Meniscus Tear Won't Heal

[Augie]

Previously injured my knee while wrestling in college then fell on ice and tore my meniscus in 2018. I have had my right knee scoped twice and also had plica removed during my second scope. After the surgeries I did hundreds of hours of rehab, did blood flow restriction therapy, seen several orthopedics yet it's never fully healed. About a month and a half ago while doing moderate exercise my knee popped and have had pain on the outer right side of my patella and behind the knee. It has all the symptoms of another meniscus tear (popping, stiffness, pain, locking). After all the years spent seeing doctors getting many MRI's, several surgeries, and countless hours of rehab I have no interest in going back to a doctor for something they couldn't fix before (doctors and physical therapists literally said "we don't know why it doesn't feel better").

I have been doing rehab 4 days a week for the past month on my own and just can't seem to get past the hump to getting better. Does anyone have any recommendations of treatments, plans, etc. that could help get my knee back under control? Also has anyone else experienced a knee injury that over 5 years later won't fully go away and keep getting re-injured?

 

[blackdog of vt]

Many people including myself have gone to peptide therapy with tremendous results for nagging knee injuries like this. Tb500 and bpc-157 will get that going in the right direction. It's cheap and easily done by yourself.

 

[Augie]

Many people including myself have gone to peptide therapy with tremendous results for nagging knee injuries like this. Tb500 and bpc-157 will get that going in the right direction. It's cheap and easily done by yourself.

I just looked it up after your post, is there a particular brand and administration method you prefer or know that works better than others? Seems like there's lot of options between spray, oral pills, injections, etc. let alone brands.

 

[Bluumoon]

Peptidesciences seems to provide a decent product. I've heard Canlab.net has a decent product as well.
If it burns when injected there are probably contaminants, ie not high purity product. Injections are the way to go, most sources I found suggested the BPC-157 be injected close to the injury site. You can find dosing protocols in some of the study's, google scholar if you want to dig.

 

[blackdog of vt]

I just looked it up after your post, is there a particular brand and administration method you prefer or know that works better than others? Seems like there's lot of options between spray, oral pills, injections, etc. let alone brands.

I use swiss chems, or biotech peptides. Injections using an insulin syringe as close as you can to the injury. You can find dosing guides in many places, it's really simple. I used this same protocol for a torn achilles a couple years ago.

 

[bruceleroy]

You guys have caused me to begin the rapid descent into this rabbit hole. I appreciate it.

 

[Warmsy]

This is probably a stupid question... Can you get it in California?

 

[blackdog of vt]

This is probably a stupid question... Can you get it in California?

Of course, they are amino acid chains, they can't pe patented or restricted. One of the companies I use is out of San Diego actually.

 

[Szwampdonkey]

How old are you Augie? I ask because i learned that a lot changes once you turn 40 that NO doctor can fix. Frankly, at 47 now, i’ve just accepted that some things will just never be 100% with your body and honestly if you go to a doctor it will probably be worse. It’s just a fact. You go to a doc and they will try to fix it because you asked them to but they’re only human and they will muck it up worse, particularly with orthopedic stuff. Don’t get me wrong there are times surgery is needed absolutely, a meniscus isn’t one of them.

That being said, i tore my meniscus 3 years ago now and never pursued any treatment. It took two years for my body, the best healer, to fix it. Now, is it 100%? No, but i’d say it’s at least 95% as good and pain free as prior to hurting it. The only thing i have now is once in a blue moon i’ll catch my foot on a branch or something causing it to rotate externally and that will cause a 2 second twinge of pain to let me know it’s there, that’s it. I can hike, play soccer, etc all pain free.

So my advice is to just listen to your body, protect it as in don’t do anything on it that hurts, ice it if it does hurt, stay active on it as your body allows and just let your body take care of it knowing it’s going to be awhile.

The worst thing is when docs start taking stuff out of your kneee that needs to be there. There are consequences for that later in life.

 

[wyoguy03]

Interesting never heard of this

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[Augie]

How old are you Augie? I ask because i learned that a lot changes once you turn 40 that NO doctor can fix. Frankly, at 47 now, i’ve just accepted that some things will just never be 100% with your body and honestly if you go to a doctor it will probably be worse. It’s just a fact. You go to a doc and they will try to fix it because you asked them to but they’re only human and they will muck it up worse, particularly with orthopedic stuff. Don’t get me wrong there are times surgery is needed absolutely, a meniscus isn’t one of them.

That being said, i tore my meniscus 3 years ago now and never pursued any treatment. It took two years for my body, the best healer, to fix it. Now, is it 100%? No, but i’d say it’s at least 95% as good and pain free as prior to hurting it. The only thing i have now is once in a blue moon i’ll catch my foot on a branch or something causing it to rotate externally and that will cause a 2 second twinge of pain to let me know it’s there, that’s it. I can hike, play soccer, etc all pain free.

So my advice is to just listen to your body, protect it as in don’t do anything on it that hurts, ice it if it does hurt, stay active on it as your body allows and just let your body take care of it knowing it’s going to be awhile.

The worst thing is when docs start taking stuff out of your kneee that needs to be there. There are consequences for that later in life.

So I'm 27 years old and been dealing with this stuff since college. 2019 was my last knee scope and took until 2021 to actually start feeling better. For all of 2022 I had decent range of motion and relatively pain free unless I'd do high impact activities like jumping or jogging. But now my knee is in constant throbbing pain and stiffens up/locks. It just take a lot out of you not being able to know a healing window or if/when it'll feel better.

 

[Szwampdonkey]

So I'm 27 years old and been dealing with this stuff since college. 2019 was my last knee scope and took until 2021 to actually start feeling better. For all of 2022 I had decent range of motion and relatively pain free unless I'd do high impact activities like jumping or jogging. But now my knee is in constant throbbing pain and stiffens up/locks. It just take a lot out of you not being able to know a healing window or if/when it'll feel better.

Yeah, i get it man. There were definitely times i’d say to my wife, whose a therapist, that i’m going to just go have surgery but she’d insist to stay the course and be conservative. In the end, she was right it just took a long time and a change in my mindset as i refused to protect it initially and for about the first year i’d re injure it by doing stuff on it i shouldn’t.

Now, yours might be more complicated by your previous knee stuff so might be worth getting an MRI to confirm it’s just a meniscus tear then once you know that’s all it is go conservative with it.

For me the biggest thing was allowing it to heal. It would feel better so i’d go back to doing whatever and inevitably i’d hurt it again. Once i fully committed to avoiding anything that would tweak it it did get better.

Best of luck

 

[TradArcher]

PRP injections have helped me in my knee with torn meniscus. I might follow up with the BPC 157 mentioned above as I have heard a ton about people healing up with that.

But if your knee locks up you might have a larger tear with the torn meniscus wandering into the joint where it should not. You could still try the PRP or stem cell shots and the BPC 157 but you might be stuck with a knee scope and partial removal of the torn pieces interfering with your joint - you have to ask your ortho about that. Just be aware that the ortho will about always recomend surgery since that is all they know unless you find one where they do regenerative medicine in the same clinic.

I go to Panorama in Golden CO as they do both regen medicine and trad surgery there. I have been trying to stay on the regen side myself.

Fwiw decades ago I had a spine doc tell me I would have to have - no other option - my spine fused for my disc issues. I refused and did many alternative treatments and got shots in my back and my back is fine now with about no pain and I can haul a lot of weight up and down the mountains with no issues. I am really glad I did not listen to that surgeon. I also played rugby at a high level for years after and did bodybuilding as well. The doc is not always right and you have to go with your gut sometimes to avoid getting cut up too much by well meaning surgeons.

Good luck with the path you take & hope you find a way to heal your knee.

 

[Marbles]

How old are you Augie? I ask because i learned that a lot changes once you turn 40 that NO doctor can fix. Frankly, at 47 now, i’ve just accepted that some things will just never be 100% with your body and honestly if you go to a doctor it will probably be worse. It’s just a fact. You go to a doc and they will try to fix it because you asked them to but they’re only human and they will muck it up worse, particularly with orthopedic stuff. Don’t get me wrong there are times surgery is needed absolutely, a meniscus isn’t one of them.

That being said, i tore my meniscus 3 years ago now and never pursued any treatment. It took two years for my body, the best healer, to fix it. Now, is it 100%? No, but i’d say it’s at least 95% as good and pain free as prior to hurting it. The only thing i have now is once in a blue moon i’ll catch my foot on a branch or something causing it to rotate externally and that will cause a 2 second twinge of pain to let me know it’s there, that’s it. I can hike, play soccer, etc all pain free.

So my advice is to just listen to your body, protect it as in don’t do anything on it that hurts, ice it if it does hurt, stay active on it as your body allows and just let your body take care of it knowing it’s going to be awhile.

The worst thing is when docs start taking stuff out of your kneee that needs to be there. There are consequences for that later in life.

I agree (though would say it holds true well before 40). It gets complicated, but there is a lot of truth to this. Some problems are best solved by therapeutic neglect and the tincture of time, and some should be intervened on.

A good provider will say "you have nothing I can find that needs to be fixed and nothing that needs a referral, I'm sorry you are having to deal with this." Many times, there is pressure to fix something (especially once referred to a specialist) and many providers are scared to admit the limits of their knowledge (which are sometimes the bleeding edge of human knowledge on the subject).

 

[rkcdvm]

Many people including myself have gone to peptide therapy with tremendous results for nagging knee injuries like this. Tb500 and bpc-157 will get that going in the right direction. It's cheap and easily done by yourself.

bcp 157 is incredible . It even helped a lot with my chronic pain too.

 

[Pheasanthnter1]

Look up "knees over toes guy" on YouTube made a huge difference for me.

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[aftriathlete]

Idk how the science has changed in the last few years but I know a few years ago Tb500 was considered to be a break glass in case of emergency option, there are some potentially serious downsides to that one.

 

[jimh406]

I'd consider a Keto diet with intermittent fasting and OMAD if you aren't already. At minimum, spend some effort looking into the potential benefits compared to the standard American diet. It's kind of shocking how many ailments go away with a diet change.

Maybe it won't help, but it doesn't seem like the more conventional approaches seem to be achieving the result you want.

 

[Fatcamp]

Have you tried rest?

 

[Torrey in Tahoe]

I had an arthritic knee for about ten years. Had two surgeries on it that alleviated the problem for a while. Last summer got a knee replacement and now it feels amazing. I'm able to do everything I used to do except run. I'm staying away from that in favor of biking and hiking cuz I don't want to push my luck. Good luck!