BIKEPGH MESSAGE BOARD ARCHIVE

In January playing hockey I tore my ACL and MCL. Had surgery on February 11th was riding 8 weeks later. Of course, the PT I was doing twice a week helped immensely. I was told an exercise bike during the 8 weeks I couldn't ride would be the best thing for it and I was on it pretty soon after surgery, not a week later but it was pretty quick. I avoided the narcotics as they messed with me too much and ditched the crutches pretty quickly. It was tough but 5 1/2 months later (PT entire time) I was back to playing hockey. Its still not 100% but its close.

For now and probably a while I'm off my fixie and using a geared bike. I think I'm moving to a single speed instead

Thanks Lou - that's pretty reassuring. Good to know that it all worked out. Mind if I ask how old you are & where you had it done? I'm 43 & going through UPMC sports, Dr. Musahl. Wondering if you're younger than me & that helped you bounce back with recovery? No chance for repair for me because of age & limited blood flow in the meniscus... they need to remove some parts... doc can't specify how much needs to come out until he gets in there.

Paging stefb... Isn't she a knee specialist?

After my knee surgery they put me on a passive motion machine, a device that sort of looked like a bike trainer. I'd drape my leg ofer it, and it would raise and lower (bend) my knee for me. I started rehabbing with that the same day as my surgery. Doc said that the more I used it, the easier rehab would be. Said he hoped I could do 8 hours a day on it. Started with very small movements, gradually increasing to larger knee bends. All done while I was flat on my back. I loved that machine. Made me feel like I was doing something immediately.

My knee came back just fine, then seemed to develop some arthritis like problems 5 or 8 years later. I've been able to work through them, and my knee is now at 95 percent of where it was before my injuries.

You can defintely come back. Put your heart into the rehab, and you'll do just fine.

P.S. Going through a Sports Medicine guy can make all the difference. My first orthopod just wanted me to be able to walk and do basic stuff. I wanted more. My next guy told me that he'd get me back on the soccer field. I went with him. Never regretted that decision.

Quizbot. I'm 36 and had it done at Greater Pittsburgh Orthopedic over on Centre (well surgery at St. Margaret). I pushed myself pretty damn hard at rehab and at home at night. I was in pretty good shape prior to surgery so that probably helped too. All rehab was completed at UPMC Sports Med on the South Side. Good team over there and highly recommend.

Coming off of ankle surgery in April and I'll agree with what others have said - work hard before and after surgery and it makes all of the difference. They'll give you exercises to do at home. If they say do them 2-3 times a day, do them 3 times a day and take them seriously.

Agree that the UPMC sports folks in South Side are terrific. I also did some PT at the Downtown office, and they were also cool.

Be clear about your goals with your doc and PT team up front. That also makes a huge difference.

x2

"Be clear about your goals with your doc and PT team up front. That also makes a huge difference."

I'll second Lou's comment on staying away from the narcotic painkillers. I had ortho surgury years ago (not joint or bike related), took, I think, percocet for only like 2 days, and that quickly started to feel signs like I was getting hooked, couldn't fall asleep without one, racing uncontrolled thoughts, very scary. I just had to force myself through several very miserable days without them before I felt right again. Then just went with extra strength tylenol, which truthfully seemed just as effective on the pain.

Ok well I can tell you what I see after knee arthroscopy and partial meniscectomies, but i don't want you to take what I say as a substitute for seeing a doc in person and getting proper tests and treatment that is specific to any individual. Usually it seems that people who were active and in good shape beforehand have a quicker recovery. If it is just a matter of removing a meniscus, then you can get back to activities as tolerated generally. Everyone is different with their recoveries. Some people swell more than others, and some have more pain than others. I would have the narcotic script available for the first few days (and take with food), but you can wean down to an anti-inflammatory and/or Tylenol. Your doc will advise you on that. Elevate and ice it after. If you try to do too much a few days after surgery, it is unlikely you will do any more damage, unless you re-injury your knee by twisting, etc. I tell patients that they shouldn't be afraid to rest if they do too much too soon. PT may be good for you, or you may not need to. Now when the surgeon is in there, he will probably take pictures. He and you will be able to visualize any arthritis. We sometimes find areas of articular cartilage loss, and that is also a factor in recovery and how your knee is in the long run. People can develop post-traumatic arthritis in their future after a meniscus tear. When and if that happens is hard to say. Sometimes 10 and sometimes 40 years. I don't want to scare you with that info. Hopefully you got that info from your doctor already.

With that being said, if I had a meniscus tear and i couldn't ride a bike without a lot of pain or do normal things without a lot of pain, i would get it taken care of. And in fact I may have a tear but I have been putting it off for 4 years, but i may have to look into it soon.

I had a meniscus tear in 1990, operated on around Christmas 1990. Crutches and ice for a few days, PT for a couple of months after. I don't remember having any strong pain-killers, at least nothing stronger than 400mg ibuprofen.

I can do a lot of things, but hacky-sack and other twisty things are out. Walking, running, biking are fine. No arthritis 20+ years on, but I still have to watch how I turn my leg.

Form a close personal relationship with a good physical therapist. PT may be more important than the actual surgery.

I had a meniscus tear in 1992. I was on crutches for two weeks, but only because of a complication--the tear was more of a crack, and putting weight on it would have made it worse. Almost 20 years later, no issues at all with the knee. I have a partial tear in the other knee from when I was hit on the bike in 2008. All of my exercise now is on a bike, so not running on it keeps it status quo. No pain at all when cycling, in fact, the doc recommended cycling as a great way to exercise without straining the knee...music to my ears!

on pain pills - when my back was agonizing and I was trying not to be bed-bound, my then-housemate (who was a paramedic) told me to ask for Tramadol. I can't do normal narcotics as the dizzy side effect usually prevents me from functioning, even at kiddie doses. Between that and the soma, I was finally functional enough to go to work and do PT. Since then, any time I'm prescribed pain pills I ask for it, the doc gives me a look like "what?", goes and looks it up, then comes back with a script. Fantastic stuff. And I hate pills.

Sometimes pain is the body's way of saying "stop". Sometimes it's right, sometimes it's wrong. YMMV.

Good luck!

(PS - my uncle had both knees totally replaced, and was back on his bike in no time. chances are, you'll be fine too )

Thanks for the replies & insight. Feeling somewhat less worried & definitely resolved to HTFU and work earnestly on recovery. No current signs of arthritis, so I should be good to go for many years after things are resolved. Maybe we'll see stem cell repair for tricky tissue as an option not too far out in the future.

I had a crushed meniscus about a dozen years ago. I was laid up for a while and on crutches for months. I would say it took me close to 2 years to regain "normal" function (in terms of the range of activities I could do). Even now I can screw things up if I overuse my knees (especially if there's significant torsion at the knee joint; think basketball or dance).

The best advice I received was to build up muscle strength in the knee and leg to prevent the joint from floating around when you're doing stuff.

Oddly, biking is quite gentle on by knee (wrt to the meniscus) so I can bike even while having to be careful about other things.

I feel for you Quizbot.

The really great news, though, is they're doing things now and fixing things now that they couldn't do 30 years ago.

Had my surgery Tues... they removed 1/3 of right medial meniscus from a tear & did something under my kneecap to relieve grinding (not sure exactly what, will see doc in 5 days). 4 days after surgery, I'm back on the bike - at least, on the trainer for 15 mins. I've never been happier to sit on a trainer than I was today. Things feel definitely unstable but the general mechanics are there.

Flexing the joint is really a lot of work. I'm generally very surprised that I can even push a pedal so soon after surgery. Still on one crutch around the house, but feeling like I can drop it soon for room to room journeys. Lots of baby steps lately.

Sounds like great progress...congrats, hope it continues and you're riding again in no time!

Patellar chondroplasty I am guessing. Just kinda cleaning up the articular surface under the kneecap. Good to hear you are back on a trainer. The difficulty with flexion is probably from some swelling.

Some pics I got from the procedure from my doc today:

Medial meniscus flap tear folded under itself and the transverse ligament (thin band on the right). Smooth arc on top is the medial end of femur articular cartilage, flat bottom surface is top of tibia. The torn flap was about as big as the end of a pinkie. That was bothering me for a while... glad it's gone. Surprised at how thin the meniscus is for what it does.

Didn't have a patellar chondroplasty. Some fibrous tissue on the lateral side of the kneecap was removed (maybe 4 or 5 cm). Doc thinks that was what was causing the grinding/popping. From what I could gather, it was nothing functional. Doc said it was an odd find & probably would have missed it if I didn't ask him to take a look before the procedure.

The first image isn't loading for me, but if it is the same as the one you posted on FB, i saw it (Colin showed me).

It really is amazing that something so small can cause so much pain. Of course, the anatomy looks huge on the scope pics, but seeing the menisci with the knee cut open makes you realize how small it is, but yet when there is a tear, it can cause so many problems. Did they do a micro fracture, too? Hope you feel better soon.

I got xrays and an MRI yesterday. I broke down and saw one of our sports medicine guys. My right knee is swollen, burning, and I get intermittent stabbing pain medially. I am hoping it is nothing. It isn't interfering with riding yet, but I do have annoying pain with other activities. I also may have some mild hip dysplasia, but I do have tendonitis of my hip flexors.

Haha, I could see the first image last night but now it says it's a TOS violation. I was gonna make a joke about what I thought it looked like at first glance...

Anyways, good luck with the recovery, the "after" picture is certainly a lot less cluttered.

I emailed a human at photobucket to have it restored. Meniscus pron.

Sexy

@stefb, hope it's "nothing" too, but you seem to be the type to not whine about your injuries...so at least I hope it's not a BIG issue.

I had patellar realignment surgery on both of my knees, one in '98 and then again in '00, due to having "dislocation-prone knees". Much of my high school career found me in stiff knee braces hobbling around on crutches between the dislocations and surgeries. (EDIT: that's where my screen name came from by the way)

I know my injury is not the same as a meniscus tear, and my surgery was more preventative, so I can't really give you an idea of your healing process. But I do know how it feels to go through injuries and surgeries in that area and I'm extremely happy I addressed the issue when I did. I've been dislocation-free for over 10 years and I was able to play softball with the extra protection of J-braces through college and beyond as well as cycle and swim with only some bags of ice and ibuprofen for my more strenuous days.

TOS violation on a knee picture? I'm guessing there's too much skin color in the pic for some filter, it popped up on some censor's wtfisthis list, and they chose the better-safe-than-sorry approach.

That sure is one HAWT meniscus you've got there...I hope you're doing well!

I feel dirty posting this