Meniscus :
medial meniscus injury/pain on side of knee? - - Posted by absolutemom (absolutemom), 2 July 2003
my os diagnosed me with a posterior tear in my medial meniscus (mri) of the left knee. I will be having a patial menisectomy(?spelling) on 7/23/03. The question I have though is that when I touch the right side of my left knee it hurts a lot the pain take about 1/2 a minute to subside and I wanted to know if this pain is because of the meniscus injury? Anyone else who has had this problem or someone who knows anything please respond. I am female and 22yrs old pretty active lifestyly with 3 small kids.
thanks
absolutemom
Posted by Lizzie (Lizzie - UK), 2 July 2003
Absolute Mom
If the pain is in the centre of your knee and to the right (inside) of your left knee - than I would say yes it is the pain that you can experience with a medial meniscal tear.
Have you performed RICE
Rest
Ice
Compession
Elevation
Also take some antii-inflammatories such as Ibuprofen to take the pain away and you can also have Paracetemol if the pain is bad too.
Hope this helps. I wish you every luck with your surgery on the 23rd. You'll be up in no time with the kids!
Just remember to take it easy for the first few days after surgery.
Take care
Lots of love
Lizzie xxx
Posted by absolutemom (absolutemom), 2 July 2003
Thanks Lizzie for responding. The pain is located about 3 inches (down) to the right of of my kneecap. So from what you are saying it is a symptoms of the meniscus injury. However though I never did the RICE thing when I first injured my knee I injured it the first week in February and should have went to the hospital due to extreme pain when bending my knee and standing, squatting etc. but I did not want to take time out of my days becasue of the kids, now I am paying for that. Should I still try the RICE or is it too late for that.
Thanks again,
Melissa 
Posted by Lizzie (Lizzie - UK), 3 July 2003
Absolutemom
I have had a torn medial meniscus for some time in my left leg and if it wasn't for the fact that I ended up tearing my MCL and LCL and being in a fibreglass cast I would have had surgery on 16 June, but had to cancel. I always find that doing the RICE still helps me when I have pain. Especially if my knee is swollen and inflamed. The ice seems to take the pain away and resting your knee gives it time to recouperate, even though the only best thing to do is have an arthroscopy to take the offending piece of torn meniscus out.
Try it and see if it helps - if not then don't do it again. Simple as that.
Hope that this helps.
Lots of love
Lizzie xxx
Posted by absolutemom (absolutemom), 3 July 2003
Lizzie,
Thanks agian I will try the RICE method and I am sure it will work, you seem very wise in the ways of the knee. Thanks again for all of the help and advice. I hope that your knee feels better soon too.
Thanks,
Absolutemom(melissa)
Posted by sheepful (sheepful), 3 July 2003
Hi absolutemom,
it could be that you also sprained your MCL.
The injury mechanism for medial meniscus and MCL is quite similar.
Nothing to worry about though. If it was torn your OS had noticed and a sprain usually goes away at some point anyway.
(He will find out during the arthroscopy anyway).
RICE is the best for sprains as well - so keep going.
Hope you feel better soon,
sheepful
Posted by absolutemom (absolutemom), 5 July 2003
Sheepful,
As I am hoping there is no problem with my MCL I guess there is always that possibility. But my OS Nurse who assists in the surgeries with him said that they will not be able to see everything during the arthroscopy, is the MCL something that would be difficult for them to see or would that be something else?
Thanks
Absolutemom
Posted by sheepful (sheepful), 6 July 2003
Hi absolutemom,
I guess if your OS does not look out for your MCL he might not see if there is any damage.
But usually they check for it, especially when there's meniscus damage.
I just pointed it out to you because if the MCL is sprained it will hut, maybe your knee will be sore a bit longer than expected but it will go away on its own accord at some point.
It's always good to know there is that possibility, because it might explain when a healing prcess is not going as fast as expected - but there's no need to panic (i was really upset when my knee did not healt as fast as expected after meniscus surgery - but when my pysio told me about my MCL probs I felt reassured there was nothing serious wrong and could be a lot more relaxed, which also made my rehab process a lot easier... 
).
I'm sure everything will be fine.
Good luck for your surgery!
sheepful
Posted by muskypike (muskypike), 12 July 2003
Hi MOM,
I just got home from surgery yesterday for medial meniscus tear. Yes the pain is from that, I would also assume it is hot to the touch also. Icing helps alot.
good luck to you,
Ellen
Posted by ATsoccergirl (ATsoccergirl), 12 July 2003
Sheepful,
The AAOS has recently been rethinking some of the long standing beliefs regarding mechanisms of injuries. A rotational force would be the most likely to injure both the medial mensicus and MCL. However, the more common mechanism of a valgus force, has been shown to damage the MCL but more frequently damages the lateral mensicus. This newer theory really makes a lot of sense. With a valgus force, the knee is opening up medially, stretching the MCL, but the condyles are moving away from each other on that side. Distraction will occur on the medial side, however compression is occuring on the lateral side which is much more likely to damage the mensicus. Recently the definition of the "unhappy" triad has been changed to reflect this. It is now an injury to the ACL, MCL, and Lateral meniscus.
absolutemom-
I think your OS has, more than likely, already ruled out an MCL tear through the manual exam. The arthroscopy will not reveal much regarding this ligament unless it is significantly torn. I would also question whether this tear could be repaired. Menisectomies are never good for the knee since part of the cushioning of the joint is being removed.
Updated Sat Nov 7 2009
