KNEE LOCKING after ACL/MENISCUS SURGERY

[emi11]

I tore my Acl 5 years ago. I thought I could live with the injury, but as I continued to play soccer, I began tearing my meniscus. Finally, a bucket handle meniscus tear caused me to go through with the surgery. I had ACL (patellar graft) reconstruction and my meniscus trimmed on July 25th. I've been going to physiotherapy 2/3 times a week and going to the gym everyday. I am getting stronger but I am walking with a heavy limp because I get a locking feeling below my kneecap, close to scars, when I flex my knee. I can go from extension to flexion just fine when sitting or not applying pressure to my leg, and I can ride the stationary bike very well. It is when I am extending my knee and then flexing while I am walking,that my knee tends to get stuck and ill have to very slowly continue the flex to unlock it. I can see the kind of pulling of my skin under my knee cap while it is stuck, then releasing, or popping out of the skin when it becomes unstuck. I brought the issue up to my surgeon during my 6 week follow up, but he did not seem concerned and told me that it was my knee cap that is getting stuck and it should go away on its own. It does not seem to be getting better, im concerned that its not my knee cap and maybe scar tissue. If anyone has had similar experiences I would love to hear about them.

[Hill_Girl]

Hi there
I am afraid I can't help with the questions you ask but I was interested to hear that you had ACLR 5 years on from your original injury - and following a bucket handle meniscus tear. I am waiting for ACLR 10 years after my ACL rupture. I am only now having it because I lost a big chunk of my medial meniscus in February and decided in August to have ACLR as I don't seem to be able to get my knee stable this time round. I am interested in whether you were worried about further meniscal damage if you did not have ACLR and/or whether you were told your knee would be less stable after losing meniscus? I haven't found anyone who has had this sequence of events, only people who lost meniscus at the time of their ACL rupture and who had that and their ACL sorted at that time, whereas I only ruptured my ACL, coped really well without, and the meniscal loss came 10 years later. Hope you get some answers to your question and that your knee does settle soon, sounds like you are being very diligent with your physio/rehab.

[emi11]

My knee was very unstable from the beginning when I first tore my acl. I just learned how to cope with it and wore my brace when necessary. My knee would shift out of place on occasion but nothing really alarming until in May when I kicked a soccer ball awkwardly. My knee felt as though it shifted out of place, I could not extend my leg fully and it was painful to walk. This is when the bucket handle tear occurred. As I needed surgery for my meniscus I decided to finally fix my acl. I wish I went through with the aclr the moment I first injured myself because my knee instability caused the damage to my meniscus. My surgeon hasn't said anything about having instability with the trimming of the meniscus.

[troymcfont]

Hey Emi,

I know this is a bit old but I am feeling the same sensations as you explained. How did this turned for you?

Thanks,

Bernat

[jeffmc]

I am in a similar situation, tore my ACl 3 years ago with meniscus damage, rehabbed for a full year to get back to playing soccer. Contemplating surgery next year as continuing to play soccer is very hard on my knee and I fear I am doing fast-tracked cartilage damage by compensating for my lack of ACL.

How you doing Emi ?

[Gloompreach]

@troymcfont Did this ever resolve for you?

I just had surgery 7 weeks ago and I was ok'd to do weight bearing at 6 weeks. I am noticing knee catching/locking up going from extension to bending when I am walking.

It's really freaking me out and need to know if this will resolve by itself?

[omid_univer]

Hi,
I did the ACL surgery about 6 weeks ago and I have exactly the same problem as you had. Could you please tell us what happened finally and do you feel good now?

Thanks in advance.

[Tim82]

Hi all -

This post is many years old, but if anyone is still reading it I would love to know their outcome. I'm 4.5mths post ACL repair and lateral meniscus repair and I'm experiencing the same issue since about 1 month out - visually see and feel a pressure release in lateral area around the entry area of surgery. My walk has become a little bit better but I'm concerned it is only bc I'm not fully extending my leg, which is resulting in a limp. If I lay on my back and fully extend my leg in the air, it will catch when I let my leg drop down to 90 degrees half of the time. Same thing when do a squat. I have been working my tail off 2 times a weeks at PT strengthening up, however it is incredibly frustrating bc I'm not getting better. I originally was thinking it was due to a weak quad, but now I'm leaning towards some sort of impingement or scar tissue in the fat pad or patella tendon. Fingers crossed someone from
Prior post reads this and can chime in on whether they needed to get another surgery or not. Thanks for reading.