I posted this on the OT by by mistake and changed the thread title because my phraseology offended a poster. Meant for this board anyway because the traffic here is more appropriate for the topic.

I'm a surgeon, not an ortho, so I have no body of experience to fall back on. I'm 56 y/o, fit 155 lbs, very active. Injured my knee in a bad luck freaky way about 7 weeks ago, standing up and pivoting from a squat. Had a very sneaky suspicion it was a medial meniscus tear. Rested, iced, NSAIDs, etc. better than the acute phase, but I'm on my feet all day at work and by the end of the day quite uncomfortable. Basically my cardio is down to exercise bike to stay fit.

MRI last week - vertical flap radial tear posterior horn medial mensicus. Ligamentous structure good, joint good and cartilage good, no arthritis. Surgeon recommending a knee scope, no repair because of where the tear is, expects to do a partial meniscectomy. I want to be able to do the things I like to do that help me stay not only good body weight, but actually fit.

If you've had this surgery, I'd love a chime in on recovery time lines. How long off work, how long til bearing weight and when back doing active things.

TLDR: radial tear medial meniscus, not better after two months, decision made for surgery, looking for experience re mobility, return to limited activities and ultimately back to sports, etc. Thanks for chiming in.

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Posted by tke_swamprat

Houma, LA

Member since Aug 2004

10887 posts

Posted on 9/14/24 at 11:10 pm to BigPapiDoesItAgain

I’ve had it done to both knees. 2 week recovery. Back to squatting heavy shite in no time.

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Posted by MemphisGuy

Germantown, TN

Member since Nov 2023

13780 posts

Posted on 9/15/24 at 8:47 pm to BigPapiDoesItAgain

quote:
I posted this on the OT by by mistake and changed the thread title because my phraseology offended a poster.

If you changed something every time somebody over there got offended, nobody would ever get anything actually posted, they'd all be busy editing.

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Posted by jdaute2

lafayette, LA

Member since Nov 2012

2198 posts

Posted on 9/15/24 at 9:38 pm to MemphisGuy

If it’s just a scope to clip it out, it’s a very easy procedure with about 10 day to 2 week recovery. I had the same type of meniscus tear but also a very large full thickness chondral defect on the end of my femur. Ended up having at open OATS procedure plus the meniscectomy. Recovery was much more of a burden and was on crutches for almost 4 weeks to allow the allograft to heal on the medial femoral condyle. Ended up having a tibial osteotomy 15 months later after dealing with nagging knee pain and medial compartment collapse of my knee. I’m about 3 months post osteotomy and my knee feels much better than it did before. You should do fine with only a scope and some cleaning up of the tear. Hope your procedure goes well and you’re back to normal exercises in no time.

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Posted by scormi5

Baton Rouge, Louisiana

Member since Jan 2007

1699 posts

Posted on 9/20/24 at 3:21 pm to BigPapiDoesItAgain

I read and followed this after my first meniscus tear, also a posterior horn tear. It took a few months, but it, plus regular land based PT, did work; it essentially, safely, worked/rubbed the tear into a nub. I’m in the military, so when I say I got full function, I got FULL function for all the physical stuff I’m required to do. No surgery required.
Complete PT Pool Rehab

Second meniscus tear, in my other knee, that was a different story. That sucker was a bucket handle tear; no rehab was going to fix that. Luckily I had a good surgeon; we had a long talk about trying to save/stitch it back together, and when she went in and did her thing, she was able too. Took about 6-9 months of rehab vice the much shorter amount if I got it cut out, but I’m back up and running and still have my whole meniscus. Again, lots of stuff from my first tear rehab, including pool, helped me tremendously.

Hope this was helpful

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