Meniscus Experiences

[TimothyD11]

2 years ago I tore my meniscus and sprained my MCL while skiing at Kirkwood, according to orthopedic doctor's interpretation of MRI. Was fine for 2 years (since physical therapy) and then I recently "re-tweaked" that knee running to catch a train, side-stepping down the stairs like an idiot. The pain was under a 1 (from 1 to 10) and so I stayed with the plan to ski 4 days in the Tetons with my brother (our annual trip together) over President's Day weekend. I did well for 2 days but the knee started to bother me much more at the end of day 3 - swelling up a lot and the pain was about a 3 or 4. I had to sit out day 4 at Jackson Hole and let my brother ski alone.

In the 2 weeks since then I started wearing the brace I was issued 2 years ago and it started to get better. It felt so good Friday I decided to not wear the brace to work on Saturday. Then Saturday I did something to it and it went south again.

Orthopedic doctor didn't have an available appointment so I went to see a nurse practitioner that works with him. She looked over my file from 2 years ago and looked at my knee and said that she believes that I just re-aggravated the old injury, that it's not a different / worse injury (ACL) although the meniscus could have re-torn or torn worse. She suggested giving it 2 weeks to see if it improves and if it doesn't then arrange for an MRI.

Thing is, I REALLY don't want to miss out on my annual one week ski trip out west. And I DON'T want to go when it's spring skiing. Which means I want to go out in the next 2 to 3 weeks, as soon as a few storms are in the 7 day forecast.

I seem to have full strength and stability in the knee, with a pain level of 2 or 3. It opens straight all the way but but feels a little bunched up when I try to bend it fully. There's a bit of swelling.

The northeast is about to get a noreaster from Wednesday into Thursday, expecting a foot of snow. I'm thinking about putting the knee to the test Saturday at Gore or Mount Snow. For one thing I want to ski. But it would be a cheaper way to find out the knee may not hold up than finding out after I flew out to SLC or Idaho Falls or Bend and rented a car and reserved a place to stay.

Would you treat this like a "show-stopper"?

 

[tch]

As someone said, everyone is different. I had surgery to remove a substantial chunk of meniscus 1 1/2 years ago. It felt great until this December when somehow I re-aggravated the knee. MRI showed no damage, but I'm back to aching and clicking and swelling. Wakes me up at night sometimes. Since its ski ski season, I'm just doing topical NSAID cream (prescription only), wearing a brace, skiing on it and complaining. I'm afraid it will continue to hurt as long as I use the knee.
Sorry I can't be more upbeat.

 

[TimothyD11]

As someone said, everyone is different. I had surgery to remove a substantial chunk of meniscus 1 1/2 years ago. It felt great until this December when somehow I re-aggravated the knee. MRI showed no damage, but I'm back to aching and clicking and swelling. Wakes me up at night sometimes. Since its ski ski season, I'm just doing topical NSAID cream (prescription only), wearing a brace, skiing on it and complaining. I'm afraid it will continue to hurt as long as I use the knee.
Sorry I can't be more upbeat.

Sorry to hear that. Maybe arthritis?

Do you feel the strength and support is there though? I feel like I have the strength and support, although if I put a lot of pressure on it it's a little painful.

 

[TimothyD11]

Knee (nearly certain meniscus) is still a little sore, but strength and stabliity seem to be there if I persevere through a small amount of little pain. I'm skiing the first time this weekend since it started bothering me again Presidents Day weekend. I'll be wearing my brace and I am pretty sure I'll be alright if I take it easy (groomed blues and below). Wish me luck! Any tips besides "don't ski"?

 

[ADKmel]

Arnica.. is homeopathic no heat no smell cream for deep tissue bruising. Helps me a lot Try and find "THE RUB" I get it at Hannaford in the health aisle
I'm like you nursing wrecked knee..I have been skiing on it but gimp badly walking.. Sadly Gore was too much w/spring snow on Tuesday
Like you I'm going west to Mammoth next week. knee now on ice, aspirin and other OTC pain killers and YES to the brace
Good Luck.. don't push it is my only suggestion. that 1 more run did me in.. Hope you feel better

 

[TimothyD11]

The nurse practitioner recommended Arnica Gel. Worked pretty good the 2 times I used it. Gooey stuff though!

 

[ADKmel]

The nurse practitioner recommended Arnica Gel. Worked pretty good the 2 times I used it. Gooey stuff though!

hmm The Rub isn't gooey.. https://www.swansonvitamins.com/natrabio-the-arnica-rub-4-fl-oz-cream I'm in N NY Hannaford sells it too

 

[tball]

Have you tried cold therapy? Ice works wonders for me.

I have a torn meniscus that is waiting for a good time to get fixed. Probably after the lifts stop spinning this year.

Fortunately, it doesn't bother me much skiing. It will keep me up at night, and I can only run short distance a couple times a week. When it's inflamed it causes off the chart pain.

I manage the pain and inflammation nicely with cold therapy. Specifically, I sleep with two of these wrapped around my knee every night:

That plus stretching every day has made it totally manageable through ski season. Maybe worth a try. Every injury is different, of course.

 

[moreoutdoorYuri]

in conjunction with full rupture of right knee ACL & MCL, Jan 28 2017, my doc/surgeon found evidence of historical meniscus tears/damage all the way around.
But, up until the ACL/MCL ruptures, I experienced no real issues/swelling/pain from really hard use in all varied activities - hardly a day goes by when I don;t do something very strenuous...
He recommended 'trimming' - I didn't argue much... he 'trimmed'...
However, 1 year later, and back on the hill since Mid-Dec - sking more conservatively and for shorter day, the 'new' state of the meniscus is the most worrysome.
significant swelling by end of day, all snow surface variations are felt significantly, affects my day.
If I had it to do again, I would have asked the surgeon to do just the ACL & MCL replacements (cadaver grafts) and leave the menuscis alone...

 

[James]

in conjunction with full rupture of right knee ACL & MCL, Jan 28 2017, my doc/surgeon found evidence of historical meniscus tears/damage all the way around.
But, up until the ACL/MCL ruptures, I experienced no real issues/swelling/pain from really hard use in all varied activities - hardly a day goes by when I don;t do something very strenuous...
He recommended 'trimming' - I didn't argue much... he 'trimmed'...
However, 1 year later, and back on the hill since Mid-Dec - sking more conservatively and for shorter day, the 'new' state of the meniscus is the most worrysome.
significant swelling by end of day, all snow surface variations are felt significantly, affects my day.
If I had it to do again, I would have asked the surgeon to do just the ACL & MCL replacements (cadaver grafts) and leave the menuscis alone...

Yep, meniscus "cleanup", aka removal, has caused the problems after the rehab. Fwiw, I found fish oil to help with swelling, tightness. Also taking ibuprofin before you go out. That old stuff where you took one small pill/day that got banned for heart issues was good.
Glucosamine/chondroitin never did much.

I found the area below the knee was numb for years. (Acl reconstruction. Both knees) Not a big deal except when kneeling on the floor.

 

[Snowfan]

I've been nursing a torn meniscus for for 5 months, hoping it would "get better". It did not and has been very painful at times, especially at night. Surgery next Thursday. While in there doc will snoop around for anything needing attention.

 

[SSSdave]

As others have noted, it depends on the nature of your actual injury because the meniscus pad in the knee has a few types of injury mechanisms and levels of severity.

Had partial meniscectomy arthoscopic surgery about 2 decades ago for some loose meniscus, was trimmed, and knee fine afterwards. However for over a decade suspect more meniscus has become loose. Most of the time no problems but infrequently has bothered me as it did a couple weeks ago. I just stay away from exertion for a few days, swelling recedes and it gets better on its own. Never take medicine.

As an one of the older skiers on this board, am a uncommon example of a long time rec bump skier that still has pretty solid knees. Also hike all year, and backpack carrying extra heavy weight, but have never had a broken bone or grade 3 (tears off bone) ligament injury anywhere in my body and the one time I might have had a grade 2 knee ligament partial tear, it healed on its own. On the other hand have had a few grade 1 collateral ligament strains that simply heal on their own. The body in many cases does an amazing job of healing on its own without any medicine or surgery if one gives it time to do so without further aggravations.

 

[Wendy]

Essntially you're screwed if the tear is bad enough. It gets removed. It may or may not always swell up and get stiff after skiing. I found fish oil worked better than chondroiton/glucosomine. That effect may wear off also.
Until regeneration comes of age you're left with removal or "rehab" which has nothing to do withbthe meniscus. No magic yet except knee replacement.

Yup! I tore mine about 8 years ago during a whitewater rescue course. It was so painful to walk so I visited my ortho right away, and he gave me the option of waiting, continuing to exercise on it, or immediate surgery. I decided to wait and tried to ride my bike as much as I could the rest of that summer. The pain never went away and I would feel it “catch”once in awhile which was disconcerting, so I had surgery that September. The surgeon informed me there was a lot of arthritis in that knee which was “cleaned out”as well.

Recovery was slow. My knee has never been the same. Despite being active, taking boxing classes, doing squats and lunges, all kinds of strength stuff, running 10 half marathons in a year, and bike riding, I have never been able to rebuild the muscle mass in my left quad. I also have irritation and weakness of my left IT band as well, which I’m positive is associated with the knee. I plan on putting more bicycle miles this summer as that seems to be the best thing. I do IT strengthening exercises as part of my boxing classes.

Multiple days of skiing in a row inevitably result in swelling and discomfort (no real “pain.”). Sometimes, carving on hard snow is more irritating to it than skiing in 3D snow on a wider ski.

 

[Wendy]

@James if I take 2 ibuprofen before skiing, I’m in much better shape afterwards.

 

[James]

running 10 half marathons in a year,

I can't imagine that's good for a knee.
Maybe take up skydiving? Log sawing in lumberjack comps?

I find the worst for my knee is teaching beginning skiing. I guess because there's not a whole lot of bending going on. After a few hours of that they're stiff and don't work well.

 

[Wendy]

I can't imagine that's good for a knee.
Maybe take up skydiving? Log sawing in lumberjack comps?

.

Lol. Or Log Rolling in lumberjack comps? That would build knee stability!

The running really didn’t bother my knee, with the proper shoes, and exercises done in between races. But I concur that cycling is better!

 

[ella_g]

@James @vanhoskier weirdly according to my orthopedist running isn’t that bad for your knees — blood flows to your knees which is good for your joints / cartilage. I’m sure I’m mangling that explanation but I kept saying, really? And he said, really! That said I went to see him for a running-related issue which is requiring months and months of pt. Anyway, half marathon is a great distance, I’d say go for it

 

[Snowfan]

It's all about the gait. Some people run and pound their knees..seen by up and down movement of the head. Some run with little to no impact on the knees. Their head is stable, like a cheetah.

Run like a cheetah.

 

[Wendy]

@James @vanhoskier weirdly according to my orthopedist running isn’t that bad for your knees — blood flows to your knees which is good for your joints / cartilage. I’m sure I’m mangling that explanation but I kept saying, really? And he said, really! That said I went to see him for a running-related issue which is requiring months and months of pt. Anyway, half marathon is a great distance, I’d say go for it

There’s lots of medical research debunking the myth that running is bad for knees. But, running without any other exercise can create muscle imbalances, leading to discomfort or injury. For me, Cycling a few days a week helped a lot.

 

[James]

Any links to this research? I find it difficult to believe thousands of impacts per week is somehow not having an effect.