Meniscus?

S

Samuari

New member
Sorry, I'm new here, and I am not sure whether or not I posted in the right spot.

I had a few questions about a torn meniscus. On sunday, I was doing gymnastics (a front flip sort of thing), and right before I landed my knee locked out and slammed against the ground. I heard a crack in my knee, and i fell to the floor. I could not walk and i had pain on the sides and below my knee. I could somewhat bend it, and there was no pain around the top part of my knee. I went to the ER, and then said that I just twisted it and that I would be walking by wednesday. On monday there was little improvement, and I iced and rested my knee on both sunday and monday. On Tuesday, I went to the orthopaedist. She stated that I may have torn my meniscus, and I have an MRI on Friday morning. It kind of threw me off since the doctors at the ER said I was fine. On Wednesday, I could limp and put some weight on my knee, and by Thursday I improved even more, but I still could not walk.
So my question is, could this still be a torn meniscus even though my knee has been slightly improving over the past few days? Could it heal on its own? Or would I still need surgery? Sorry, but I am very athletic and I am worried that if it is a torn meniscus, I will be out for the rest of the season.
 
A torn meniscus cannot heal on it's own as it has no blood supply. It is very possible to tear a meniscus and not know it for several days as the swelling inside the knee can mask it. So the docs at the ER probably couldn't feel it on exam but a couple of days later it could be felt by the orthopedist.

The surgery for a torn meniscus varies by your physical needs and the abilities of the surgeon. A meniscus can be repaired but that means being off your feet for a while. If the tear is small, it can be removed and the remainder left in place. This puts you back on your feet faster but leaves your knee at more risk in the future. You really need the whole thing to stop deterioration. The worst thing you can do is ignore it and do nothing....that guarantees deterioration.

So get the MRI and see your ortho and do what is advised. The surgery is simple and the recovery varies by procedure. Forty years ago orthopedics didn't even believe a woman could even tear a meniscus. I had to fight for 2 years to have surgery for what I knew was a torn meniscus. Killed my knee to wait that long but I had no choice. Finally, the ortho opened my knee only to find I had a torn meniscus, torn ACL and torn medial collateral ligaments. Proved him wrong but I paid the price. I'm just glad we now have MRI's to prove the damage and get help.

good luck..............Jenny

PS...come on down to the Knee and Hip Board and met more with the same problem.
 
jenny pretty much covered everything up there that i was going to also just tell you. the bigger thing is to simply get that one MRI in order to really "see' any real types of damage you may have. a hands on palpation inthe ER or even doing plain x rays wont show all the many very intricate structures we just have within our knees. alot of things in there can get damaged in some pretty benign ways too. i tore my meniscus after a compression fall on my heal when i missed a step down on our steps going backwards? litterally blew out the ends of the meniscus. that was part of the already there damage i had to have fixed even before i did that stupid thing.

if you do have to have surgery on this, the scope is usually used in most cases(tho not all is always possible depending) so they would not have to even be making any really huge incisions in there either. so that IS a really good thing too. depending upon just exactly what inside that knee actually tears or gets damaged, you can still 'feel it getting better' for you and still have to have some level of surgery on it too. its just the way the knees are and depending upon just exactly what got torn in there that would realistically dictate walking on it or it feeling better? i was still able to walk with my damage i had already then added the meniscus tear too? it was just more painful and real slow.

your MRI and the ortho will let you know exactly what needs to be done and any healing time and limitations. just make sure to follow everything they tell you and any PT they recommend to get that knee back in shape again. hope all goes well for you. FB
 
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