kick seemed to make it much worse.

Good Luck!

rachel5576

the same thing happened to me last week only thankfully mine is just bursitis but i still have to take it easy for 4-6 weeks so im looking for knee friendly cardio as well. Dr said walking was fine so i plan on doing that for sure i'll probably do a search for low impact aerobics and see what i can find.

fittocycle

I think it depends on the extent of the tear. I had a tear on the inside of my knee. I tried resting it, PT, and even reformer Pilates to strengthen it. I gave it six months and then one day, got up from a restaurant booth, injured it and couldn't walk on it for two days. The surgeon told me that it would have never healed on it's own. It was "shredded" and needed to be trimmed and cleaned up.

The meniscus surgery wasn't bad at all. Four weeks out from it, I was walking all over Disney World for five days. And best of all, no more pain or instability!

Gafoe

To help your knee I recommend MSM with joint fluid, I used the MOVE FREE brand and it helped alot with my knee pain, also look into an elliptical machine, they are very knee friendly. If you have never used one standby for a workout!

CricketKate

Thanks for the info. I am going into the Dr tomorrow for my MRI results to see if they can see a tear. My biggest concern is injuring it further.

summerblunden

Ahhh....well...I hate to tell most of you, but a LARGE portion of the meniscus is avascular, meaning it gets no (or very poor) blood flow. So if the tear is in the avascular zone, it WILL NOT HEAL. The inflammation will decrease, it may be tolerable for your lifestyle, but it will never heal.

I would see what the MRI says, because that will tell you the location and size of the tear. I would also ask for physical therapy prior to surgery. #1, it may decrease pain and instability to a tolerable lever, and #2 if you do need surgery, you will recover much better if you've strengthened the muscles surrounding your knee prior to surgery.

The thing with meniscus tears it they can feel better after the initial injury for months at a time, then you do something silly, slip and fall, stand up wrong, bend down wrong, and you will irritate the exact point that is torn again, and you're back to square one, if not worse.

Sure, orthopedic surgeons want to cut, that is what they do. But no ortho will recommend surgery when it is not warranted. If you are still unsure, take your MRI results to another surgeon.

Also, just a note, chiropractors are trained to deal with the spine, and the surrounding structures. It gets me everytime someone treats their chiropractor as a physical therapist or orthopedic physician. They can massage it, help with inflammation, but they can't (nor can anyone) put the meniscus back in place. It doesn't work that way. I'm not against chiros, I just think each specialty has it's place, and should stay there.

jclguru

I had my meniscus repaired last December.

Before I opted for surgery my ortho had me try a brace. The brace allowed me to workout, but all it was doing
was masking the pain. As soon as I took it off I was back to dragging my foot across the room when I walked.

The surgery itself is outpatient and not much pain afterwards. I was told it would be about 6 weeks until I
could begin my workouts again at 100%. About 3 days after the surgery I was on my stationary bike just to
do something. Like the doc said, about 6 weeks later I was pain free and back to my normal routines.

But about a month after that my calf swelled up like a balloon. At first they thought it was a blood clot. Turns
out one of my sacs filled up with fluid and had to be drained and injected with a steroid. They said there was
a chance this would come back, but it never did.

Doug