Post meniscectomy knee recovery?

[aMurderOfCrows]

Had a meniscus repair. Total failure, my knee got so much worse. Both knees are shot due to arthritis.

Had a full replacement on the left January 28 with another replacement on the right in the near future. I’ve lost 50 pounds, due my rehab and am as active as I can be. I’m sitting here now getting a couple cups of coffee before I head out for my 4am bike ride. I’m an electrician so there’s a lot of movement during the day.

At this point hunting again seems impossible. A literal miracle would be needed to be able to chase deer and elk again. It’s depressing.

 

[brancher147]

I had meniscusectomy left knee about 10 years ago at 35. Followed doctors orders and PT but took forever to heal. Was about 2 years before I was 100% hunting the steep mountains I hunt. They went back in to remove some of the fat pad and clean it up because my swelling was so severe…no idea if that helped or not.

Had a complex tear on my right knee a couple years ago and based on my healing from first experience decided to leave it alone and it was ok til this year when I injured it again and now it’s a bucket handle tear. The orthopedic said everything else looks good and recommended meniscusectomy so I guess I will try again and hope for a better recovery. It feels ok now with a brace but I know if I injured it again it could be even worse so I think it’s best to have surgery now.

 

[JustABritCrazy]

I’m a forester so I’m as dependent on my legs as an NFL wide receiver. Was running 10 to 15 miles a week, Tore my left knee meniscus at 50 years old in 2010. Went to a surgeon who was at the time a high level D-1 football team doctor. He had repaired knees starting on several NFL teams. First thing he told me was my running days were over. He said if I continued running, I would be in line for a titanium knee within five years. I saw him in first part of October, also told me the damage was done so continuing to walk on it won’t matter. Set the surgery for mid December. After deer season and between the regular season and bowl season. Took about six months of PT to get back to about 90%. Took over a year to get back to “normal”. Still if I walked more than about 3 miles in a day I would wake up at 3 in the morning with a hot knitting needle being shoved into my knee. About six years ago I got a brace from a German company called Bauerfeind. I now have three of them and rotate them around. I’ve walked 11 miles in a day with it on and not gotten woken up at 3 am with the knitting needle. Don’t know if it’s actually working or just a placebo but that pain is gone. That said there is pain in that knee at varying levels daily. Some it is from working it, I walked 7.25 miles today on a rocky steep side hill, some it is arthritis, and some of it is tendondist.

 

[Plainsman79]

I’m 47 now and I had a complex tear in my left knee in November of 24. I had surgery to fix it in March of 25 and it still on occasion swells up like a grapefruit if I put the wrong kind of pressure on it. Things like pushing in the clutch on a tractor or squatting down really seem to aggravate it. But other things like hiking, step box exercises or moderate strength training seem to be ok.

Prior to the tear I was a runner, running about 30-35 miles a week for about 10-12 years. Post surgery my running days are over. That’s not happening. As mentioned above a guy can still stay pretty active and in shape without running.

 

[Aussie Dan]

I've just turned 40, had meniscuc surgery November last year, still not even close to 100%.
I've never really been super active in the past, but now im walking about 15kms a day, ive lost about 30lb, doing as much low impact work in the gym as I can.
Also starting guided reformer pilates in a couple days- that was a massive help for me when I was recovering from 6x abdominal hernia ops.

As another guy mentioned, listen to your body and while its super disheartening that youre struggling/may not be able to run, there's always other ways to stay active and "hunt fit".

If you have access to a swimming pool id spend as much time as humanly possible in the water too.

 

[aMurderOfCrows]

I’m a forester so I’m as dependent on my legs as an NFL wide receiver. Was running 10 to 15 miles a week, Tore my left knee meniscus at 50 years old in 2010. Went to a surgeon who was at the time a high level D-1 football team doctor. He had repaired knees starting on several NFL teams. First thing he told me was my running days were over. He said if I continued running, I would be in line for a titanium knee within five years. I saw him in first part of October, also told me the damage was done so continuing to walk on it won’t matter. Set the surgery for mid December. After deer season and between the regular season and bowl season. Took about six months of PT to get back to about 90%. Took over a year to get back to “normal”. Still if I walked more than about 3 miles in a day I would wake up at 3 in the morning with a hot knitting needle being shoved into my knee. About six years ago I got a brace from a German company called Bauerfeind. I now have three of them and rotate them around. I’ve walked 11 miles in a day with it on and not gotten woken up at 3 am with the knitting needle. Don’t know if it’s actually working or just a placebo but that pain is gone. That said there is pain in that knee at varying levels daily. Some it is from working it, I walked 7.25 miles today on a rocky steep side hill, some it is arthritis, and some of it is tendondist.

Which one of those knee braces are you using. I looked them up, range in price from about $90 usd for a compression sleeve to $210 for a more advanced model.

 

[LostArra]

Which one of those knee braces are you using. I looked them up, range in price from about $90 usd for a compression sleeve to $210 for a more advanced model.

I used the A3 Arthritis brace which is for the common medial compartment problem, bone on bone no meniscus. It saved my elk hunt before I got partial replacement in December. I was deer hunting 3 weeks later and back to barbell training at 4 weeks.

The Bauerfiend brace was infinitely better than a neoprene sleeve for me.

They sent me a sale code that helped with the price

 

[Poser]

Can’t remember if I mentioned this already in this revived post, but having now been through 4 meniscus blowups in the last 6 years, if you are barbell training, I’d absolutely consider switching to box squats, potentially on an exclusive basis but definitely during your recovery cycle. You can also add knee wraps for your work sets, though they are not very comfortable if you have them tight enough to actually accommodate support -you have to loosen them between sets or they aren’t tight enough.

 

[LostArra]

Can’t remember if I mentioned this already in this revived post, but having now been through 4 meniscus blowups in the last 6 years, if you are barbell training, I’d absolutely consider switching to box squats, potentially on an exclusive basis but definitely during your recovery cycle. You can also add knee wraps for your work sets, though they are not very comfortable if you have them tight enough to actually accommodate support -you have to loosen them between sets or they aren’t tight enough.

Outside of your meniscus blowups do you use knee sleeves when doing squats?

 

[Poser]

Outside of your meniscus blowups do you use knee sleeves when doing squats?

Yeah, I've been wearing neoprene knee sleeves in the gym for at least 15 years, probably closer to 20.
You'll realize how nice they are on the occasion that you forget them and squat without them....

 

[LostArra]

Yeah, I've been wearing neoprene knee sleeves in the gym for at least 15 years, probably closer to 20.
You'll realize how nice they are on the occasion that you forget them and squat without them....

Same here especially when it's cold outside and my shop gym heater hasn't warmed up.
Sleeves are just easier. Wraps are a PIA.

 

[Poser]

Same here especially when it's cold outside and my shop gym heater hasn't warmed up.
Sleeves are just easier. Wraps are a PIA.

Contemplating trying wraps over knee sleeves for my heaviest workers sets going forward. I think having some degree of respectable strength is the only thing holding my body together at this point, but getting completely set back to zero multiple times + a year worth of hypertrophy to over the atrophy from being laid up is making me ponder taking more drastic preventative measure with my knees. I’ve only had one acute injury. The other 3 have all just fallen apart: twice now after extended travel and once standing up from a recliner. Thing is, I feel really durable when my knees are not injured. I had a great ski season this winter and a very demanding hunting season last fall with no issues…. Spend hours on a plane and sitting in airports and it all falls apart.

 

[JustABritCrazy]

I bought the first directly through the company. Last 2 I got out of the Kenetrek Catellog. They are listed at $99.95 and are the only knee braces in the catalog. The sides are flexible, not like the ones football linemen wear. So I guess if you are buying directly from the company it would be the cheaper ones.

 

[406flyfish]

Peptides.. Look up Wolverine stack.

 

[SuperDUECE22]

Peptides.. Look up Wolverine stack.

any legit online dealers you could recommend ?

 

[HunterGatherer]

I was told 3 years ago I needed meniscus surgery. Instead, I did a PRP ( platelet rich plasma) injection and a month of PT to help strengthen everything around the joint. I had been favoring it and it affected my gait, foot alignment, etc. which badly exacerbated the problem. I pay much more attention to form, even when I’m just walking around, which has mitigated the symptoms and kept me off the operating table.

Even is you’ve had surgery already, I would look into PRP and/or traveling to a vet stem cells in a country where you can get the really good stuff. Helps immensely at all stages of the game.

 

[grfox92]

I was told 3 years ago I needed meniscus surgery. Instead, I did a PRP ( platelet rich plasma) injection and a month of PT to help strengthen everything around the joint. I had been favoring it and it affected my gait, foot alignment, etc. which badly exacerbated the problem. I pay much more attention to form, even when I’m just walking around, which has mitigated the symptoms and kept me off the operating table.

Even is you’ve had surgery already, I would look into PRP and/or traveling to a vet stem cells in a country where you can get the really good stuff. Helps immensely at all stages of the game.

I marched into yhe orthopedic office fully prepared to not get surgery and let it heal on its own. Thats when he explained to me what a bucket handle tear was and why it wouldn't ever heal on its own. So far so good. Only doing squats or deadlifts can I feel it, so for now I avoid it. But I packed out a few deer and elk this year with no issue.

 

[HunterGatherer]

I marched into yhe orthopedic office fully prepared to not get surgery and let it heal on its own. Thats when he explained to me what a bucket handle tear was and why it wouldn't ever heal on its own. So far so good. Only doing squats or deadlifts can I feel it, so for now I avoid it. But I packed out a few deer and elk this year with no issue.

Nice ! Every knee and knee injury is different. I don’t recall offhand exactly what kind of tear I have but it isn’t too extreme. I feel like I caught it early enough and intervened before it got too bad so maybe thats the key to the success of the non-surgery option. Obviously some tears are just too severe for this to work.

The doc that did the PRP told me that something like 50% or more of MRI scans will show a meniscus tear and many people have no significant symptoms. They just live with the tear and never require surgery. Meniscus repairs and -ectomies have a pretty low success rate as far as completely solving the problem. But just about every ortho surgeon out there will tell you to get surgery. It’s kind of like asking the barber if you need a haircut.

I’m going to need new knees eventually. Just hoping to avoid it until I’m older (48 now) so I don’t have to do it twice in my lifetime. Also crossing my fingers that they come out with some crazy next gen medical tech that is better than what we have currently

 

[Poser]

Also crossing my fingers that they come out with some crazy next gen medical tech that is better than what we have currently

Banking on this as well. Surely some biotech breakthrouh can come up with a suitable meniscus replacement material here in the near future. Seems like a real biological shortcoming that humans can't regenerate meniscus given how critical it is, most other joints have a lifespan of ~120-140 years + given how common mensicus failure is after 35. We need a redesign here.