Medial meniscus trim report

[grapplingdude]

Day 175: Still stiff from lack of stretching specially back is stiff which also affects knees / rest of body. I go to the gym in the afternoon and do 20 mins low rev cycling followed by bit of hamstring 80 throws of the wrestling dummy some wrestling cable and 2 sets of crab walk followed by 30 mins stretching. Confirms that stiff through the lower back and thus affecting rest of the body. Some mild clicking and knee discomfort in both knees when deep stretching but nothing major...

[grapplingdude]

Day 176: Feel stiff still mainly in lower back which affects flexibility throughout the body. Went to the gym doing 15 mins low rev cycling and then hamstring followed by 70 throws of the wrestling dummy mixed with wrestling cable and 2x crab walk. I noticed that if I use the Greco Roman dummy it has most of its weight at the bottom and it sharpens my throwing power cause I have to use more strength 

When I stretch I feel stiff throughout and I do 30 mins to loosen up a bit. The knee feels a bit puffier and when I sit on my heels for a while both kness start getting a bit sore after a while... 

Day 177: Same picture in the morning and I go BJJ having a couple of good rounds of sparring but no stretching. So I go back to the gym in the afternoon doing wrestling cable followed by 60 throws and some MMA style ground work after the final few throws. Then stretching again stiff throughout through the lower back and my ribs hurt from all the throwing over the past few days and the knee is definitely a bit puffier than at its best so its good I am not doing much over the weekend!

[grapplingdude]

Day 178: Early start, air travel, no exercise, stiff knee, I take an anti-inflammatory at night because i may have overdione it the past week...

Day 179: Still slightl;y puffy stiff knee but that is unsurprising since I am undersztretched, underexercised, overstrained etc. HOWEVER I go surfing today for the first time in 4 plus years!!!!!  AMAZING - I am much better than I thought i would be!!!! I take another anti-inflammatory at night and the knee feels less stiff etc. Happy days!

Day 180: 6 months since surgery and no exercise for me today - I feel understretched and stiff and the patella area feels quite grindy and stiff - time for another anti-inflammatory!

Day 181: More air travel and knee stiffness / entire body stiffness but I just went running for 7k maybe a bit too far being so exercised and I had mild discomfort in both kneecaps at various times but I feel good having exercised 

[grapplingdude]

Day 182: What a s**t day and it started so well!!! Went to the gym at lunch doing just 15 mins of low rev  cycling followed by core and 16x deep single leg squats which were slightly wobbly but still strong! Then 35 mins of strtetching feelingf the whole body limbering up and deep stretches are ok as well just some patella discomgfort when kneeling on both heels - outside of left leg through hamstrings feels quite tight.

So I decide to go to nJudo at night and everything is fine until the last round of sparring - the coacxh says one guy attacks other goes for counters. I get a couple of counters on the guy. When it is my turn to nattack we get entangled around the legs and I hop trying to counter the counter - then a sudden knock to the outside of the left knee, a feeling of displacement and I go down...

Please dont let there be another tear or ligament damage!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE!  The immediate feeling is of some mild pain through the entire outside of the leg particularly lower hamstrings. There is enormous tightness on the outside like the joint is being compressed. No pain on the medial previous side just yet!!! Please not another tear specially on the inside!  When I stand up the tightness and discomfort on the outside becomes more pronounced and some sting on the inside... Patella feels affected as well... Same picture when I walk - unlike my previous tear though it ios mainly the outside that hurts and mainly when extended not when flexed... I take two anti-inflammatories and I will try to get an MRI tomorrow. FINGERS CROSSED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[grapplingdude]

First the good news:

i think that after 6 months my meniscus rehab had been pretty successful: My knee/leg strength/ balance were better than ever before and my flexibility was probably just as good as it had ever been  I had been back in BJJ/Wrestling/Judo for 3 months plus and my core stability / strength was at its best - I was just getting really fit again as well and ready to start surfing again 

Now the bad news:

What happened at the end of that Judo session is an ACL tear  The MRI also showed a severely impacted but not ruptured MCL and is slightly unclear if the medial meniscus took another battering or not... Well since this is an ACL issue now (mainly) and I have really enjoyed writing this blog / diary I will start another diary in the ACL section and hopefully things will be going as well as they did with my meniscus recovery!!! 

[hardhead]

Sorry to hear about the ACL injury. Good luck with that.

[grapplingdude]

Had the ACl reconstruction yesterday and will now update my new recovery blog on the ACL section of the forum.

Good news is that the additional meniscus damage from the ACL tear was minimal and needed minimal trimming so that about 2/3ds in total remain!

The reconstruction went well according to the OS and I have already started basic rehab 

[grapplingdude]

Here's the link should anyone be interested

http://www.kneeguru.co.uk/KNEEtalk/index.php?topic=57360.0

[JeffG]

Gdude, Thanks for the great documentation. My journey starts the 31st and now at least I am armed with real info on what to expect.

[grapplingdude]

Jeff

No worries buddy! Good luck with it! I am actually doing very well with my ACL rehab which, by unfortunate timing, happened just as I was back to pretty much normal for a couple of weeks...

Just keep your head up but the first 1.5-2 weeks post op will be real tough!

[JeffG]

Talk about an incredible recovery, I hobbled around for the first 3 days and had a 70deg range of motion on day 4, by day 9 I was walking normal most of the time and my ROM was up to 135deg. My PT says she has not seen such a great recovery. So far all the recovery exercises have been easy and I for the most part had no pain after the first day. I have had problems with a very tight IT band but I am sure that will get looser with work. I went back to work on day 7 and wasnt sure I would make it through the day because of fatigue but got through and felt better each day. With the use of an icepack every day the swelling has been well controlled. My PT cautions me to take it easy still and I am inclined to listen since things are going so well I would rather not push things and slow my recovery. I found out from my AS that they removed 20% on the meniscus and everything else looked good so I should have a complete recovery.

I see that you are doing well and wish you continued success. 

[grapplingdude]

Jeff - glad to hear you're making good progress! 20% removal is not too bad and I think you can make a quick recovery. My ACL rehab is going strong as well but I am now in the critical phase where graft is at its weakest (weeks 6 - 12). I hope that nothing stupid happens in this phase and after Christmas I should get back to normal activities quite quickly!

[Boyka81]

Havent been on this for a while. My knee feels great still strengthening it all the time. I will admit i still get the odd niggle n click at times in the knee but nothing major.

Won my Fight the other night 1st round KO 2min, my knee gave me no problems whatsoever. Was so good getting back in the cage! Hadnt fought for 18 months due to my knee meniscis injury.

Be strict with rehab guys and strengthen the leg everyday! Hill sprints going full speed now. Wish i had my old knee back though!

Keep it up guys.

[grapplingdude]

Boyka

Good to hear you're going strong again and KOing people again 

My unfortunate ACL tear has obviously set me back massively and I am now 3 moinths post surgery for that. Doing a lot again now - started jogging short spells on the treadmill some 2 weeks ago and started skipping some 2-3 weeks ago.

I saw the surgeon yetserday and he says he's comfortable with the graft etc and the graft is now up to 50% plus strength which is very reassuring cause it would now need significant force to re-injure it.

I will therefore start outside jogging 1-2k spells at a time next week and rotational work / cutting / higher velocity after CHristmas. i am also cleared to start doing punches against a bag / pads which is very reassuring cause it will be my first time doing anything martial arts like in about 4.5 months and that has been driving me nuts!!!! 

Since i am not a striker this will be a useful skill to learn till I can start light grappling drills again in some 4 months and back to full in another 6-9 months! 

Everyone else - the meniscus news is that I now have comfortable full flexion back again and doing single leg TRX assissted squats all the way down now so the menisectomy even though I only have some 70% left has been fine / a success as far as I can tell now 10 months after the original menisectomy 

[grapplingdude]

Just a quick update on my ACL tear recovery - Just over 7 months now and will hopefully start some light flow sparring next month! Been doing lots of stuff again such as boxing drills on the pads / running 12.5k etc.

The old meniscus surgery is not in any way bothering me any more and I hope the ACL will be back to full soon!!!