DH had his meniscus repaired about two years ago. Also has some fragments removed and arthritis scraped. That helped for maybe 6 months. He then went through two sets of injections as maire_cate described. First time helped. Second time did nothing. This January he had full knee replacement and is doing amazingly well. I would strongly recommend to keep your appointment.

Keep the Surgery appointment!

Agreeing with others here...
Your knee ISN'T going to heal on its own. Pain may come & go, but it'll slowly worsen. Shots, Therapy, "Clean-outs", etc....are only delaying the inevitable.

I learned that with my left TKR last Sept. 26th. MRI showed the back of my kneecap was losing Meniscus....half was worn off. Doesn't sound that bad, but the only fix was total replacement! I also needed both MCL & LCL adjustment too, as my leg had slooooowwly developed an inward angle of 8-10 degrees (normal is 2-3 deg). My MCL was "pretty beat up" they said! It needed reinforcing-mesh, slight re-location, & a back-up ligament of mesh woven between 2 drilled-in anchors. NO amount of pills, therapy, or injections can repair stuff like that!

I had tried knee-strengthening exercises for a few months, & the $1,000 Synvisc injection. Neither really helped, & I knew they wouldn't for long. My surgery was a necessity. Yours MAY be as well....

What extent will your surgery involve?
Full TKR, partial, or heavy scoping?

Faron

Keep the surgery appointment and have the meniscus tear repaired. I had my meniscus repaired about 5 years ago. I started having pain and swelling after a short run and was hobbling around afterward. I had been to a doc years ago and knew I had some floating things as a result of injuries in my youth due to a fall off a horse, skiing, b'ball, track, and a lot of other things I probably did wrong.

Back in the 'old days' surgery was much more invasive so I didn't do anything about it. Fast forward to 5 years ago and it was a no-brainer with arthroscopic methods. My doc fixed the meniscus, scraped out a little arthritis and removed the floaty things. After a little rehab I was back to running about 2 months later.

I tore my meniscus when helping with a fundraiser (what a reward, uh?). Initially, I think I may have just had a bad sprain but that as the sprain tried to heal, things were loose and the meniscus could slip and that it tore later. I might have avoided surgery if I had gotten the sprain to heal properly without the tear, but once it tore, it was just a matter of time.

My surgeon said there are tears that can heal if they are on the front part of the disc that has blood supply -- but those require sutures and weeks of not being on that leg at all. Those that tear in the white part with no blood supply will not heal. They generally continue to tear and by the time some folks go in for surgery, they basically have a shredded disc. I know a woman who did that for a year or two and was told it looked like she'd put it on a cheese grater. I am pretty sure I made mine worse thinking I could avoid surgery too, but there is a point at which you won't have a choice. By the time I had surgery, I could barely walk on it and my surgeon said there were several tears.. There was no doubt I needed the surgery, but I probably made it harder on myself before and after by trying to avoid it.

I tore my miniscus and had great results with the surgery, was walking on it in three days. Then I got a Baker's cyst which therapy helped. Now I have a bakers cyst again and knee pain but 25 years have passed so I can say the surgery was successful. I have to make an appt. to have this done, lingering about it as I want to enjoy spring after our hideous winter. If I were you, I'd do the surgery, that's the best solution, the other option is questionable.

Thank you all. Yes, I am going to do it....forgot to mention before that it is arthroscopic surgery and should take no more than 30 minutes...a partial menisectomy I did some more research and just don't think it will resolve on its own because of the type of tear it is. The nurse called today and I was relieved to find out that even though I will be on crutches I can put a little weight on it to stand up and get around. I thought I would have to try to hop on one leg using the crutches. I tried it today without much luck and really wondered how on earth I would make it to the bathroom on time in the middle of the night hopping on one leg... Lol.

Was also happy to find out I can do stairs. We were thinking of getting a hotel for a few days because I knew I would not be comfortable sleeping on the couch. For months I have only done the stairs once or twice a day anyway so it will work out.

I just can't wait to resume normal activity. Between the knee and other health stuff I've been cooped up for months.

Thanks again for all the advice!

@ouicheri, a PT can't remedy a torn meniscus. Sometimes, a repair can be done if the tear is peripheral, otherwise, a meniscectomy is performed (and maybe a bit of clean up of the joint).

Your PT in no way should have made you feel like you made a poor decision, so don't regret having surgery because your laboring under misinformation.

Joanie, the only difficulty I had with walking for a couple of weeks was pivoting on my bad leg when turning a corner. I was only on 2 crutches for a day, then on 1 for a day or 2 and then I didn't even need them. You might borrow a cane if you know someone who has one. Much easier to get around at the grocery store, etc, and people will still respect your reduced mobility.

Joanie, I highly recommend spring-loaded crutches with hand grips while you're non-weight bearing. I had a tendon in my ankle repaired, and traditional crutches were very painful to my arms and underarms after a couple of days. Spring-loaded made life so much easier! I just used one crutch for hopping around at home.

Jlc....thanks for the tip about spring loaded crutches. I have regular crutches and hopefully I won't have to use them very long since I will be able to put some weight on my knee/leg. I won't be going anywhere until I can comfortably get around with just a cane.

The doctor recommended a walker after knee surgery rather than crutches and I found it much easier than crutches. He also said I could bear weight as soon as I felt able, but to exercise the knee every 2 hours. My nurse (sister) was diligent in waking me up on schedule the day of surgery and the day after. The second day after surgery I maneuvered the stairs. It helped that I had a walker for upstairs and one for downstairs. I was driving within the week.

Joanie my son had a very deep bucket tear but also had a torn ACL so his surgery and recovery was complicated. Because he was only 19 his surgeon did not want to remove the bucket 'handle' without trying to repair it first, so it was sutured into position in the hopes that it would take - it didn't and a little over a year later he had more surgery. PT before surgery to strengthen those lateral stabilizer muscles is a good idea and you might check with your doctor about it. I'm probably next up - been putting it off because we haven't really found our medical groove in our new location yet.

Joannie, I never did use crutches, but if I had it to do over again, I would try using a single crutch to help bear weight on that one leg. By day 3, you may not need anything more than patience until you can regain your stamina and strength It takes some time to get 100%, but you can quickly get back to 75-80% and be doing better than you are now. Pace yourself and keep a bag or two of peas in your freezer. They make good ice bags that will wrap around the knee and you may want one front and back at times. Keeping the swelling down will help you feel and move better.

Keep us posted. Wishing you a speedy recovery.

Joannie, I had the arthroscopy for a torn meniscus several years ago. After I first tore it, I thought once the initial pain had subsided I could wait till later to have the surgery. Then one day I stepped out of the car and the pain was so bad I couldn't walk. Luckily, I had a wonderful surgeon who worked me into his already full schedule. He did the partial meniscectomy and scraped and cleaned out and I never needed crutches. Do not skip the ice and elevation--makes a world of difference in recovery. Hope all goes well.

Update.....had the surgery yesterday and it went well. Not really in pain, but couldn't really ice it yesterday because the gauze and wraps were so thick, so it is very stiff and tight this morning. Fortunately, was told to switch to band aids this morning and light bandage so can now ice it. Was also told to use a walker instead of crutches so much easier to get around. No restriction on stairs so didn't have to sleep on the couch. It's just a waiting game now.

Thanks to all for your advice, tips and kind words.

JP, glad to hear surgery went well. Ice, ice baby!

I have a torn meniscus in both of my knees. I chose not to go with surgery because I have such bad arthritis in both knees - most likely genetic. Ortho doc said I probably need knee replacement but I'm still too young. So I did PT, keep my muscles strong and stay away from jumping and pivoting. So far so good.

Magdalena....... After surgery ortho told DH lots of arthritis. Sure hope operation was not a mistake. Time will tell. The stiffness and not being able to bend it concerns me only because there was no mention of this. Will call nurse at dr's office tomorrow to see if is normal or not. Iced it good several times today. Thanks for your advice.

YES call the dr. I was told to exercise the knee every 2 hours immediately after surgery to ensure good range of motion.

Movement. icing and time will help the swelling come down. You are probably at prime time for swelling -- they say day 2-3 is the worst, so by this time tomorrow, you should starting to notice improvement in your range of motion.

You might ask your doctor about taking an anti-inflammatory (Motrin, Aleve, etc.) to further help with the swelling. That was the only thing I could take when I didn't tolerate the pain meds. Both of my sons had their wisdom teeth out last summer and their surgeon said his patients who use anti-inflammatories more and pain meds less tend to do better in healing.

Glad things seem to be going well for you.

Wishing you a smooth recovery and a good outcome! Try to keep moving it, even if it's just a tiny bit, then ice and elevate. 800 mg ibuprofen every 8 hours helps a ton, if your Dr approves it.

Hope you are doing ok, Joanie. Did your doc schedule you for any rehab? Hope you will find out something when you call. Even if you had lots of arthritis scraped, there is usually some rehab to keep range of motion and strength of surrounding muscles engaged after a couple of days. And an anti-inflammatory or ibuprofen should help (Aleve, etc) as suggested.

I've had both knees done and don't have same rom with either that I had... something like orthovisc can help-- I had one knee injected and plan to see about another round for both. movement helps and keeping or regaining muscle tone is impt. keep the calves stretched! my doc advises taking a low dose aspirin/day for a month afterwards to help minimize chance of clots if you don't already.

JP-
I hope you're able to find out something! Plz update us!
With my TKR, my Surgeon said it's literally a race against time to move joints after "closing", to avoid scar-tissue hampering things. I think I was in the R-O-M machine just a few hours after surgery.

MLee-
Oh my...I hope things continue to be "doable" with your knees!

My doc said to avoid the twisting too!

Faron

Thanks everyone. I spoke with the nurse. She said I am currently at peak swelling...48-72 hours....so she said to ice more often and take ibuprofen. It's not uncommon to be this stiff and tight. She said to give it another day and if I'm still as tight and no improvement by Friday morning to call and they will get me in to drain the knee if I want....that sounds like fun! So it's a wait and see situation right now.

I've given up trying to get comfortable on our narrow couch and prop my leg up high. I hurt my leg struggling to get into position even with DH's help. So I am sitting in a chair with an ottoman, pillow on top....not raised above my heart but it's the best I can do. Even so, DH still has to lift my leg for me. Hopefully I will get some relief soon one way or another. Thanks again for all the well-wishes.

Sending healing thoughts for a speedy recovery!

joaniepanie-thanks for the update. Hang in there and do your ankle pumps!

Hope the swelling/stiffness is soon better! Best wishes on a speedy recovery.

When do you start PT?

JP-
Painful as it may be, are you doing any ROM/Stretching?

No problem moving ankle or toes. It's actually more comfortable to stand since leg is straight in that position ....no problem walking with walker.

No mention of PT yet. DH had same surgery last fall and just did exercises on his own to regain strength and mobility, but I don't think his was as bad as mine.

Faron...do not know what ROM/Stretching is.

Oh, sorry JP!

I meant range-of-motion stretching. Mine involved sitting in chair, & sliding foot backwards on floor. Others were laying in bed, & flexing knees downward into mattress & holding a few seconds. Also in bed...dig heels into mattress firmly, & hold for a 5-count. Variation...slowly pull heels toward your bottom while dragging them into bed.

Other stuff as tolerated:
Squats, lunges, seated leg-raises holding a firm 5sec-squeeze at top.
A stretch I still find helpful is putting my foot on the 3rd step up, & just leaning into it. You can use your arms for support. Even 3 months+ ago, I had my full r-o-m back! I still do this stretch a dozen+ times a day!

Faron

Faron....as soon as I hit submit I realized what you meant. Right now I have almost no rom...feels a lot like it did in January before getting a cortisone shot, but worse. Ice and elevation don't seem to be doing a thing. Will give it tomorrow but feel I am headed to dr on Friday for aspiration.....yikes!

My doc wanted me iin PT before a week was out. May depend on exactly what they do and the person. Sorry it's not getting better. I was hoping it was just the normal swelling. Hope you get relief and rom soon.

Uffda JP!

You need to get that knee moving/stretching. Time is critical here! I've babbled a lot about my pain when just trying to slide my heel backwards even 1 INCH!! Dear God it hurt...but I knew I HAD to do it.

There's ONE chance to get things going right, and you're missing valuable time...
NOT trying to sound uncaring here!!! Difficulties start to mount soon if you don't get that joint moving...

Faron

You really should be in PT! Faron is right.

I've never had knee surgery, but I've rehab'd hundreds if not thousands as a PT ;)

Faron is right on. I've had 3 knee surgeries - 2 ACL reconstructions and 1 scope involving meniscus tear and arthritis scraped out. Every single time I had to go to rehab the day after. Painful for the ACL stuff but totally worth it for the icing, electrical stim, and endorphins released by a little work.

OutsidePlaying, my PT days go all the way back to when it was protocol to wait 6 weeks after ACL reconstruction to start rehab!

Yeah, I treated a lot of stiff knees back then ;(

I'll bet you did, mimi! My first ACL was in 1991 and I was shocked when I woke up and my knee was moving and I had to get up and go to rehab! This was in Jackson Hole. Best decision I ever made was to stay there for the surgery.

Wow....guess it seems every dr does things differently. My instructions say to begin using knee as much as tolerated 3 days after surgery (today) and to bend and flex knee as much as possible several times a day. It is not AS tight or stiff this morning so that's a good sign. I will do more walking and bending today. Hopefully I can forgo getting it drained.

I guess I will find out on Tuesday if I need to go to PT or will do exercises on my own. I do trust this practice....they have been the recommended/go-to practice for at least 30 years in this area.

Thanks again everyone!

That was about the time the shift occurred and patients were sent to PT still green around the gills from anesthesia!

I was really getting into knees back then, working in Sports Medicine and taking lots of cont. ed. I was able to convince our Chief Orthopod to let me rewrite the ACL rehab protocol and moved up starting from 6 weeks to 3 days post.

I think our poster here needs to tell her doctor to write a script quickly, so she can keep from getting behind the 8-ball.

joanie-do PT if you can. Advocate for yourself instead of letting the doctor decide. There's no comparing having a professional teach you how to get your knee moving again and get your quadriceps activated after the trauma and swelling of surgery*.

You really ought to capitalize on this surgery as much as and as soon as possible. Now is the time to do this right!

Best of luck!

* some surgeons actually send patients to PT before their surgery to learn the ROM, strengthening and assistive device so they can get a leg up, ahem, so to speak.

Yes JP-
Start rockin that knee ASAP!!
I'm preaching here from a downstairs bedroom! Damn spring cold!!! Missed work yesterday, & today is the normal day off.

OSP-
I KNEW it! Should'a had my surgery in JH!!! That way, I could've done my rehab at the Four-Seasons there....;-) DW & I walked through there in July 2013. Were staying in West-Yellowstone, but drove thru YNP one day, then down to JH.

MIMI-
I bet you've got lotsa rehab stories you could tell!!?
My CPM-Machine was on when I woke up...I THINK...
If not, it was on soon afterward! You also reminded me that I had started "Pre-replacement" exercises 2 months b4 surgery too! "Go in stronger" was kinda their mantra...

Faron

MIMI-
I bet you've got lotsa rehab stories you could tell!!?

*******

I do! I can say is that overall, women are far more stoic than men. I've had a guy or two just about pass out on me when I took their leg out of the brace right after surgery ;-)

No offense to men, of course.

Faron, the ortho surgeon who did my ACL in '91 is still there and is the 'knee guy' in those parts (I looked him up a couple of years ago and almost went back out there for #2 ACL). I don't know if he does replacements, but he is one heck of a guy in my book. Wrote the protocols for my rehab at home and communicated weekly with my PT. He even flew thru Alabama to check on me about 2 months post-surgery. How about that?! Had his own plane and needed to get some additional hours, etc, etc on a trip east to visit family.

Mimi......thanks for the advice. I am walking on it more today with the walker and doing stretching every time I get up and while sitting. Just to clarify...my dr. has not been in practice 30 years...he's in his early 40's. I will certainly talk to him about PT. You would think there would be standard protocols across the board but maybe everyone's situation is different, hence no PT for me yet?

joanie, my experience is that some docs/surgeons are more "pro-PT" than others.

I've seen patients anywhere from 3x/week to 1x/week/2 weeks/month depending.

It just really helps for the PT to evaluate your knee, document progress, teach you, and help steer clear of complications.

The most common problems I saw were continued swelling of the joint (be it in the joint or of the joint synovial lining), loss of motion and quadriceps atrophy.

I would think my doc is pro-PT since both of their locations have PT right in the offices...i see patients doing PT as I go back to the examination room. Will be interesting to see what he says...I will post when I find out.

I will add my encouragement for PT. Just walking and doing things on your own without direction will not be likely to get you nearly as far. Even with PT, they will be telling you to do some of the exercises again at home that day and once or twice a day on your days off from PT.

I am surprised you are using a walker. Make sure you aren't too fearful. IF you only do what is easy, you may have a lot of trouble down the road. PT will also help reassure you as to what you can and should be doing/experiencing.