Coming off meniscus repair with slow recovery

[RideGuy]

About 3 months ago I had surgery to repair a bucket handle tear in my right knee.  For 2.5 months previous to surgery I could not straighten my leg.  I lost all the muscle in my calf and some in my quad.  I've been working out quite a bit to get my strength back.  I have no pain walking or running.  But when I go ice skating and I start going aggressively it starts to hurt to the point where I cannot continue.

 

I cannot snowboard like this.  I'm pretty discouraged about the time it's taking to heal.  There is no ski hills open yet anyway but I don't see myself ready anytime soon other than playing on the beginner hills with my youngest.

 

Anyone else have this surgery?  How long till you were skiing / snowboarding again?

[lordmetroland]

What did your orthopedist say about post-surgery rehab? I'm not sure what a bucket handle tear is, but when I had my knee scoped, the orthopedist said that the post-surgery discomfort wasn't a result of the cutting, but of the violence they applied to the joint to pop it open to access the meniscus. I'm not sure if that's true, because I'm gullible and he may have been ****ing with me. But he gave me a pretty credible-seeming demonstration. If that's the source of your pain, I've got to think there's a specific rehab course. Alas, I do recall it taking longer than I was expecting to get to the full range of motion/pain free state. 

[Beckmann AG]

Are you talking pain in the joint itself when you up the amperage, or the associated atrophy?

 

You  may not be able to snowboard as you always have, but that doesn't mean you can't snowboard differently.  I've found over time that a lack of fitness and/or acute discomfort can readily teach one a lot about operating in harmony with the forces at play.

[RideGuy]

My Ortho says I can return to sports when I have no pain and he always reminds me to "take it easy".  My physio has cleared me to return to non-contact sports (skating but no hockey).

 

I don't think it's joint pain.  I thought it the pain was from the incisions but lordmetro's theory of having to manipulate the joint is interesting.  My muscles are doing well.  I have to bow out because of the pain well before muscle fatigue.

 

I am told I will go 100% back to the way I was before.  It's just taking longer than I thought to recover and I'm getting discouraged.

[Beckmann AG]

What you might be dealing with is the lingerie effects of that initial insult to the tendons, etc during surgery.

 If that is the case, you want to make sure that you don't hold the joint in flexion under load for any length of time.  In other words, flex and extend the leg, but once you begin, make sure it's a smooth 'out-and-back' kind of motion.

Rather than a flex, hold...., extend.

Swimming might be a good idea, if you are so inclined.

[big mario]

Had my knee scoped last fall, and returned to normal activity after 8 weeks.  I spent my first week of work accesing my job from a second story window and a ladder, the next 3 months were from scaffold stairs. I started light squats, and I did go carving a few days before I was really released.  I was fine, but I more often than not suffer from the "no pain, no brain syndrome.  I did lose quite a bit of strength, and my cardiovascular fitness was non existent.  My operation was also on my back knee, and they only made 3 small incisions.  I  peglegged it back to the car after they dumped me out of the wheelchair, my tear was not that bad, but I have had to change my leg work outs around quite a bit. I did think my ortho was a little optimistic on my  getting back to normal

Mario

 ps  I never really had much pain, my leg strength still doesn't seem like its back where it was, and it may in fact never get there. I am a year and 3 months out

Edited December 18, 2015 by big mario

[lordmetroland]

What you might be dealing with is the lingerie effects of that initial insult to the tendons, etc during surgery.

I've not heard of this "lingerie effect" before, but it may explain why I insisted on wearing cute pajamas after my procedure...

[Beckmann AG]

^

^

St00pid autocorrect. That should read 'lingering'.

[lordmetroland]

^

^

St00pid autocorrect. That should read 'lingering'.

Oh. Well, that makes the cute pajama obsession all the more troubling.

[Beckmann AG]

Define "cute".

 

 

 

On second thought, don't.  And maybe keep to your side of the Mississippi.

[lordmetroland]

On second thought, don't.  And maybe keep to your side of the Mississippi.

 

The dang court-ordered ankle bracelet won't let me go beyond my fence, much less to the east coast.

 

Mr. RideGuy, in all seriousness, my recovery from the meniscus procedure was maddeningly slow. It felt out of proportion to what was described as a "relatively minor repair job." I bought a stationary recumbent bike and rode the crap out of it.

[RideGuy]

The dang court-ordered ankle bracelet won't let me go beyond my fence, much less to the east coast.

 

Mr. RideGuy, in all seriousness, my recovery from the meniscus procedure was maddeningly slow. It felt out of proportion to what was described as a "relatively minor repair job." I bought a stationary recumbent bike and rode the crap out of it.

This is how I feel as well.  I guess all I can do it be patient and keep working at it.

 

Thanks.

[DonPablo]

I had a meniscus repaired back in high school. I remember my leg being weaker than my good leg, especially the quad. I starting playing hockey and lifting weights a few months after the surgery and I built up my good leg even stronger than my repaired leg because it was compensating for my bad leg. I did not realize I was doing this at the time. I regret not taking enough time to stretch and do rehab on my knee, it took about 2 years to get my full motion back. I don't remember any pain like how you describe it.

[Hans]

I had a double meniscus repair/bucket handle op a few years ago, inner and outer meniscus damaged on my right knee in one time and a partially tornt ACL (did not repair the ACL) had to be operated twice because they forgot a bucket handle. After the second op I was on the snow within a month (with some thick knees after one day boarding). It took me about two years to fully recover and do some sports without thick knees or pain. Trained a lot.

[Hans]

I don't recognize the pains you mentioned, I have had some pains, but could always do sporty things after the op's I had, also aggressively, thick knees and sometimes with pain, but not that much I had to stop. In the end I had a good manual fysiotherapist though I found after a year after my op. He could manipulate my knee manually which knee I couldn't fully stretch at that time. That fysio had a lot of experience with soccerplayers with kneeproblems. Glad I met him.

[charliechocolate]

Not a thread hijack, but a quick question: what caused these bucket handle tears? Anything to avoid? I'm starting to worry about my knees.

[Hans]

Not a thread hijack, but a quick question: what caused these bucket handle tears? Anything to avoid? I'm starting to worry about my knees.

Don't avoid training that big muscle above and around your knee. That was my mistake. Without exactly knowing, i had a partially tornt ACL in my right knee, and I stopped fitness for about 3 years. Went back into a ballgame competition and tornt almost all of my ligaments in my knee in a game.

[Jack M]

I had my meniscus repaired in September too.  Front knee.  They didn't call it a bucket-handle though.  I've been doing some relatively light snowboarding - about 5 partial days since Thanksgiving weekend, and my knee isn't an issue at all so far.  I'm pleasantly surprised.  Hopefully snowboarding will be less bothersome to your knee than ice skating.

[carvercutie]

Hi,

 

I am in line to have a meniscus tear repaired soon. The MRI confirmed that I have a "flap" to be cut off, plus arthritis in the same (left) knee. I will be meeting with a surgeon next week. My regular doctor offered a cortisone shot, for swelling and pain. I have been cycling, hiking, dancing, with pain and swelling afterwards and sometimes during, but my stubborness usually wins out. My plan is to try to see if cortisone can boost me through riding season. I am afraid if I get surgery in January, I'll be out for the season. As the injured knee is the front foot, I feel as though it won't impact riding as much as if it were the steering foot. I'm not sure what the surgeon will say. I'm allergic to all OTC anti-inflammatory drugs, unfortunately, so all I've got is Tylenol. As tonight is New Year's Eve, I'll be dancing in heels- much more painful than cycling:)

Ween

[lamby]

Hi,

 

I am in line to have a meniscus tear repaired soon. The MRI confirmed that I have a "flap" to be cut off, plus arthritis in the same (left) knee. I will be meeting with a surgeon next week. My regular doctor offered a cortisone shot, for swelling and pain. I have been cycling, hiking, dancing, with pain and swelling afterwards and sometimes during, but my stubborness usually wins out. My plan is to try to see if cortisone can boost me through riding season. I am afraid if I get surgery in January, I'll be out for the season. As the injured knee is the front foot, I feel as though it won't impact riding as much as if it were the steering foot. I'm not sure what the surgeon will say. I'm allergic to all OTC anti-inflammatory drugs, unfortunately, so all I've got is Tylenol. As tonight is New Year's Eve, I'll be dancing in heels- much more painful than cycling:)

Ween

 As to your plan to see if cortisone can boost u through riding season...

 

I had meniscus tears and subsequent surgery about 20 years ago. before going for surgery I had a couple of cortisone shots, but later learned that it is really hard on your tissues. I had the surgery and my recovery involved a specific physical therapy regimen that brought the operated knee and leg back stronger than ever. I would recommend that you perform a Google search on the topic, "cortisone shot side effects". Good luck and I hope your knee issues improve markedly in 2016!

[RideGuy]

I just want to update this thread.

 

The week leading up to x-mas I didn't workout once.  Work was crazy.  The next week I had off.  During that week I went skating hard three times with no pain at all.  My confidence was not there, but I could skate just fine.  I think I needed that week off to totally heal up.

 

I have tried both skiing and snowboarding.  Snowboarding I feel a bit of discomfort especially when skating around with one foot out, but no pain.  Skiing is totally fine.

[BobD]

Just to add my experience.... Although my recovery seemed OK, I still occasionally would catch my foot on something which would set off the swelling and pain again. This went on for about two years until I started inline skating. By the end of that summer, I would never had known anything had been wrong with the knee. I think the lateral movements of skating and the support of the muscles used made all the difference. Post op, I found that icing, then using a heat pad prior to exercise helped a lot. It's been seventeen years now, and no issues since.