Torn meniscus ..how long to heal

Anyone done it ..how long to heal or surgery

I am in the same boat – torn meniscus and a tear in the cartilage under the knee.

According to my consultant as there is no blood supply to cartilage it will not repair. All you can do is physio and strengthening exercises around the knee to support it.

I have had this for 6 months and whilst it is definitely better – It is time to either put up with it and not be able to run as well as I used to or cut the tear out

Get booked in to get it snipped.

It aint going to fix itself.

According to my consultant as there is no blood supply to cartilage it will not repair. All you can do is physio and strengthening exercises around the knee to support it.

My physio said the same…

Same here. But at the same time my physio said that if I have surgery there’s no guarantee that it will make anything better and may well be worse, even after being on crutches for several weeks. I am not in pain now (a year later) but I can’t really run and if I twist my knee it feels bad for a while.

Book the appointment now, get it trimmed back ASAP. Had it done twice, but only because I thought I knew best and went back to playing football too soon after the first operation.. These days it’s just a minor keyhole surgery, a few months of rehab & physio – just make sure you do all the exercises! Oh, and enjoy the morphine…

Off work for long ?

Long story, but came back to work after 2 weeks from the first op. Way too soon. Milked it after the second op and managed to squeeze 5 weeks. Plus forgot to say it was a work related injury that messed me up in the first place. Bought my first “expensive” bike with the payout. And a T4 to cart it about in.. 8)

I am in the same boat – torn meniscus and a tear in the cartilage under the knee.

According to my consultant as there is no blood supply to cartilage it will not repair.

Odd, I had a cartilage tear in my knee, about 20 years ago, and the Consultant said wait and it will heal. 9 months later he was right and have since run marathons on it without any problems.

Odd, I had a cartilage tear in my knee, about 20 years ago, and the Consultant said wait and it will heal.

Depends on the tear I think. Mrs Dubleyou had a tear which was folding back on itself, locking the knee out

I fear we might be divorced if she hadn’t been able to run around for that time – 9 months is a long time to be waiting when surgery can have it fixed / rehabbed in a couple.

Depends on the tear I think.

Definitely. I went in for the OP about 4-5 years ago, consultant sent me away as it was ok and I was going snowboarding a month or so after. It’s held up ok, play football without problems, but sometimes the simple act of standing up will “pop it out” and I can’t move! I just live with it, now I know how to pop it back in.
They’re all different.

Had mine trimmed and was told to ride my bike 2 days later. That was the first time. But it’s a slippery road as I had two more later. No cartilage now so new knee soon.

Odd, I had a cartilage tear in my knee, about 20 years ago, and the Consultant said wait and it will heal. 9 months later he was right and have since run marathons on it without any problems.

It’s the meniscus that doesn’t heal, I think.

You need to see a specialist. I have meniscus damage from when I broke my ACL in 2012. What the surgeon told me is that if there is no pain don’t have surgery as the surgery cannot fix anything it would just cut away so pain stops. After 3+ years mine is hurting so I am going to have surgery. Friends have found its 6+ months to recover. If it will be nhs get it done sooner as the longer you leave it the more they will push back as its “clearly” not urgent

Good luck

Tore mine playing tennis about 4 months ago. Went back far too early, aggravated it even further. I’ve stopped the tennis and running, only cycling now, which doesn’t seem to affect it at all, as I only get pain if I bend the knee past 90 degrees.

Physio told me that even private (which I have access to) guys are not keen to operate for same reasons that DrJ says up there ^^^

Older brother was on a long waiting list for surgery but in the meantime it got better enough that he cancelled the surgery. Similar thing myself, used to lock the knee, now it is much better but I still feel it if I do something like try squatting with any kind of weight etc. So these things can heal but it is a slow process and sometimes surgery is the best option – give it several months though at the leadt – my knee locked for years.

From reading this I suspect mine is torn too. It has been bad since October 2014 and is finally starting to get back to normal. i can just about run on it, but any side loading hurts like a bastard.

I was booked in for my second knee op on my left knee in 2007 but stopped running and the pain receeded…..so decided against the op. I haven’t got much cartilage left.

Nine years on I hardly ever run cos when I do it starts hurting again so I have a cross trainer and mtb, take glucosomine and generally try to nurse it through life. 🙁

i did something to one of the menisci in my left knee. It took 7 weeks to get an MRI scan, which was inconclusive. By the time I had the MRI, the pain was gone. I spent the 7weeks sitting down or hopping.

It twinges when it’s cold (below -10) or when running. I doubt that surgery would have significanty helped without a quick diagnosis.

Has it healed properly? Probably not. But the knee is OK most of the time.

It took 7 weeks to get an MRI scan

IMO this is a disgrace. An MRI plus consultant review costs about £250-300. I’d advise anyone in a simiar position to pay for the MRI immediately. If you are paying its a 2-3 day wait.

I doubt that surgery would have significanty helped without a quick diagnosis.

This is why its a disgrace, for a £300 scan you may have had a different outcome

I had my torn mensicus trimmed 6 years ago. In my case I would go through days of no pain to days when I could hardly walk, depending on if the mensiscus was being clamped by the bone. After the op it took about two weeks until I could get back on the bike (just spinning on the turbo with no resistance) as my knee swelled up quite badly but I was told some people are able to walk out of the clinic after the aneasthetic wears off. What is scary though is how much muscle mass you lose in your leg though which takes months to build back up. Had no problems since.

Wife teared hers doing a sponsored walk back in november, had mri scan and consultation and now waiting for the op, shes been off work since january and now doc wont sign her back until shes had the op
Thankfully she gets full sick pay but thats running out fast 🙁
Looked at private ops of around 6k !!

Tore mine (degenerative tear as I’m early 40s) end of last October, hobbled around until December with a bit of physio and no riding/running but no real improvement. So went to consultant (Jonathon Webb, he of 90s rugby fame) had MRI, then in early jan had surgery. Off work for 2 weeks, light stuff for 4wk after that. Was given light exercises to do immediately after surgery, but essentially sofa time. Physio started after 2wks, and went for about 6 in total. Back on spin bike 3 wks after surgery, back on mtb 6 wks after, did first enduro (gnarr) on Sunday, started running 2 weeks ago.

Been really positive result for me, would def do it again. Also surgeon had a look round my knee and said no signs of arthritis, but a bit of frayed cartilage on back of patella which he ground down – that bit was most painful, and couldn’t fully bend knee for a couple of months. Also anesthetist gave me propofol and fentanyl, and sent me home on codeine so I had several amazing nights sleep.

Lucky as have insurance which paid for everything except had to top up about £500 for surgeon fees.

Really hurts getting in the car

I had mine trimmed. Knee is all good now. Saw GP September orthopaedic appointment two weeks later mri scan end of October arthroscopic done 21St December. Back in work mid Feb. But I had some other bits done on the articular cartilage also. Which apparently involved drilling!

In theatre at 1400, back on the ward at 1730 discharged with crutches at 2130.

@dicky I was at Uni with Johnathan Webb used to watch the rugby and he played in the UAU final of 83 (?) lost To Durham/Will Carling etc, sadly I should add most of his rugby career was in the 80’s 😳

Interesting that he now runs a specialist knee clinic, obvious I suppose for a sportsman

Can I ask what the total bill would have been ? (Email in profile if you prefer)

Just want to point out that in my earlier post, I’m overseas so it wasn’t the NHS. Locally, the scan would’ve been about 1000e at a private hospital. If I travelled to Estonia, it would have been 250-350e plus travelling costs (150e ish). I couldn’t afford the local scan and I couldn’t travel. Don’t privatise the NHS!

An MRI plus consultant review costs about £250-300.

The bill for mine – MRI plus X-ray – was well over £1000 in London.

I had an arthroscopy about 5 years ago following a tear in the minis us that I think I picked up biking. A bit of loose flappy carterlidge used to cause intermittent pain, I couldn’t bend my knees past 90 degrees without serious discomfort and often, after sitting down for extended periods, the knee would give way when I stood up and some times when just walking around – much hilarity for my work colleagues. I was in and out of the hospital within 5 hours, able to hobble around immediately (no crutches, apparently they don’t like you to use them), week off work and rest with the ocassional use of coedine for pain / boredom relief (after first couple of days I didn’t really need it) and pretty much back to normal after 3-4 weeks and doing my Physio. No problems and didn’t find it an issue, as with most joint injuries I’ve had I think move it & use it as soon as pain levels allows speeds your recovery – I am in no way medically competent though!

The bill for mine – MRI plus X-ray – was well over £1000 in London.

😯 Insurance job ?

My mums’s was £300 in Winchester and I paid 250€ (so just over £200) at a top sports specialist in Paris (@HansRey take note, I’m almost certainly going to have my surgery done in Paris although I have to check out a clinic my UK resident Belgian friend uses there). Physio – London specialist £100 a session, Paris £35

As an side knee surgery is one of the very few things the NHS will let you have abroad and still pay for. Exactky how you make that work is still unclear as when I’ve rried to start pursuing the procedures as laid down out in NHS documents I get all sorts of obfuscation from doctors

Friend who works for nhs says to always consider paying for consultant session immediately as GPs/NHS will frequently have a very long wait for first such session when private appointments from same people will be quick and will accelerate the process.

Its very much dependant on what type of tear you have (i had a bucket handle tear) and what will be left if it requires a trim/knee abridement.
I blew everything up in my knee at football so i ended up having microfracture surgery to my tibia plateau to see if that would help regenerate/create new tissue. No idea if it worked but having fractured the plateau, acl in a 1000 bits plus meniscus/cartilage torn straight through i have been advised that running is no longer an option. 2 years from start to finish for ops and rehab and i can do most things pain free and i even run now and again if i choose. Others in hospital were walking immediately after a meniscus op so i dont think its too bad ( took me 8 months before i was allowed to walk).

I’m about to have my second arthroscopy. I went to see private physio who wrote a letter to my GP, saw GP on the 21st April referred to Consultant at the Claremont in Sheffield (private hospital but being treated as a NHS patient through the Patient Choice scheme) on the 28th April. Consultation and X-ray on the 28th April, surgery booked on the 26th May

Can’t fault it

The bill for mine – MRI plus X-ray – was well over £1000 in London.

Yep, wife had a couple of MRIs (hip and back) and bill was about £2500 (all private).

Odd, I had a cartilage tear in my knee, about 20 years ago, and the Consultant said wait and it will heal. 9 months later he was right and have since run marathons on it without any problems.

Just in case anyone is still interested in this thread I just thought I’d chime in and say menisci do not generally heal, much the same with articular cartilage. There are some novel approaches out there but by and large the treatment is chop out the bit which is inflaming everything else and have a good dose of physiotherapy to make the job as easy as possible for the knee. I suspect when the consultant said it would heal it was lay person speak for “it will be less painful”.