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Anyone ever torn their miniscus in their knee

edited September 2017 in Not Sports Related
Mine went last week. Went to physio straight away and she reckons it's a miniscus tear. Can't tell for certain until I've had the MRI, but she was fairly sure.

It's my right knee which I also had my acl tear in all those years ago.

My forms of exercise that require proper movement on the knee are spin and kung fu. Pretty gutted I have to give up both until further notice really. Anyone who's had it before got any recommendations as to what I can do cardio wise to replace. I'm thinking swimming

I can walk on it now without support, but if any of you have ever had anything knee related, you know when it just don't feel right, and that's the feeling I get

I'm gonna struggle because I'm quite into exercise on the whole. Really don't want to do just upper body weights etc, want to keep the muscles strong in the legs

Any advice appreciated
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Comments

  • Miniscus is not a muscle mate. You've done your cartilage in old money.
  • Miniscus is not a muscle mate. You've done your cartilage in old money.

    Ah okay
  • know the feeling. Went from training 12-14 hrs a week for 4.5 years to nothing since the marathon last year. At least a meniscus is repairable or removable.

    If you're relying on the NHS, you might have a wait for treatment. Best of luck.
  • Just to add I tore mine playing football in my early 20's. Went in just for an "exploratory arthroscopy"...came out without any miniscus left on that side of the knee. Not key hole either, was about 18 months too early for that to become the norm. Physio available back then was pretty poor too.

    Good news is I went on to play most sports again and even run marathons afterwards. I still can run but couldn't cope with any sport that requires quick changes of direction so no vets football or racket sports, etc.

    Bad news is, close to 30 years later my knee is fecked with arthritis and I will need a replacement (probably within the next few years, although some days I'd happily do it myself it's so painful).

  • Blimey, Kung Fu! Hope you get it sorted mate grasshopper :wink:
  • RedChaser said:

    Blimey, Kung Fu! Hope you get it sorted mate grasshopper :wink:

    Yeah about 8 months into mate, was really enjoying it as well. Oh well, back to brisk masturbation walking
  • cabbles said:

    Thanks guys - @Robbo on the wing was probably the most helpful so far though

    Think nothing of it.
  • cabbles said:

    RedChaser said:

    Blimey, Kung Fu! Hope you get it sorted mate grasshopper :wink:

    Yeah about 8 months into mate, was really enjoying it as well. Oh well, back to brisk masturbation walking
    Ah so you haven't misspelt walking then :wink: . Seriously hope you can get it sorted.
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  • No, but I had an MRI on Tuesday which highlighted that I basically have no ACL in my left knee !
  • Ive done ACL on both legs (seperate times!) and the second time I did it was on my right, once I had the reconstruction I found out a year or so later that i had also torn my miniscus but they hadnt noticed it originally, had a secondary operation on that knee to sew it up!
  • edited September 2017
    My ACL tore whilst playing football about a couple of years ago and I had to have a new tear in my right knee.

    I wouldn't do any exersises on your knee until you get your results from the MRI scan otherwise you could damage your knee a lot further, espeically if you do anything like swimming or going to the Gym to work on your knees. I went on holiday and swam a lot before I had the MRI scan but everytime I got out of the pool my knee felt a bit of pain then I realised something wasn't right.

    A couple of weeks after I had my operation I was given a list of exercises I need to do in the Gym but I was told not to do anything like leg pressing to start with.

    I wouldn't even pay for physio neither. I made that mistake before I found out I have to go for the operation so the physio was a waste of time and money for me.

    Hope your knee goes well.
  • When I snapped my acl last year skiing I also managed to end up with a bucket handle meniscus tear, the meniscus is the bit of semi-soft tissue that keeps the knee in place, it should be mostly under the front of the knee joint.

    A bucket handle meniscus tear is when the meniscus is cut in half and half of the meniscus is round the front and half round the back (maybe half or a bit less in each place), that's not right and is currently thought to lead to arthritis in later age.

    Used to be the case that on damaged meniscus the docs would operate and just remove it all. Not a good idea it seems 20 years down the line.

    A meniscus tear is a slight issue, best left to heal properly with non impact exercise keeping your fitness up, if you impact exercise it will inflame and damage knee function which as your body comepensayes will lead to more severe muscular issues.

    Not a big injury by itself I've been told. If you are training with high impact or endurance you need to give it time to heal otherwise it will be an issue.

    3 weeks of swimming, cycling (especially in gym), cross training and leg weights was what was recommended as rehab for me.
  • se9addick said:

    No, but I had an MRI on Tuesday which highlighted that I basically have no ACL in my left knee !

    Is that good or bad?
    Is it like ordering sweet and sour ribs, but the sauce don't turn up?
  • Definitely wait for the proper diagnosis. I know more than one person who has run/played/ridden through knee 'problems' only to eventually admit defeat and get it seen to, to be told it's much worse than it would have been if they'd either seen them much earlier, or at least rested it

    Good luck - the NHS is notoriously slow for knees because the staff that deal with them are hideously overworked. Might be worth looking at private treatment even though it's expensive.
  • Tore the miniscus in my right knee about 5years ago. Didn't stop me playing football tho. Would only hurt at certain times like controlling the ball or if I over stretched. Eventually went to see the doctor who manipulated my knee every which way possible but I wasn't getting any pain. Makes you feel like you're making it up. MRI scan showed the tear. Had keyhole surgery to repair a week or so later. Was first in surgery about 8am and was walking round Tesco by 10am to get ibuprofen. Knee took a while for the swelling to go down and I couldn't over do the walking for about 3months. Knee is fine now although do get ache when the weather gets cold. All the best.
  • When I snapped my acl last year skiing I also managed to end up with a bucket handle meniscus tear, the meniscus is the bit of semi-soft tissue that keeps the knee in place, it should be mostly under the front of the knee joint.

    A bucket handle meniscus tear is when the meniscus is cut in half and half of the meniscus is round the front and half round the back (maybe half or a bit less in each place), that's not right and is currently thought to lead to arthritis in later age.

    Used to be the case that on damaged meniscus the docs would operate and just remove it all. Not a good idea it seems 20 years down the line.

    A meniscus tear is a slight issue, best left to heal properly with non impact exercise keeping your fitness up, if you impact exercise it will inflame and damage knee function which as your body comepensayes will lead to more severe muscular issues.

    Not a big injury by itself I've been told. If you are training with high impact or endurance you need to give it time to heal otherwise it will be an issue.

    3 weeks of swimming, cycling (especially in gym), cross training and leg weights was what was recommended as rehab for me.

    Funny you tore your ACL whilst skiing. I did some skiing before I tore my ACL playing football so it made me wonder if I started doing some damage on my knee without knowing.
  • Had a knee reconstruction at 17, did my ACL & PCL & when they opened my knee found I'd ripped my cartilage at the same time! They removed some of it & now it hurts like **** in the winter due to arthritis - I had to do a load of water therapy as part of my rehab.
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  • edited September 2017
    thing is with joints (& I don't mean spliffs) is that unless you undertake very expensive reconstructive surgery, they rarely mend properly and weaknesses remain
    .. I had far too many pulls, tears bumps and breaks during my sporting days and now I have arthritic knees, stiff ankles and dodgy shoulders .. about time I got a mobility scooter ,, seriously, my 'legacy' is not too catastrophic BUT I have friends who are seriously inconvenienced through decade old sporting injuries that they thought were healed,

    Swimming is very good exercise for injuries in general, as is just water resistance exercise .. massage and physio give relief but will not cure the problem .. surgery is the best remedy for knee injuries
  • Nope.
    Don't really exercise much.
    Knees are fine.
    Hope this helps.

    That's why I love CL :smiley:
  • Thanks all - some really helpful advice

    @ricky_otto I couldn't even do that kick before the injury
  • se9addick said:

    No, but I had an MRI on Tuesday which highlighted that I basically have no ACL in my left knee !

    Is that good or bad?
    Is it like ordering sweet and sour ribs, but the sauce don't turn up?
    It's definitely not good but it's possibly result of an old football injury so I may have been living with it for years (no football but until a couple of months ago could run medium distances relatively easily).

    I'm getting a steroid injection into the "fat pad" in my knee cap which should reduce some of the massive amounts of inflammation the MRI showed I had which may make things more comfortable which could mean I can avoid an operation.
  • Did mine snowboarding when I was about 13. I had a doctors note signing me off PE for nearly all of year 10. Had an MRI scan and then key hole surgery, not really sure what they did as I was too busy being a teenage boy.

    It didn't stop me trying to play football with my mates though, I actually got quite good with my left foot because of it, so when it healed I had two good feet for once!

    Still hurts now and then 10 years later but I try and do lots of cycling to keep the strength up as I snowboard every year still.

    Good luck mate! Swimming should help.
  • I tore my meniscus in late 2015.

    Took a year or so after surgery but I'm back playing football every week and just keep a strict routine with it.

    You need to make sure you don't rush it and take up physio as soon as the surgery happens (if required).

    There's exercises you can do pre-op. A lot of sitting down, sticking your bad knee in the air and holding it, etc.

    It's not a pleasant injury but if you have got it seen too and get the MRI scan done quickly then there's no reason why it can't heal.

    If it helps, I never had crutches and was able to walk fully after a couple of weeks from when it happened.

    Just running and any exercise that involved quick turning was immediately ruled out.

    Take up swimming if poss!
  • Yeah I tore my meniscus playing footy a few years back. Because I tore a little ACL and had a hairline fracture of my tibia it's hard to tell what exactly was the meniscus versus the other things.*

    *Muggins over here waiting nine months to go to the doctor.

    Definitely swimming. Swimming is zero (or low) impact on your joints, AND has the benefit that it can help strengthen the knee and surrounding muscles.

    I'm an avid runner, and I was probably back to running within two or three weeks with a very big brace on. Note, I WOULD NOT NECESSARILY RECOMMEND THIS. My inability to rest things properly means that I often end up hurting myself worse**. But I'm like you in that I really like my exercise, so being immobile is hard for me. But, as time goes on, hopefully if it interest you you can do some jogging.

    My other big piece of advice is, if you can and if the NHS offers it, do physical therapy to recover. Because I was kind of shitty about mine, I've never really gotten the strength and range of motion back properly. PT will help immensely with that.

    **The day I did my knee I had a dead lead, and took so much Aleve and put on so much Bengay/Tiger Balm that I was able to play. Will never really know if the two were related, but I suspect it wasn't an accident that the dead leg was the same leg where my knee was hurt. Let it be a lesson to let things heal properly.
  • Miniscus? That's a monkey ain't it?

    Yuh done your old monkey in?
  • I have pulled a few muscles playing chess
  • edited September 2017

    I have pulled a few muscles playing chess

    How big are your pieces then, like this I suppose :wink:
    image
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