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2014-08-20 10:15 PM

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2014-08-21 4:27 AM
in reply to: eppie


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Subject: RE: acl/meniscus
ACL fine - medial meniscus less so

After injury, which wasnt an injury it just started to hurt, and battling with physio and getting on with life 2 years in i had to get surgery. Pain was variable but sometimes significant, hot poker into medial knee type pain but more problematic i would have episodes of not being able to straighten the knee fully which made me have to stop walking and shake it out.

After surgery pain was better but locking was worse, my ortho was dismissive so i sacked them. 4 months after first scope had another one by someone else and the difference is dramatic. No locking and no real pain. That was 2.5 years ago and its still better than it was. Not 100% new knee territory and i know i'll be in PKR land later in life but its certainly better than it was.

It took perhaps 1.5yrs to generally feel good after surgery though - waaaaaay longer than any ortho makes out.
2014-08-22 8:27 PM
in reply to: chewymix

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2014-08-26 11:09 PM
in reply to: eppie


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Subject: RE: acl/meniscus
I was 43 when I blew my knee out skiing (Feb. 2013). Did not damage the meniscus or any other cartilage but tore a bunch of the ligaments, including a complete tear of the ACL. I had surgery about 2.5 months later -- ACL reconstruction using a cadaver graft, and a posteriolateral corner reconstruction (basically another cadaver graft holding my fibula and femur together). Not having the surgery was not an option for me -- my knee was really unstable. For me, everything went great. Started running (never a runner before) 12 weeks after surgery. Knee sounds a bit like rice crispies but no pain, no weakness, and I'm doing everything I want to do.
2014-08-28 4:03 PM
in reply to: RunnerErin


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Subject: RE: acl/meniscus
IMHO ACL is easy - in that i think the outcome is somewhat linear to the effort put into rehab. Meniscus trim and outcome is wildly variable based on nothing the patient can do. Many people are fine, many are not, its a bit of a crapshoot.
2014-08-30 9:03 PM
in reply to: chewymix

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2014-08-31 8:27 AM
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Subject: RE: acl/meniscus
tore my meniscus and acl when i was 19 playing soccer. went in for meniscus tear and they told me ACL was torn. I was playing college ball back then and was trying to put off the surgery. I swear it seemed like it took 6 weeks to walk normal after the scope and it was painful. I put the ACL off for almost a year and finally had it done because it felt a tad bit lax. I'm 36 now and it has held up great. I've ran over 10 marathons and 2 IM since. done several other races as well. I don't think I could make a full revolution on the bike until after 3 weeks and they let me try some running 3 months after. The ACL pain and rehab was the worst thing I've ever experienced in life. Not trying to scare you. I was 19 and probably much more of a wuss than today. I went back to playing soccer about 8 months later, but it really didn't feel strong until after a year.

Last year I messed up my other knee and just had the scope done 5 days ago. I walked out of the hospital and never really had any pain. I never had to take a pain pill either. Sometimes I get a tad bit of pain doing straight leg raises, but I have been biking since the day after. This knee they had to clean up some frayed cartilage and shave down the plica.

Feel free to ask away. That ACL surgery sucked soooo bad! Just being honest. I was in bed for 12 days! Yikes. With my IM mentality these days I would probably recover faster if it happened now ( knock on wood).

I know a guy at the gym who is in his 60's. He is a beast! He plays basketball and wears a brace. he tore acl over 20 years ago and just keeps lifting away. he is really fit. It's tough decision. Good luck to ya!

If it were me, I would at least def have the meniscus fixed. tough call on the ACL though!

Edited by SEADOCHA 2014-08-31 8:29 AM
2014-08-31 2:17 PM
in reply to: eppie


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Subject: RE: acl/meniscus
simple injury, yes - simple surgery (if clipped not repaired), yes - simple known outcome, nope

The problem is bio mechanics - Depending on how much meniscus is removed and from where CAN cause alignment issues within the joint that can lead to joint space narrowing. If this is going to happen or not depends on many things but basically if you are a bit bow legged and you are removing a decent amount of medial meniscus then you are, more than likely, looking at the very real potential of accelerated arthritis within the joint for the simple reason that the increased angle within the joint puts far greater pressure on the mechanical joint surfaces which wear down faster and lead to problems.

The crap shoot is that you dont know if this will effect you or not until you have the surgery and see how you recover. Personally i have virtually no medial meniscus left and prior to surgery i had normal joint alignment and now i dont. Dont get me wrong i am glad i had the surgery but its not an easy recovery all the time. Yes there are people who have a clip and are out running a marathon in 2 weeks but there are plenty of people that are not. I never really had any significant swelling prior or post surgery but a super weird feeling which was most likely me not being used to the new joint angle. The more i rehabbed the more the pain would not subside, it was only when i backed off from trying to work on the knee that things actually got better.

To this day i cant run, well i can but the days after its super achey which makes me not want to, but i just have to deal with that and do other things. At least it does not feel like i have a hot poker in the side of my knee when lying in bed any more. FYI i am 38 and started to get a sore knee perhaps at 34 and then surgery (twice) at 36.

cheers
2014-09-01 8:42 PM
in reply to: eppie

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