Afternoon all,

hope everyone is well – my first post on here in aaaages.

Wondering if anyone has had to deal with a torn meniscus before? I have a suspected tear (seen by a Doctor) on the outside of my knee following squatting down to pick up a tool over the weekend (of all the ways to get injured!) – suddenly had to jolt up and straighten said leg, needless to say cycling is damn uncomfortable…and I have a bit of swelling.

At the moment it’s going to be at least 6 weeks before I can see a physio, so anything to speed up recovery would be most welcome!

Many thanks

Ice mate and as much rest as you can give it. I found a hinged knee support worked for me and allowed me to get back on the road bike a bit quicker.

As per @Ravey Ice Ice Ice. Go and get two of those re-usable bags which go in the freezer and ice regularly, 5 or 6 times a day (as you’ll want to ice more often than a thaw/freeze cycle). Also get a decent knee support, it doesn’t have to be a brace but not a tubi-grip either. Take it easy. Try and do some quad exersizes to avoid too much muscle wasting (eg put a rolled up towel under your knee and then pull toes back and tighten quad muscle, start steadily though)

Since I bust my knee the skiing 2yrs ago it has been the meniscus damage which has been the most troublesome. Physio is going to be important as will be learning how to protect it, eg I was told not to stand up from couching/kneeling without support using your arms.

following squatting down to pick up a tool over the weekend

Ah! Exactly how I discovered mine!

I just live with it – found a way to pop the tear back into place when it pops out by sitting on my ankle.
Stupidly painful when it happens, but then back to normal as soon as it’s back in place.

Thanks all! Currently pead up…a bag of frozen tesco value peas on said knee.

Will take the advice, potentially at Decathlon tonight, so will pick up a knee support – cheers for the tip.

@DezB, aghh really! how exactly does one pop it back in?!

I have to tuck my leg sideways under my butt. Sort of sit on my ankle (although that can be difficult when swimming in the sea!) and I feel a tweak as it settles back into place.
Thought my life was over when it first happened (second time was stranded in the bath!), but I’ve even stopped wearing the knee support when playing football.
Went in for the op, but as it was ok at the time, the surgeon sent me home – the recovery is quite long and surgery might not even fix it.

Hope you can find a solution!

My own experience of being diagnosed with a meniscus tear was that once they went into the knee, they found it wasn’t a tear at all (two consultant orthopaedic surgeons). If possible, ask for an MRI scan to confirm…..

the normal procedure as above, is an MRI followed by an arthroscopy to trim it up and flush it out. Ice and ibruprofen will help and possibly it may improve eventually without surgery, but its unlikely. Ive had two ops but put off the last one as I wasn’t confident it would help much.

Xrays are no use and so is Physio….whatever anyone tells you!

+1 physio no use.

Get referred to a consultant that does the op.

Cheers for the replies

so I did this on Saturday, saw the Doctor today, of whom thinks it is as described (a slight tear).

Based on all of your experience and the suggestions I can see, thinking I can A. Make another appointment and request an MRI (that was said today, but she thought it may be early days) and in the meantime rest/ice or B. I can just do the latter and see if I get any improvement with the aid of a knee support, oh and do away with seeing a physio.

Thanks again, really appreciate it.

No good experiences I’m afraid. Hyper extended my knee playing football which damaged the meniscus, Dr said i’ve now got a tear & degeneration. It’s been a year now and i’ve not been able to find a Dr that willing to do anything more than say “you’ll just have stop running/cycling & playing football”.

Not sure if its still the same (have a google) but when I needed mine sorting I went through the ‘Choose and Book’ thing with the NHS. You can choose where you are referred to for treatment.
I went with The Yorkshire Clinic (Bingley), a private facility but still available through NHS. First appointment with the consultant he said ‘yep, lets get you booked in and have a look inside’. Few weeks later I went for an arthroscopy, he found the tear, snipped it around a bit, cleaned it out and gave me a DVD video of it to remember it by!
May be worth investigating whether you can still choose, would get you straight to the right person. I had a year of non productive physio on NHS, they didnt even diagnose the tear. If it is a tear no amount of physio will fix it, the meniscus can’t heal itself.

Did mine early August 2013. Had just gone back to work after leg fracture and knee just gave way coming out of work. Stayed off work for a few days and iced it. But it progressively got more crepitus and kept catching. Mri done October, confirmed discoid meniscus tear. Booked in for mid December.

Had the op and it was trimmed and washed out, 6 weeks of physio and back to work. Now September and it feels normal again. Well worth having done.

OP, really get a proper ice bag (not expensive) your knee is worth more than a bag of peas 😯

Get an MRI, that’s definitely the best way to discover exactly whats up, FYI I paid for mine in France it was £200 and I got all the images and a CD. As an aside its one of those things that’s infuriating with the NHS where it can take ages to get something like that done when the actual cost isn’t that high.

On the surgery my specialist sports doctor/suregon said whilst he could create a new ACL with the meniscus tear all he could do was cut bits away to releave pain and if it wasn’t hurting it was best left alone. The physio pointed out how the meniscus keeps trying to escape but other than push it a bit I didn’t see he could do much. Its two years now and the knee is still not “right” and I suppose it may never be.

had a meniscus tear last summer. It took 2 months to persuade the various different GPs, consultants and insurance people to get me an MRI session. So, for two months i just spent my time sitting down and occaisionally walking for a few minutes.

By the time i got on the MRI, the knee had mostly recovered. The consultant who booked the appointment for me said that I should have had an MRI scan immediately after initially seeing the 1st consultant.

My advice is to get the scan asap. It’s good to know what is wrong with your knee, especially if you’re going to be spending weeks fussing over it.

thank you for your replies all.

Got myself to a sports injury specialist today, he agrees and thinks there may be a slight tear, but thankfully I was able to carry out all of his exercises with little discomfort.

As for cycling, I’d been advised to carry on, but at 50% for the time being (i.e slower/shorter rides – bit gutted at HC season is about to start!) , but I managed 1.5 hours earlier, with little actual ride discomfort..

Will see how it pans out, thanks again

Just be careful of repeating the movement that caused the tear to make itself known (if you can remember what it was!).
Cos when it goes, its BAAAAD!

Not entirely sure what physio is going to do for a torn meniscus to be honest. I’d be referring a patient to ortho to get it surgically repaired.

Off for another spin shortly, will be sure to report back. May be useful for others who suspect a similar injury.

Being particularly careful about exposing said knee to any twists etc..

thanks again

Keep in the low gears and spin paddy. I really struggled if i had to get out of the saddle and was on ice as soon as I got home.

Hi I had my torn meniscus operated on on 1st September, the tear was 3 times longer than the MRI showed but I’m already back on the bike doing flat low gear road riding. I have had no pain at all!

On balance Recent RCT on patients with meniscal tears- control group thought they were having surgery but only had anaesthetic and portals/incisions but no actual surgery vs group that actually had an EUA (arthroscopy). Both had the same rehab. Both groups had equal outcomes. Surgery not always the answer, consider recovery time post op also.

Plus if you look at epidemiology studies on MR images of the knee, depending on your age there is a good chance you may have a meniscus tear even if you are not symptomatic so unless it’s persistent and doesn’t improve with exercise over an 8 week period then an MRI may not be relevant…there can be a temptation to over medicalise when in search of a quick fix….

If your knee is physically locking and giving way then this may point more towards surgical rather than conservative management.

Morning all,

thanks again for the info.

@Kurt, interesting read of your posts. I’m 25 and have only ever ridden and raced bikes(I know this type of injury can be common in football players), so would be hopeful that any wear so far would have been minimal (obviously an MRI would confirm anything)

As for knee locking, I’m not having that. Currently staying on the ibuprofen for a few more days and making sure I actually wear my orthotic insoles!(flat feet..)

You lot are very helpful!

@wanman, the physio can help with the side effects like muscle wasting through lack of use. It’s amazing how the brain automatically compensates for the injury by protecting that leg and using the good one. When I broke my ACL’s after just a few weeks the broken side leg muscles where materially smaller.