Knee Injury Recovery Stories

PinkkCamel
PinkkCamel Posts: 47 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
Hey guys, so I've had issues with my knees since the start of the year due to overuse. Unfortunately I decided to be stupid by doubling my distance of 4km to 8km a day! I hadn't researched at all about running the right way which I very much regret right now. Been desperate for ages to get back into it and I wanted to get into joining marathons and stuff. I just loved it so much.

11 months later and I'm still suffering from a tendinopathy as well as recovering from a fat pad impingement and my other knee is starting to deteriorate also. There have been days (like today) where simply walking is painful. Just wanting to hear of other people's experiences with knee injuries and their recovery and stuff? I know every injury is different, I just was wondering if anyone could share recovery success stories? I need some sliver of hope that other people have gone through at least a similar thing as me and it does get better???

I feel like I'm some sort of freak that always has set backs during recovery and I'll never get better despite my physio initially estimating a 6 month recovery time and assuring me it was healable (mind you I haven't had any scans or anything so I'm scared something may actually be permanently damaged but she doesn't seem to think so and I'm not qualified to diagnose myself so... haha). Every time it gets better, I start introducing running VERY slowly and monitor it but it eventually starts hurting too much then I'm back to where I started (this is all diagnosed and advised by a physio btw, not self diagnosing or anything haha) or some other random problem arises like new kinds of pain and stuff :L

Replies

  • christylynnrn
    christylynnrn Posts: 32 Member
    Chronic knee injuries here too. Torn cartilage in my left knee about 15-16 years ago, then last year strained the ACL, MCL, and LCL and tore the medial patellar tendon in the same knee. While in the ER for that particular injury, learned the previous injury was possibly worse than originally diagnosed as there seems to be a piece of bone floating behind the patella (the doc said it is completely rounded and smooth so its been there a while lol). Have not had surgery for the most recent injury. Underwent 3 months of physio, regaining strength and flexibility (3 weeks in a knee immobilizer is no good for that). Still have pain to this day, especially with lots of strain on the knee or in cold weather, but I'm used to that. The first time the knee was injured, what helped me most was weight lifting (heavy weights: squats, deadlifts, weighted lunges, etc) as it strengthened the muscles around the knee. This time around, weights were incorporated into my physio routine for the same reason. If those muscles do not remain strong, the patella could dislocate (again) reinjuring the knee and causing even more damage. I still am not able to run for any kind of distance at all (though I've never had particularly good luck with running) but riding a bike has helped. Works me out without the pounding on the joint. I also love to swim for the same reason. Getting back into the weight room again has definitely helped (making sure to use good form and listen to my body. Sore is good, pain is bad). Listen to your physio and your body, try low impact, and strengthen those muscles, then you should have an easier time getting out there and running.
    Hope this helps :)
  • Vex3521
    Vex3521 Posts: 385 Member
    I have literally destroyed my knee over the years. Tore everything in one injury (most recent), medial/lateral meniscus only in another (16 yrs ago), and dislocated it at another point between. If I was "older" they'd have said I was a candidate for replacement when I tore again.

    They tried 2 months of physical therapy with no improvement before putting me into surgery for repair, scar tissue removal/reduction, and to scope out the rest of the grit in there from previous injuries. I got a MRSA infection post-op and they had to go back in. Was in therapy again following for months. They fitted me for a Breg brace to keep the knee stable when I exercised, particularly running and that kept the pain at bay. Hadn't needed to brace it in years but it's weak again so I've been until it's strong again and I don't feel the need. Probably will as a precaution on runs regardless of how it feels
  • patrickfish7
    patrickfish7 Posts: 190 Member
    I tore my ACL playing cricket when my studs stuck in the ground as my knee twisted...photos of my knee tell a story. Sport was my life and it destroyed a potential career in sport. Never the less, It took me nine months of rehab plus a further two years of gradual exercise. Since then, I have upped the ante on work-rate and demands on the knee, overcome various niggles and strains. I have learned to love running which is odd as I used to hate it if it was longer than 100 metres...I try not to count calorie quantity but more quality. Supplements will always be part of my daily chores now but worth it in the long-term.
  • sijomial
    sijomial Posts: 19,809 Member
    My left knee was used by a car driver to remove his front bumper (fender) which resulted in losing my PCL and 90% of my lateral meniscus.
    Prognosis was "you're disabled, get used to it" & "expect a complete knee replacement in the next 15 to 20 years".

    In the intervening 22 years I've played squash to a higher level than I managed before, run further and faster than before and this year cycled 100 miles in a day.

    Yes there have been set-backs and there are things I accepted I couldn't do (contact sports, lunges) and things I shouldn't do (distance running wasn't/isn't good for me, squats).

    There is a balance between healing, recovery and pushing yourself to constantly improve. One tip though - if you find something that aggravates your injury then increasing volume and distance is unlikely to be the right choice!

    Worst thing for me was weight gain and inactivity - being lighter has helped and keeping leg muscles strong to support the injury is key for me.
  • dsnapp3
    dsnapp3 Posts: 19 Member
    When I turned 30 (15yrs ago), my femur split my tibia in a basketball rebounding episode. No meniscus on my left knee. Took a good year for recovery. Really got into cycling, swimming and surfing after the injury. Longest ride I've done in a day is 250km. Had to give up mountain biking after 3 fractured ribs 1 year and a fractured shoulder the next :) Running can be done - but the knee swells a bit after still. Doc also told me I'd need a knee replacement at some point, but I feel better and more fit now that in years.
  • gmallan
    gmallan Posts: 2,099 Member
    My story is a lot like yours. I ended up with patella tendonitis in both knees (and some other stuff like fat pad impingement and bursitis going on too) mostly due to increasing running distance too quickly. I worked with a physio for a few months, which mostly involved avoiding all impact work (running, jumping etc.) and doing exercises to build up the muscles. While I was having a break from impact work I boxed, cycled and lifted weights (avoiding aspects of these actitives that caused me pain).

    In the end I got a referral to a sports specialist Doctor who prescribed me nitro dur 5 patches. These are commonly used for treating angina (heart issues) but basically work for tendonitis because after the issue continues for a while, the inflamation response is minimised (the inflamation response increases bllod flow to help with healing). These patches help to increase blood flow to the area. The only exercise the Doctor gave me was incline or fitball squats focusing on the eccentric part of the movement (i.e. squat down with the bad leg and up with both). It should generate some pain. Don't know if it was the patches or the squats but this was a turning point for me. Here in Australia the patches were quite cheap (although the specialist fee not so much). He encouraged me (being youngish/under 30) to keep fairly active with pain-free non-impact work.

    This all happened a little over a year ago and was in the lead up to football season for me. I managed to make it through football season with pain at some points but not enough to stop me. I took it reasonably easy for a few months after footy season and lifted weights to focus on building stronger legs and glutes. I've started running again (mostly sprints and intervals but very intense) 6 weeks ago. I had some pain intially but am relatively pain-free now.

    So the good news is that I'm fairly well recovered and it's definitely possible with the right approach. However I do note that I haven't been doing any distance running and have taken this off the agenda for myself (partly because I don't enjoy it). I also wanted to mention that the Doctor told me that this is one of the most persistent injuries (other than planter facicitis) and a lot of people who keep on playing sport never get rid of it fully. Not to dampen your spirits or discourage you but just that you'll have to be constantly monitoring your pain levels and have solid strategies in place for minimising impact (I run on grass where possible, wear good shoes, ice after impact work etc.)

    So speak to your physio about the patches and the eccentric loading protocols, there's been a bit of reasearch into them and they have a deccent success rate without any major side-effects so could be worth a shot.

    I know this has been a really long post but I understand how frustrating this injury can be and wanted to let you know that there is hope. Please message me if you have any questions.

    One study on the patches and mentions that eccentric loading too (just google it if you're interested in more)

    http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2505250/

Categories