I’m old, fat, and lazy, and my knees are taking the brunt of the stress. I’ve got arthritis and a torn medial meniscus in my left knee. I’ve had a hyaluronic acid shot recently, so I’m waiting to see how that works. I’ve also been in physical therapy, which has helped somewhat but not a lot. Right now, I’m sitting at my desk with my leg up and a heating pad on my knee because it hurts like a bastard.
Unfortunately, the shot won’t help the torn meniscus and my ortho wants to scope my knee. I’ve read a number of websites about recovery time and such, but I’m now looking for real-life experience from people who have actually been through it. What was your experience like? How long did your recovery take? Were you non-weight bearing, and for how long? How much pain did you have? Any information is good information.
My left knee is much the same as yours, but with 3 tears. Two pieces of advice: give that shot at least two weeks to work, to come to full benefit. You may be surprised. I was and ended up not needing surgical repair or any more shots (knock on wood some 4 years later). Second piece of advice: get a second opinion about the need for surgery, preferably from an orthopedist who is not a surgeon. Orthopedic surgeons are notorious for being scalpel-happy. Give PT another chance too, perhaps with a different person who might have a different approach that will eventually bring you more relief. PT is slow and you have to do the home exercises but nothing can go wrong anywhere near the extent that can with surgery. I guess that was 3 pieces of advice.
Give the shot more time
Get a second opinion re: surgery from a non-surgical orthopedist (or at least from one whose practice isn’t mostly repairing sports injuries on 17 year olds.
Switch PT office and PT therapist and do the home exercises, giving that some time too.
Been there done all of that. No longer need a walker or a cane or pain meds or ice packs or heating pads and I’m old and fat too.
I had a torn (flap) meniscus about 7 years ago, mostly from general wear and tear, but a specific incident pushed it over the edge. After working with PT and some other remedies, my orthopod recommended surgery, as did my second opinion. Their basic approach was if you don’t need surgery they didn’t want to perform it, and it was up to me to decide if I needed it. The pain from my knee was preventing me from doing what I wanted to do (run, ski, bike) so I went for it.
My recovery wasn’t great, since there was a delay starting PT, but eventually I resumed all my activities. My knee hasn’t really deteriorated since then, but I still occasionally have random pain. All in all, I consider my surgery to have been a success.
Well, it’s been a minute since I had arthroscopic knee surgery, but back in 1988/1989 I had my knee 'scoped to check out my ACL twice (a year apart; two separate injuries).
Basically what they do is make a very small incision, inflate your joint with saline, so they can see stuff, and then do what they’re going to do.
Recovery time was minimal for the scope part- the incisions were maybe a quarter inch, and I had three- one on either side of my patellar tendon, and one up on the thigh-side of my knee on the outside. After the first scope, I was up and walking a day later, and after the second, the scoping wasn’t much of a thing, because I had a different part operated on as well (MCL), and that was where all the focus was. 35 years later, and no real issues. My knee does get sore when a cold front is coming through, but that’s about it.
My mother had arthroscopic surgery to remove part of a torn meniscus a few years ago, and her experience (she was in her late 60s) was similar- short recovery time, much better experience after the surgery due to the offending cartilage being removed.