Meniscus Tear anyone?

I know I have a meniscus tear, because my left knee just gives out randomly, but I'm too scared to get it fixed I do run at a moderate pace just so I don't collapse lol.

What have you done about it so far?

I had a scope done. Couldnt run for a month, but I was able to use elliptical. If you get it fixed, get recommendations before deciding on Doctor.

I have one was well. My doc advised me to not only not run but to refrain from doing any power walking, stairmaster, elliptical and most cardio for 6 weeks. He told me that it would help if I used a stationary bike on low resistance for about 30 minutes per day. I have it in my right now and it gives out on me randomly as well. It's been about 2 weeks now and he told me to come back and see if I'm still experiencing pain. I might have to get surgery on it if it doesn't improve. I've been working my upper body and core but not too much of anything else.

Highly do not recommend. Worse off after than before... at least that was my experience, the time recovering and trying to get the strength back also is just aweful. Ice, compression band and strengthen the large muscles surrounding the knee... far better than the knife. I've had the scope and Orthroscopic surgery on left knee, and full reconstructive on right knee. Left knee took two years to get right again, and the right knee is worse than it was before. Plus I gained 50 lb - I hope someone else has had better experience than me. Best of luck.

I had a meniscus tear last fall. Had it repaired in March. I didn't want anesthesia, so I just got a local. I was done, walked out on crutches, and drove myself home from the hospital. My surgery was on a Wednesday. I was walking without crutches the same night. I was treadmill running by Monday.

I was sore for a while, but did my physical therapy, and have had no pain since mid-April. I would definitely do it again if needed.

I had a miniscus tear in my left knee in March 2010. I opted for the knee scope surgery. Once I had the surgery it was all down hill from there. I was in much worse pain after the surgery and I never felt better again. I ended up having a total knee replacement in May 2011. I feel wonderful now and no longer have any issues with that knee. Now I have a torn miniscus in my right knee. I'm in a lot of pain and I'm going to go ahead and have the knee scope surgery and hopefully this will be enough this time. i'm hoping I don't continue to go down hill like I did last time. If I do then it will be another knee replacement. I wish I had better info for you but it was a night mare for me but at the same time I couldn't live with the pain of the torn miniscus.

I have exactly the same problem. I've recently injured the meniscus and the ligament running down the inside of my left knee. Physio has worked wonders with the ligament but I'm looking at have the meniscus done, we call it keyhole surgery over here. I can't walk more than about 3000 steps a day without being in agony, definitely can't run, but do use a stationary bike a few times a day to help with weight loss as it's the only exercise my physio would suggest. Gutted that it's happened now after I decided to start working on my weight

Good luck with whatever you decide to do x

Thanks everyone. It seems my fears about the repair may be well founded. For now, I guess I will stick with the rehab exercises and stay away from jogging. :-( Maybe it's time for me to try swimming.

After writing the above, I see a few entries with positive outcomes. Thanks for sharing those!

Do you wear any kind of brace on your knee? A simply compression sleeve may help aleviate the pain when you try to jog or lift heavier weights. A cold pack that I keep in my freezer is my best friend after a jog or whenever my knee swells. 20 min and it feels much better.

So far, I have lost 28 lbs to help with the pressure on my knee. I still have much more to lose, of course, but am feeling hindered with physical activity at this point. My knee has actually been hurting more lately then it ever did, so I may be over doing it. Also, one of my trainers is also a physical therapist and has given me some exercises to strengthen the muscles around the knee for support. Hopefully that will help. I was just curious what others had to say about getting the tear fixed. I have heard stories of it being worse afterwards and that is my fear.

Agree with recommendations. In addition wear a knee support, use ice after work out and Ibuprofen if not contraindicated.

I tore my meniscus in my right knee many, many moons ago. The pain was unbearable and I was unable to even walk a few steps without having to stop so it was agreed scoping was the way to go. I was told that because I was so young surgery and PT would likely heal it and I wouldn't notice the difference in my adult life. Well, I really didn't until I became active again. I have to be VERY careful about any routine I do and it tends to end up sore anyway, but some proper stretching, ice & ibuprofen makes it tolerable. However, I have to wonder if things would be much worse if I didn't have the surgery. I am able to run no problem, it is just the high impact programs (now I am attempting Insanity) that give me some soreness. But the soreness I feel now is absolutely NOTHING compared to the pain I was in before the surgery.

But, everything is a risk and your body will heal differently than mine did. In my experience it was (probably) worth it. Good luck and happy healing!

I had my left knee scoped years ago and it was the best choice and surgery I have chosen to have so far. I had meniscus and cartilage issues. I followed my doctors advice and gave it a few days to heal, then made sure I completed my physical therapy. I wore a brace as a safety precaution for a few years when I did anything active, but now my left knee has no pain and is stronger than my right. Ironically I hurt my right knee recently and if I have torn my meniscus I would not hesitate to have it fixed again. I think it really depends on how bad your damage is in your knee as to whether PT will help it over surgery. I personally had a nasty knee break and after that healed then had to go through the surgery to fix the rest, so it really was not much of a choice for me. Good luck with what ever you decide. You can place me on the it worked well side.

I've had 3 knee surgeries - the first one was done by a dr that didn't do a complete job, the next 2 were done by a very good dr. I had torn the meniscus and the cartiledge was floating around, so no choice but to get it cleaned out. Surgery #2 was to finish the job of #1 and clean out more stuff from the opposite side of surgery #1. Surgery #3 was more clean out but mostly to cut my ligament and shorten it as it had gotten stretched out. The #3 surgery has been great and the only reason I have pain is due to so little cartiledge left in my knee. I also know that I will need another surgery at some point as I have a tumor slowly growing in my knee (non-cancerous). I gained my weight from surgery #1 cause the dr kept me doing rehab for 6 months, surgery 2 lasted 1 month and surgery 3 lasted for 2 weeks.