torn meniscus
 

I have had a swollen knee for about 4 mos now. I went to the group physical therapist and got a referral for an MRI. I got the mri done and I had a partial patella tendon tear. and complex tears of the lateral meniscus. well the patellar tendon tears have healed. ( I got these injuries over training for selection, and I didn't make the SFAS date..) But my knee is still swollen, and i'm thinking it has something to do with my meniscus being torn. comments suggestions please. I'm taking six months to figure this thing out before I try selection

I had the same thing a couple of years back. Went to the sports surgeion and he cleaned up the meniscus as well as repaired the tendon and cleaned up the arthritis in the knee. There can be several ways that the miniscus is damaged and it should have appeared on the MRI. The operation is fairly simple, at least in my case. Had the surgery done on a friday morning outpatient, and back to light work on monday. I was doing martial arts in 3 weeks.

I'm sure the docs here can give you the technical words but know this, that will hurt and stay swollen until it's repaired. I put it off for 6 months and it hurt every day.

Good luck

Meniscal tear complications depend on the location of the tear...tears towards the rear of the structure or on the edge have less blood supply and therefor:
1. Do not heal on their own and continue to degenerate/ deteriorate
2. Are easily roto-rooted out by your friendly neighorhood orthopod under arthroscopic surgery (see Kyo's post)

If the tear is complex and involoves the "meaty portion" of the structure-then the attempt can be made to sew the edges back together and restore proper blood supply. After 4+ months this is probably not going to be likely-but, it's still a possibility.

Get to a pod who likes to do knees and you should be up and gunning again within a month :)

Keep us posted.

Eagle

and yes...the surgery to fix it IS worth the PITA of being off your feet for a few days.

Since I also have meniscus damage, I will chime in on this, despite my lack of medical creds.

Be careful that when they "clean it up" they do not "cut out the whole thing".

The Doc explained to me that damage to the rear of the meniscus was irreparable and was simply removed, and if it was bad enough, they took the entire meniscus, which incidentally is the cushion between the bones of the upper and lower leg.

I asked him when they made that determination, and he said during the procedure, which means that you will not have much of a say if they make the call.

Your decision to make, mine was still walkable and late in my career, so I figured that I would wait till it was completely shot and locked up to have surgery done.

According to the Doc, other than chronic pain and being temporarily immobilized, there was no real downside to waiting for the procedure.

I am not sure that you will be able to continue in your state, and if you have it removed, you may be medically DQed, so you are in a real dilemma.

HTH.

TR

SS,

I just had surgery on my medial meniscus. Return from said surgery has been very good. Not running yet but low impact training is a godsend! I will be rucking again in a week! See a good Ortho soon, it will make the difference.

Yep. Had 1/4 a meniscus on the left removed (2nd surgery) and pretty much all on the right (3rd surgery) and my left is screwed up again.

I'm getting mine repaired in about 3 hours. Tore it a year ago training Soldiers and finally getting around to repairing it. I'm glad I read TR's post; I';m making it a point before I go under that I don't want the damned thing removed, I want it fixed.

Best of luck, amigo.

People soldier on after having them removed, but most that I have met who were older said that it eventually caused them problems.

Where is the damn Teflon replacement part?:D

Get well soon!

TR

Good luck, RTK and Support Soldier. Slowing down for awhile is no fun, but it has to be done! I'm dealing with it too...but better to be gimpy now and able to perform later than to be a hero in garrison and absent when it counts.

Thanks for the well wishes.

So I got out of surgery a few hours ago. Surgery went well. Shaved a small piece off. He told me the worst case scenario is I get premature arthuritis in my 60s instead of my 70s. He also told me I can't run for 6 weeks but I can bear weight already and start range of motion exercises. I'm going to take advantage of my 1 week of con leave, as it's the second time I've taken leave since DEC06. After that, I'm going to my TOC next Friday to run my FTX and to train more Soldiers.

you should be GTG. 20 yrs of similar experience and no problems.

c

Results of MRI.
 

Marked degenerative changes involving the left knee. The Primary Interpreting Staff Doctor said he believes there is a displaced medial meniscal fragment/tear as described. But also believes there is a remote ACL tear with relocation of the distal tendon now adjacent to the medial condyle in the intercondylar notch. Primary Diagnostic Code: Major Abnormality. Next step is an Orthopedic Consultation with the Surgeon... Any Advice? Regard's, tom kelly

nevermind. just read the thread from the beginning after posting. nothing new to add.

mods pls delete.

Its good to hear other success stories. I just had surgery on a torn medial meniscus last Monday. Fortunately, due to the location of the tear, they were able to repair it, not cut it out. The recovery is a little longer, but better in the long run.

I was in the gym lifting light weights on Thursday, then on the eliptical machine on Friday. I wasn't able to get on a stationary bike until Monday, one week after the surgery, due to the limited range of motion in my knee. My first day of physical therapy was yesterday and went very well. The PT says my right quad (same side as injured knee) is about %35 weaker than the right, which is to be expected. I have a month of physical therapy to go through before I can be re-evaluated to see if I can return to full duty. There isn't a lot of pain anymore, just stiffness.