Torn Meniscus

Had a torn meniscus repaired in late sept. 2006. It was a very quick recovery. No limping after a couple of days and I was back in the water as soon as the sutures were removed (10 days). I had a great meet in early dec., about 10 weeks after the operation (4 world records).

May the Abraham's Force be with you, grasshopper with torn meniscus! How did you hurt yourself?

:bighug: Sorry to hear about your injury, Stud! Good luck!! :chug:

Had a torn meniscus repaired in late sept. 2006. It was a very quick recovery. No limping after a couple of days and I was back in the water as soon as the sutures were removed (10 days). I had a great meet in early dec., about 10 weeks after the operation (4 world records). Thanks Rich. I went from being very gung-ho about getting this done to worries about the recovery after hearing some folks who work at docs office saying how it will be a longer recovery than anticipate. I am hoping for a DEC 8th/9th meet at BU. Will see how I feel after the op before paying entry. Can I hold you to this leading me to 4 WRs too? :laugh2:

Does this mean the 200 *** gridge is off for BU?

Your recovery depends on many factors. I had mine done in Sept 2010. I was back in the pool in one week but I could not push off the wall with that knee without pain for one month. I was 100% after three months. My knee was actually better afterwards because the surgeon removes arthritis as well as repairing the tear. So in my opinion whether to have the surgery or not is a no brainer. Go for it and listen to your body for your own recovery period.

How did you hurt yourself? Trying to vault the tsunami of social media based propaganda on my way vote...

I had meniscus repair in July (after Worlds and Naitonals). I had put off surgery from March to July and had a lot of trouble kicking - no breaststroke, a little backstroke. My distance events were okay. I was back in the water in a few weeks. I was faithful to physical therapy where I was pushed. Swam in a meet in Sept and my 100 back was better than last spring at nationals. Kicking again does wonders. My breaststroke kick is not quite right yet, but I am making progress. I kick with no pain, but I don't get the snap I used to. I think it is just a matter of time and more kicking in practice. I have to do a lot of warm-up in breaststroke to feel good. Since I am 71, age may play a role in my recovery.

I had my meniscus scoped about 10 years ago (right knee) after injuring skiing. I could walk around on it, but couldn't bend it to kneel, and waited through the summer to see if it would heal before seeing an ortho. Apparently, when it tears the edges get gnarly and just continue to erode and there isn't much blood flow to allow healing, so unless you just want to put up with it getting worse from erosion over time, surgery is probably the only way to fix it. The surgery was very easy, recovery quick, some swelling, stayed off it for a day and used one crutch for the next day. Recovery was so fast that I skipped the pt visits and went back to the pool about 1 week latter after it was healed. The dr said swimming would be very good for strenghening the surrounding muscles, so that's what i did. I remember (as Bill Ryan said) pushing off the wall with one leg for awhile. My knee isn't 100%, maybe 90%+, i have a little bit of numbness/tingling in it and im wondering if i over did the icing after surgery (? frost bite). Be a little careful if they give you one of those coolers with tubes and knee cuffs with ice water circulation - make sure you follow the intervals and let the knee warm between icing. i might have been to aggressive trying to keep the swelling down immediately after the scope. I find myself rubbing that knee sometimes when im driving in the car to stimulate blood flow. this might be from the location and amount of tearing. Think mine was a medial meniscus tear. I can now kneel fine, maybe not quite as quickly, i do feel it a little more than my other knee after running and usually use a brace on it when i ski to help protect it. i had no arthritis in it at the time. No trouble with it now when cycling and swimming and really no issues running on it over this past year. Good luck with it Stud.

Thanks for good wishes all. Betsy that's great for you and very encouraging for me that you're doing well. I'm sure I'll have few weeks before I get back to full power but I am glad to hear a positive story.