Meniscus Surgery- Worth it?

[Where's Bruce?]

Tore mine in both knees, badly on my left leg. Excruciating pain. Decided to pass on surgery to "remove the gravel" and my body absorbed that stuff over 18 months. Zero pain now. Heard some horror stories from others paid for a carving.

 

[JRMiller]

Ive never had a meniscus in my knee, but i have had 5 other ortho surgeries(foot, shoulder, arm, wrist). My best advice is get at least two other drs opinions on whether they feel you will %100 have to have the surgery at some point in your life.
If they all say yes, %100 guranteed hou’ll have to do it eventually, then do it now while youre young and you're body heals quickly.
If not, then wait and only do it when you cant sleep anymore because of the pain.

 

[[email protected]]

Best thing Iv ever done! Pain free for the first time in my life!

 

[Snyd]

I've had medial meniscus on both knees done. Worked great for me. Packed out several rams since then. After the first one I healed up, went for a couple runs and could "feel it". Not bad pain but I could feel it. I decided I'd rather wear my knees out sheep hunting and downhill skiing so I quit running. They're gonna wear out, it's just a matter of time. Might as well wear them out doing something you/I enjoy. When they're toast, I'll get new ones installed!

 

[Firehole Hunter]

WOW! What a great thread for me, I just had a MRI 2 weeks ago and am trying to decide about the meniscus surgery or not. Slipped on some rocks in N. Ga. on a trout steam in the Cohutta Wilderness Area getting ready for last year's elk season. The MRI revealed a tear in the meniscus and a sprain in the ACL, all on my left knee. It flared up last year and got scared and took it easy and became a camp bitch. I think that I going the "tough it out" route for now. Golf will probably be on the back burner in that a recent outing in March caused me to get the MRI. Hopefully, strengthening the surrounding muscles and loosing some weight will be of help enough to still hunt. Going to try to get a horse/mule or two this fall for my hunt. I am familiar with the beasts and just going to add the extra costs to the trip. Be interesting to see if I can get some good mounts.

PS. I used Naproxsen and got some good results for pain relief and much better than Ibuprofen and the like.

 

[HankNM]

Going thru the school of hard knocks & an early life in construction, I had 2 bad knees and good insurance finally. Had right one done 1st,then the left. Both shredded & bucket tears. Arthro's on both,PT on both.
20 year later I'm more mobile than I was and have no clicks nor knife in the knee pain daily...unless I smack the inside tendons...
65 now & building a barn solo off a scaffold.

 

[sndmn11]

I had a partial meniscectomy on my left in 2005, and a failed repair a long with three partial meniscectomy surgeries on the right by 2007. All from catching and all causing mobility and swelling issues. I had the another partial around 2009, and another this past Thanksgiving; both on the right.

I would only have surgery of it were causing pain, loss of mobility, or swelling. Anytime those occur consistently, I think it is time for surgery. My wife has tears in both knees, but beyond the initial injury and recovered, they haven't caused any problems.

My last surgery I walked out and was exercising within a few days. Super easy.

 

[inyago]

I had my right knee done at 58 for a partial tear on the outside of the meniscus about 3mm deepx7mm long and it was the best thing to do.God it ached day and night, i could either stand or lie down couldnt sit it would just ache.
Keyhole surgery is a breeze, 3 days taking it easy then i was away bush/ hill walking.My cousin john played 80 minites of rugby 2 days after his clean up which was a bit silly but he still walking 10yrs later.
This stuff is real common for any ball player.Australia now takes your torn/ ruptured miniscus out and there is a lab in western aus/ perth that throws them in a petrie dish with some stem cells and grow new ones around the core of your injured ones. Takes 1 month to grow then back to the doc for an install with 4/6 weeks rest while you recover
totally.Like full contact professional football standard.Remember hunting is really old man takes a walk stuff no
matter how we like to percieve it.

 

[JPD350]

I am going in for surgery this morning and I am hoping for the best, I did PT for 6 weeks last year and it did help a little for making my knee feel stronger but it did nothing for the actual pain which comes from squats or going up a steep hill, biking, swimming or sometimes just bending over to pick something but normal walking and hiking there is zero pain.
Gotta go get ready, Lol they keep texting me to bring my credit card

 

[Mosby]

I have torn cartledge in my right knee but I leave it alone. I don't have many problems with it and only minor pain when it flairs up. I will only get surgery when it becomes a constant pain or lack of mobility issue.

My left knee has had major reconstruction and I don't have any cartledge left. I have bad knee weeks and it sometimes swells and hurts hunting for days at a time and I have to work around it. But most of the time I only deal with occasional swelling and discomfort that advil and elevation takes care of. One of these days I will likely have to get it cleaned out again.

I have found that leg strength training really helps my knees and reduces pain and problems. The muscles and tendons that provide support are really important. Half of my workout is on my legs. It makes a difference.

 

[JPD350]

I am all done, the Doc took out the torn part and said besides the tear the knee looked pretty good for a 57 year old. I should be able to start the rehab right after my one week post op appointment and I'll be tearing up the Gila Wilderness come September.

My thoughts were to get things cleaned up because twice in the last few years I was miles in the back country and tweaked my knee enough to where it was very uncomfortable hiking out, I absolutely did not want to have part of my meniscus break off while still having 2 or 3 loads of meat to get out, feeling good about the decision to have the surgery.

 

[LBuchser]

Starting the thread back up..

I'm 36 now and my job requires that I do a lot of hiking through tough terrain. Tore my medial meniscus last year in March (2019), had surgery in May and had issues from the day after surgery and all last year. Asked for a second opinion, had another highly recommended Ortho do an MRI w/ contrast, along with other manipulative tests and said he saw at least one other substantial tear in there still and based on my age, amount and type of activity I am doing, suggested another surgery ................

Fast forward to April 2020, I dislocated my left shoulder BAD. Didnt have a choice, and had shoulder surgery in July 22nd. They had to re-attach my bicep tendon to my shoulder, put two rods in because I had also fractured my socket and then had to fix my shredded labrum. Recovery has been long and painful.

However, I took advantage of the time off and went in for my knee surgery October 1st. It already feels way better than before and have better articulation. It's not all healed yet and I'm barely into physical therapy but so far, I'm very glad I did it.

I think the big thing, is getting an ortho that knows what he is doing and can identify all the issues!

 

[Bulldawg]

I had a repair surgery because I had a complete tear and my knee was locked up, and my recovery was simple and I actually can't remember which knee I hurt, I think it's my left, but it could be the right.

BUT, if I didn't have it locked up, and I knew what I know now, I would try other options over surgery. Find a PT that puts a lot of emphasis on strength training and try that first. More thank likely if you work on getting stronger, a lot of all other little pains will go away. But having a PT walk you through that process to get to the root of your knee would be key.

 

[Backyard]

.

BUT, if I didn't have it locked up, and I knew what I know now, I would try other options over surgery. Find a PT that puts a lot of emphasis on strength training and try that first. More thank likely if you work on getting stronger, a lot of all other little pains will go away. But having a PT walk you through that process to get to the root of your knee would be key.

Agree 100%
The best (and this is hindsight) is to strengthen those muscles and keep them strong before, for less chance of it happening later. Same goes for rotator cuffs.

 

[Supranatural]

Absolutely worth it. Tore my meniscus in jiujitsu in my thirties...I gutted it out for 3 months and killed myself trying to catch a connecting flight in London running from one end of Heathrow to the other. The pain was excruciating while dragging a bag along. Had the surgery two weeks after returning home and recovered in about a month. Only thing was running - took over a year before I could run more than a couple of days in a row without knee pain. I'd say my knee is about 90% but far better than my estimated 25% with the tear.

 

[gdc23]

I have had meniscus surgery on both knees but due to my age (50's) I have quite a bit of osteoarthritis in my joints. The surgery did take me out of pain and I have no regrets having it done, however your knees probably wont be as strong and stable as before depending on the size of the tear and how much cartilage is removed. I am stiff when getting up and have a little trouble going down stairs on bad days but can still walk 9+ miles in the woods without pain.

 

[BuckWild41]

Tore my meniscus about 5 years ago while working at a fire. I'm a firefighter by trade. It ended up being a bucket handle tear. I couldn't kneel or walk down hill without pain. Tried to medicate it and rehab it but nothing worked.
Finally saw a knee Ortho expert. He just happened to be a back country hunter as well. He said surgery was the only way to relieve the pain but I would be good to go with my lifestyle moving forward after surgery. The MRI confirmed the tear. He said there is a possibility of arthritis later in life.
I had the surgery to cut out the tear. Walked out of the surgery center after waking up from the anesthesia. 4 months of dedicated rehab and my knee feels great. No issues, no pain and no limitations.
Still working as a FF. Hunted muleys the last 2 years 3-4 miles packed in and still no issues with the knee.
Thanks to a great surgeon. If you elect to have surgery pick a good surgeon and be dedicated to the rehab. You should be good to go as a young guy in 3 months or so. I'm 43 so you should recover much quicker.

Sent from my Pixel 3 using Tapatalk

I'm a career firefighter/paramedic as well and have seen multiple department members have ortho surgery for meniscus tears and be as good as new following the recommended rehab plan. Again, it can't be overstated how important it is to find a good surgeon. The majority were 40+ years old as well.

 

[17Hunter]

Had my right meniscus done in Oct 2017 after living with a sore, achy knee for far too long. Best thing I ever did. Laid low for 2 weeks, back to walking a few miles a day by week four and running 3 miles a couple days a week by week 8. ran a half marathon 6 months after. I was 42 when I had mine done.

 

[adventure907]

I tore my meniscus packing out a ram on my solo sheep August of 19. Limped my way through the rest of the guiding season that fall and my winter hockey season as a referee. I knew I needed surgery though, so March of 20, a week before they cancelled all elective surgeries and we got locked down, had surgery to remove the torn portion of my meniscus.

So far so good, did three backpack sheep hunts and a goat hunt this guiding season and didn't have an issue whatsoever. I think the biggest thing that helped me was recovering the strength I lost in the leg after surgery.

 

[Where's Bruce?]

Doctor wanted to remove the "gravel" when I tore my Meniscus, I declined. Took 18 months (6 were kinda rough) but my body absorbed it and I have no problem now. My knees are fine. Surgery is for suckers IMO. This was in my late 50s.