Meniscus :

So when does the pain go away?(Post Op) - - Posted by NoGeeksPlz (NoGeeksPlz), 4 December 2004

September 28th I had surgery to repair two tears in my meniscus.

Felt pretty good post surgery (day two and three were not good).  Dr. gave me the ok to start back to excercise and training horses 10 days post op.  (I compete in long distance riding 25-50 miles)

A month after surgery I went back to Dr. as pain was feeling nearly as bad as before surgery.  He seemed insulted that I asked if maybe not everything was fixed. He stated that I would hurt for 3 months.

So here I sit just two months past surgery. I did compete in a 25 mile horse ride to test out the knee.  It is now starting to hurt at night again.

Am I being impatient?

Could it not have been properly fixed originally?
Posted by dm (dm), 4 December 2004

meniscal tears heal very slowly due to poor blood supply, if they will heal at all.  The tears have to fall in the 'red zone' for them to have a chance at repairing themselves at all.  I am surprised the doc let you go back to heavy activity like that only 10 days postop. I wonder if the meniscus ever repaired itself, given that you stressed it so soon after surgery.

Perhaps another opinion is in order?
Posted by andrewc (AndrewC), 4 December 2004

Hey there

DM is absolutely right. Your Drs post operative protocol is WAY OUT there!!

THE minimum time that people are normally on crutches (and I researched a lot of protocols and a lot of excellent knee surgeons) is 4 weeks Non Weight Bearing and then they are on RESTRICTED activities (ie/no horse riding, running etc) for around 4 months.

Telling you that you would be ok to ride horses and exercise fully 10 days post op is scandalous

The meniscus does heal slowly and then only in the red zone as DM said but 4 weeks NWB and 4 months restricted activities is designed to get 1/ take all weight and stress off the meniscus during the crutch phase to allow the meniscus repair to "take" and bond together again ....and 2/ during the limited activity phase the meniscus is still healing and must not be put under great stress. It takes 3 MONTHS for a meniscus to fully heal.


And your Dr saying you would hurt for 3 months....that is partly true but the pain should be getting better....not worse

It sounds unfortunately like your repair may not have taken or only partly taken......
Have you done lots of PT ?? strength building ??

If I were you I would get a second opinion from a known "top quality" OS in your area....it sounds like your Drs ego may be getting in the way of your recovery or lack of.

Good Luck
Posted by heather_k (heather k from wales), 4 December 2004

Are you absolutley sure you had a repair and not a partial removal??.
10 days after my repair I was stuck lying on the settee in alot of pain and there was no way Id be able to walk, let alone work!.
Its quite easy to mistake the two.  After a partial removal it is very likley you would be allowed to return to work after 10 days, and it could well take 3 months to fully recover from a partial removal.

Good luck with your recovery,

Heather
Posted by NoGeeksPlz (NoGeeksPlz), 6 December 2004

Oh god I feel like such a dope.

The Dr. basically ground down the tears, so I guess thats not repair.

I am stuck on an HMO health care, so I just can't go find another doctor.  Do you know it took me 6 months to go from injury to "permission" to get the surgery!  Then I had to put it off because I had my National Championships to compete in.

I am back on having to take Celebrex to get through life.

So do you guys think I should go through the hoops of the HMO now........go to primary care, get referral to another ortho and the go from there?  Or am I being impatient, just two months from the surgery?

The other day I almost had to quit my training ride at the start as my knee hurt so bad (8 on a scale of 1-10) and I had not taken any drugs and had none with me
Posted by sienna (sienna), 7 December 2004

Hi there,
Don't feel like a dope.  Sometimes docs don't explain things very well.  A lot of them don't have people skills at all.
Celebrex is fine for periods at a time as long as you take it with food.  I was on celebrex in the beginning of the year for 3mths.  I then had to go on something else due to other findings so that is another story.
My GP said that I can and probably will need to take it at various times for the rest of my life.  I have just completed a short course of 2 wks to get my knee back on track.  
If you have a removal/shaving then recovery is much faster.  But you will still need to take care of it while your knee settles down again.  You probably went back too much too soon.  For now, take it as you can.  Use the celebrex for a couple of weeks or so to ease it.  And don't forget to ice and elevate when things flare up.
It may also be worthwhile to go to pt just to get some strengthening exercises.  This will help the life of your knee too.

Good luck.

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