runners who surrvived meniscus tears - tell me about it

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kzandarski
kzandarski Posts: 51
in Fitness and Exercise
My MRI results show a "large bucket shaped tear and displacement" of the meniscus. It's been a week and I am just starting to be able to walk (with pain) again. I see the orthopedic next week. Tell me what I should expect. I really just want to know that I will be running healthy again someday. The sooner the better.

Did you have your meniscus removed?
Are you able to run distance?

Thanks,

Karen

Replies

  • cwalkner88
    cwalkner88 Posts: 2
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    I had about 40% of my medial meniscus removed about 18 months ago. It was about 3 months out of the surgery i was able to do a little slow jogging. 6 months out i was able to run maybe a mile or two without too much pain and at the 1 year mark i was pretty well back to normal. There is one huge caveat to this. I worked really hard on my physical therapy, and trained all the muscles in my leg to compensate for the change in movement. Even with this certain days it'll still be sore. You will have to be extra careful of your hip flexors and IT band after this. The change in the way you walk and all the time on crutches can effect how you use your body and cause a little extra tightness in these areas.
  • Tonia62
    Tonia62 Posts: 4
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    my husband had a tear this winter. He is 52 and a life-long runner. He's lean and in shape. AFter surgery to repair the tear he is back running again but mixes his workouts up now with eliptical and swimming on the off days. He still has some residual twinges here and there and ices his knee several times a week. The ortho said he could run and does. Just mixes it up. Hope this helps
  • kzandarski
    kzandarski Posts: 51
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    Thank you both. It gives me lots of hope to be running again soon.

    Karen
  • Azdak
    Azdak Posts: 8,281 Member
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    Answer depends partly on amount of meniscus removed and location of tear. However, the surgery need not negatively impact running. Addressing any underlying causes of the injury (muscle imbalance, flexibility, etc) is essential, as is thorough and ongoing rehabilitation.

    I have had 3 arthroscopic surgeries to trim a torn meniscus -- 2 on the right knee (1994, 2007) and one on the left (2004). The first was directly related to weak quadriceps muscles. The second two were accidents related to dogs/dog toys.

    In 1994, I did not rehab properly and the surgeon did some extra work that caused increased swelling. The result: a wicked case of patello-femoral syndrome (PFS). Four weeks after the surgery, I ran 30 min on a treadmill; 5 weeks after the surgery I could not run 100 feet w/out pain. It took 10 months to get things right and resume running.

    For the next two, I knew what I was doing--use circulating ice water machines to control the swelling and started ROM and isometric strengthening exercises right away. In both cases I had the surgery on a Monday and played golf the following Saturday (with a cart). I didn't really go back to running because I was too heavy to run in those days, but I was able to resume mild workouts in probably a week, and a pretty vigorous workout routine not too long afterwards.

    When I did lose the weight, I was able to resume running and was able to run 90 min on a treadmill without any problem. In fact, due to a conscious routine of knee exercises, core training, and some plyo work, I have not had any knee pain since 1994. My knees came out much stronger than before.

    The most critical thing after surgery is to get the swelling down and your range of motion back ASAP. That means ice, ice, ice (the circulating machines are excellent), staring ROM movements right away (per MD approval) and keeping it tightly wrapped any time you are not icing or exercising. Start the wrap below the knee and wrap it in such a way that you are pushing the fluid towards your torso.

    Good luck.

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