Greetings:

I am so glad I found this website.  I am a 33 year old male. I had knee surgery on December 21, 2006.  The surgeon (1) partially removed my mensicus due to a lateral meniscus tear (degenerative) in my right knee, (2) shaved down some thickend plica and (3) removed a cyst.

For two days after surgery, I stayed in bed with the leg elevated and iced it.  After that I went backt to work (office job, so walking to and from metro station).  A week and a day after surgery I started physical therapy.  After seven session over two and half weeks, I felt fine and was released from physical therapy.  At three weeks, I went for a run for one and a half miles.  At three and a half weeks, I ran another mile and a half.

This past Saturday (exactly four weeks and two days after surgery) I resumed playing soccer with my men's amatuer team.  We played for two hours outdoors.  I felt great.  I iced my knee down as a precaution and took some ibuprofen that night.  I took Sunday off.  Monday night (last night), we had an indoor game.  It was early, so a bunch of ours guys couldn't get off work in time for the first half, which forced me, due to lack of subs, to play the entire 24 minutes straight.  I played about half of the second half (12 - 15 more minutes).  My knee started to hurt near the end of the game.  I iced it last night and popped some more ibuprofen.

Well, today it kind of hurts.  I am hoping that this is just normal pain associated with getting back into my previous level of activity. I can still fully extend and straighten my leg.  It feels fine as I type this but if I sit here for a half an hour and then get up it feels sore when I walk and it aches a little.  It seems slightly sensitive to weight bearing.  I have a little soreneess in the front lower portion of my knee (around the patella?) when I straighten after its been bent for several minutes.

Basically, I am looking for reassurance that this is normal and that I didn't overdo it this past few days.

Thanks.

Aek-

You may have over done it a bit.  Your knee might have felt as good as new, but it takes our bodies several months, even a year or more, to fully heal.  Maybe take it a little bit slower in the future. I would keep RICEing for the next few days to take care of any swelling that might follow.  Be safe.  


Jordan

Thanks everyone. That's a drag.  The pain is less today but still there.  As the day wore on Yesterday, I had more and more discomfort descending stairs, very similar to the first two weeks after surgery.  Today, its better but still some pain when I lock my knee and then lean my weight onto it.

There appears to be a huge difference between running and soccer at this point in the recovery.  I'll slow down (a little!), but the less I exercise the louder the voices in my head get!