Athroscpic meniscus repair

irma73

Hey MFP, I was wondering if anyone here has gone through an athroscopic meniscus repair? Moreover how did you maintain your weight during your down/recovery time? :happy:
Irma

Desert_Gnome

Hi Irma,

I tore my meniscus last year and was down for about two months. Until that point, I weighed 189 and was probably in the best shape ever. I ran, and I rode my bike like crazy. My biggest mistake was using it as an excuse not to do anything, and I paid for it. The doctors kept scheduling new appointments, weeks out, so that drew the process out. I went to another doc, showed him my MRI, and had surgery the next day.

Within the next week, I was on a stationary bike, but riding really slow and not for a long time. I slowly increased my time, and within a month, I was back on the bike. Two months later, I was back on my mountain bike. I'm still a bit scared to run though, and it has been exactly a year now.

As for maintaining your weight, if you can, walk, and of course watch your intake.

Hope that helps...

dopeysmelly

I'm scheduled to have a tear cleaned up in October (not repaired though, it's just not worth it in my case). I can still walk with the tear I have, although it's not particularly comfortable and it's sometimes painful when I get up in the morning.

My strategy is to delay until I've lost most of the weight, and work on building muscle strength around the knees prior to surgery. My surgeon was perfectly fine with that.

Just a note though, when I first tore the meniscus I was basically stuck on the couch for a month with ice slapped on my knee. I proactively cut my calories a bit, weighed myself daily as usual and logged as usual, and I still lost weight at pretty much the same rate. I lost a ton of strength in my quads, which is a bummer, but it didn't stop me from working on my weight loss.

I'll do exactly the same thing when I have the surgery done.

NCSteveVH

Ironic that you asked this question as I had a torn meniscus repaired three weeks ago today. Like you, I was worried about gaining weight during my down time. I pre-planned what I ate each day and stuck to a strict daily calorie goal. It wasn't easy since I typically burn about 700 calories a day between crossfit and rowing, so eating less and just sitting around for a few days was mentally tough. But after the first week I was back to doing some upper body workouts, light rowing and 20 minutes on a stationary bike. My second week (after the stitches were removed), I was back to swimming and longer rowing. I picked up the intensity for the third week. Now, starting my 4th week post op, I'm 80% back to normal and doing very light Crossfit workouts (no squats or box jumps or anything weight bearing on my knee). I didn't gain any weight during the three weeks (I actually lost some water weight from not working out, but that's back).

The bottom line is take it easy and be aware of how your knee feels, but don't use it as an excuse to sit around for weeks and overeat. Start slowly and increase intensity each week if your knee is feeling OK. I think you'll be surprised how fast you can recover from a torn meniscus.

Good luck!

sijomial

It's going to depend on how much damage you have really and the state of your leg muscles prior to the operation.

I had an open meniscectomy which removed 90% of one meniscus but I had already spent 10 weeks unable to weight bear - awful muscle wastage which took a lot of rehab and time to get over.

Had an arthroscopic meniscus repair and laser debridement of the patella surface on the other knee - walked in, walked out and carried on with life as though nothing had happened. After a week I was hopping around the Surgeon's office doing deep lunges and pistol squats without any problem (it didn't hurt anymore!). No additional rehab required at all.