MegaSack DRAW - This year's winner is user - rgwb
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99% certain Ive got one of these. About a month ago my left knee popped and gave way resulting in swelling, pain and an unstable feeling in the knee. I have an articulated brace for it (just some off the shelf thing, nothing fancy)
Been to the doctor and was referred for an MRI scan. He seems to think its not a broken ACL (which is good as thats already been repaired once 4 years ago) and is quite likely to be more damage to the meniscus (surgeon commented it was already torn at time of ACL repair).
Slipped in the garden yesterday evening and popped my knee again, only this time the pain seems to have lasted longer and is more constant. Off to the doctors on Monday for the results of the first MRI.
Has anyone else had this issue? How long was your recovery time? Do you wear a support permenantly now?
depends how bad the tear is really you may need a arthroscopy to remove the tear, few days off work and 3/4 weeks off the bike. meniscus tears dont always show up on MRI but it will show if you have done the acl. If your having it done private i can recommend some good surgeons in london
i did it a few years back on the BMX. didn't bother with a brace but had to be careful what I did.
took about a year for full strength and it still tweaks now and again.
I tweaked mine again last weekend - my tear was running parallel to the edge of the cartilage, they stitched it but it still gives occasional hassle, way more than the ACL itself.
The more time you can spend off your feet the better, especially if its already inflamed. I have been RICEing mine all week, it has responded very quickly and I've gone from a pronounced limp to walking pretty normally. If you can do some light stretching it will help loosen up the muscles which are probably tense from trying to protect the injury.
Obviously recovery time will depend on the severity of the injury and the level of rest you give it, supports aren't much cop for meniscus injuries other than providing a bit of compression. I don't really run on mine any more but I do a bit of circuit training, once they get to a certain point you just have to accept that you'll get more milage out of it by managing the injury and minimising the impacts on the meniscus.
Tore mine about 20 years ago - probably initiated a couple of years before that, standing up cross-legged. Would lock up when running for the bus 🙁 (cue 'comedy' moment kneeling on the ground pushing everything back together).
After a year or two, arthroscopy removed the inner 2/3, was fine for years until about 10 years ago when I overdid it unicycling/snowboard lessons with tired knees - now a bit more grotty occasionally, definitely don't run on them if I can help it.
Oh, recovery time was probably less than a week, tho' it may have been longer before I did much cycling on it. Both my knees feel a fraction unstable, *but* I wonder if it was several years of sitting on my heels on the floor playing guitar in my late teens - ie whether I've stretched any ligaments.
There may be some treatments around now which may repair a tear (carticel I think was one some years back..ah:
http://www.carticel.com )
- but I dunno how effective/expensive/available it is. If I'd know about it at the time I *might* have put up without the arthroscopy for as long as possible, can't help thinking keeping as much cartiliage in there as you can, can't be a bad idea...
Thanks for the info folks, annoyed that there is now something else keeping me off the bike...but at least its not a broken bike this time