Meniscus :
Can I make my Meniscus tear worse if I........... - - Posted by Bigdog (Bigdog), 10 January 2005
While playing basketball I tried to change directions and felt a bone on bone sensation in my knee. I had an acl repair and some meniscus removed from the same knee almost three years prior. MRI reflects bone bruise and abnormal posterior horn of the lateral meniscus(same area where OS removed meniscus before). I plan to get it repaired but I have about 8 more games left in our recreation league basketball season. OS says he does not know if the MRI is reflecting an abnormality caused by the previous surgery or new problems. I will let the OS repair the problem at the end of the season. The OS said I can continue to play if I can bear the pain. HOW MUCH WORSE CAN I MAKE THE PROBLEM IF I CONTINUE TO PLAY? COULD I CAUSE IRREPARABLE INJURIES THAT I WILL REGRET LATER? ANYONE ELSE HAD SIMILAR DILEMMAS?
Posted by 5FeKOBS (5FeKOBS), 10 January 2005
i'm not sure. i played on a knee with a torn meniscus for probably about 7 months (it's called Denial...). and i'm sure it didn't help matters! the pain definitely got worse and worse....
Posted by Bigdog (Bigdog), 10 January 2005
I agree, it is probably not the smartest thing to do but I only have a few games left. Being an athlete all my life my mind set is to play through the injury but I am smart enough to know I need to get the problem resolved sooner than later.
Posted by myrtknee94 (myrtknee94), 10 January 2005
Bigdog~
I injured my knee when I was 15 yrs. old. I tore my medial meniscus and ACL. Now, 10 years later, I am suffering the consiquences of playing with an injury. My new OS said that I should never have been allowed to return to sports following my injury. Granted, I wasn't having that much trouble with for a while, I even skied on it!!!!! Looking back, I wish I would have known/been informed of the damage I was causing. He said that he sees 50-60 year old patients whose knees look like mine and I'm 25! 
I am having a meniscus transplant and ACL reconstruction in 10 days.
If your are going to play injured till your surgery, I would be really careful, wear a brace and listen to your knee! If it hurts sit it out!
Best of luck and take care of that knee!!
Kristen
Posted by sienna (sienna), 11 January 2005
MRI's are notoriously unreliable in a lot of instances. They should be used in conjunction with other diagnosing techniques like a physical exam.
Having said that, it is probably showing new damage because you said in your post that you had a removal of meniscus. If you had had a repair, it would show up as the same as it did before it was fixed therefore it would be hard to know the difference as they would look the same. But you said you had a removal which means the damaged stuff was taken out.
This is just my opinion though.
As for playing on an injury,well, if it is torn then you will probably make it worse but who knows. It depends on the type of tear. I guess that it is a decision you and your os have to make. As myrightknee94 said, if it hurts, sit out.
Good luck.
Posted by imnotpunk (imnotpunk), 11 January 2005
Bigdog -
I had a similar problem myself. I initially injured my knee fooling around in lax practice, I collided with someone else and our knees locked. I fell backwards and the impact of their knee along with my falling caused my knee to twist and I felt a pop. I was diagnosed with a meniscal tear and placed in an immobilizer for about a month. The DAY I got out of the immobilizer, I decided to play a pick-up game of basketball with some friends. Coming down from a layup my bad ankle gave out, causing me to put a lot of unexpected pressure on my still-weak and still-injured knee. My knee gave out and I landed in a heap on the floor in a LOT of pain. I tore the meniscus worse and had to have it surgically repaired a few months later.
There is always the possibilty to injure the knee worse, especially if you are a bit weak due to your existing injury and knee pain. Sure you can play through the pain, but remember that the risk will be there. You may want a little extra support for your knee for these next few games if you do choose to play through the pain. Ask your doctor about getting a knee sleeve or brace, it may help prevent re-injury or injuring the knee worse.
Only you know your body though. If the pain is too much or just doesn't "feel right", you may want to sit it out. There's no need in blowing out your ACL or injuring other structures because your knee was a little too unstable.
Best of luck with everything!
Best wishes,
Patricia
Posted by hmaxwell (Heather M.), 11 January 2005
I'll just share my experience: I tore my lateral meniscus (left knee) doing a yoga move in May of 2001. Downward facing dog did me in, believe it or not. Anyway, I felt this inredibly burning resistence, then a POP! and release. The pain was really sharp at first, but I did some RICE and things got a bit better. But I had to stop hiking and then I had to stop working out because the pain just laid me low after. So I did some walking instead...but then that hurt. And after four months, it was excruciating to just sit at my computer!
I found out with an MRI that I during the time I was trying to baby the knee, I'd actually developed a large cyst at the site of my meniscal tear. So it made things incredibly painful. I finally went in for the surgery.
As for what you should do, I imagine the best thing is to talk with your doctor about what type of tear you have. Some meniscal tears are felt to be stable, others (bucket handle, maybe?) are prone to extending themselves if they are stressed, and if the tear is big enough or extends deeply enough into the main body of the meniscus, removal of the majority or entirety of that sucker is about your only option. That's hard to deal with. Because once your meniscus is gone, it's gone. You're on the TKR express, meaning that it's just a matter of WHEN you will have your knee replaced, not IF.
But to give you the other side of the equation--most people have some type of meniscal tear in their knees as they age! It's kind of expected, as the meniscus is the cushion between the bones in the joint, and its job is to give up its life for the rest of the knee.
Anyway, I guess it's a matter of what kind of tear you have, what the risk is for that tear extending to create a huge meniscal problem, and how much pain you want to deal with. I know that my knee pain got to be just about unbearable, and it was keeping me from working (I sit at a computer all day, and this was brutally painful because the cyst was compressed when I bent). So I called the doctor, and two days later was in surgery.
Heather
PS one thing to think about is that you want the knee to be strong and the muscles well-balanced going into the surgery. Maybe you could do some 'prehab' with a physical therapist that can help you get the right regimen togther?
Posted by Bigdog (Bigdog), 11 January 2005
imnotpunk, Heather M., sienna, myrtknee94, 5FeKOBS,
Hey guys thanks for the advice.
I have a game on Thursday that I will use as the barometer if I should continue to play. But to be honest, it's more like, "I am going to play the remainder of the season unless it hurts to much on Thursday."
I'll use my donjoy brace while I play.
Posted by canSki (canSki), 13 January 2005
Sounds like you had your mind made up even before you heard all the answers. 
Still I hope you read this before you go and play on Thursday.
Yes you can make your injury worse if you play.
No you shouldn't be playing, especially not basketball or soccer. Now I'm not an expert on the subject, I'm just telling you what doctors and therapist have told me.
I understand how you feel, believe me I do, for the past 2-3 weeks I'm totaly pain free and I'd much rather be on the ski hill than in therapy (which by the way helps a lot). So even though my tear is "wear and tear" and "very minimal" according to my doctors (still waiting for MRI to confirm) my opinion is that you can never be too cautious when it comes to meniscus injury.
Think about it, I think it's better to miss 8 games instead of next year or two (wow I sound just like my dad some 20 years ago) 
Good luck.
Posted by Bigdog (Bigdog), 14 January 2005
I played last night and survived. However, I know that I am playing on borrowed time. I did baby the knee by not over exerting myself but that is what really concerns me. I suspect the moment I began to play full throttle something bad is going to happen. Nevertheless, I will proceed with caution. Bextra (20 mg) works great. 10mg relieved about 80% of my pain so the OS increased it to 20mg. At 20mg I was virtually pain free. I will continue to use the lower dosage for normal activities.
F.Y.I. We won the game by 20 points.
Posted by allstardiva2005 (allstardiva2005), 16 January 2005
Bextra may help disguise the pain, but that doesn't mean the tear isn't there. And you most definately can make it worse, but I totally understand why you want to keep playing. Basketball is just not the best sport for knee problems like that.
In 2000, I partially tore my ACL and medial meniscus playing bball. it was just a matter of time before i completely tore it- but i kept playing bball. 2 years later i completely tore it. so while it might not immediately make it worse- try to think of it more long term. 
good luck!
Christy
Updated Fri Jan 9 2009