UKC

Hi ya guys, has anyone on here torn there meniscus (cartilage) was wondering what to do while waiting for exact diagnosis e.g do you just keep it rested, try and bend leg I just havnt got a clue at the min I did it on sat medic at event and doc at AnE both think it's a meniscus tear seen an orthopaedic doc today but he wants me to come back nxt tues when it's settled down to assess it properly, at the moment it just buckles causing agony its so unstable never known anything like it, so was wondering if anyone had done it how long it were before you were up and about again, im a carpenter and need to get bk to work desperately but one thing that really concearns me is my future in the mountains!! So any advice would be much appreciated, thanks

In reply to stevo 30:

Ouch. I did mine about 16 years ago and had to have a tag trimmed off - arthroscopy et al. I was in a huge bandage for about three days, then hobbling on crutches for a while. I seem to recall that it took a couple of weeks before I was reasonably mobile again. It's been right as rain ever since, mountains, cycling, OMM etc but....

This morning, I went to see an ortho surgeon because the same knee is playing up - not as bad as before, but not right. MRI scan for me. We'll wait and see what happens.

In reply to nniff: Good luck pal hope it turns out ok, you take ur knees for granted dont ya never again thing is 90% of time it's us active people that find it so hard to just sit and rest that ends up with these type of injuries n with winter season starting soon its proper torture never mind being self employed with a baby on the way need to be out grafting not laid watching men behaving badly box set!!

In reply to stevo 30:
UNfortuately yes... I did mine skiing 2 years ago, along with the ACL and MCL ligaments. You need to do the RICE - rest ice compression elevation and get an MRI scan ASAP which will give an indication of damage but isn't exact.
Your muscles will start to waste pretty quickly so to help avoid that you need to learn how to do Static quad exercises to keep the quad muscle firing which is basically yensing and untensing the muscle. A physio will help you do that so go see your GP and egt a physio referral and they will be able to advise you on what you can be doing while it settles down a little.

But fear not.. theres no reason you shouldn't get back to doing everything and more! feel free to PM if you want more info, I have turned into a bit of a knee geek over the last couple years!!!
Ali

Learn about the structure of the knee - there is loads on the internet about cartilage and ligament injuries, but Chester Knee Clinic has a good site with loads of info - www.kneeclinic.info/index. That way when you go back next week to see the orthopod you will understand much more what hes talking about and what the options are.

How did it happen? Is it giving way when you say buckling or locking up? Obviously you can't diagnose over a forum but if it is completely giving way that is a sign of ligament damage as well. its pretty important to minimise any more buckling etc as this risks further injury (what I did!)

In reply to aligibb: Thanks for the great advice will go and have a look at that website, I did it at the men's health survival of the fittest first obstacle was the hay bales with me bein quite short and seeing people struggling to get over I just decided to run at it placing rite hand on bale and kind of pivoting my body up and over but I think the force I transferred down leg into take off did all the damage plus trying to get over another two before admitting to myself that there was something seriously wrong so that probably made the injury worse! The orthopaedic reckons he can diagnose it without mri scan, not entirely convinced myself! So can putting weight on it delay healing process only way I can describe it buckling is when I put weight on it its like a knee on jelly it feels as tho it twists and bends inwards causing huge pain and me ending up on floor ( before the crutches and brace) as I'm laid now it won't totally straighten if I try I kinda feels like something stuck in knee and mainly hurts around the back and if I try and bend it can probably bend it a quarter of a full bend and the entire knee hurts specially the inside and no matter how much I try I can't bend it any more! Thanks again it's great talking to people who know what they are talking about!

In reply to stevo 30:

Ouch. I'm not going to try and diagnose that. It made mine hurt more just reading it - best I man up and stop bleating! Hope it sorts itself out.

In reply to nniff: Ha thanks anyway just had a look on that website and it looks good best get swatting up! Cheers

Best to keep the weight off it and immobilise it to let the swelling go down. I did mine on a snowboard and got one of the knee braces which have plastic hinged ribs down the sides. A bit of gaffer tape stopped the hinges bending so it completely immobilised my knee so I got loads of rest. A crutch helps keep the weight off when moving. Within a fe days it should be a lot better. I used alternate hot and cold treatment. 2 of the gel packs and swap over every 20 mins. Keep popping ibuprofen will help reduce it as well.

In reply to stevo 30:

There's a lot of stuff on there - mind you, quite a few of the photos did seem to have involved sawing the patient's leg off first. I'm hoping for something a little less invasive. Ideally - 'I know you've been keeping it until it gets better; well, keep it a bit longer'. That would do nicely thank you

In reply to antdav: Yea hospital gave me quite a good splint it goes from groin to anckle with bars all the way down which totally immobilises the knee doc just said to ween myself out of it but must admit it feels so unstable without it tho wouldn't want to go any further than kettle!

In reply to stevo 30:
Sorry at work so can't really write much more now. Use the brace to support when moving around on it for now, but make sure when you have the leg up that a) you have it completely straight so that you keep full extension if possible and b)keep it moving within the limits of pain so that it doesn't completely stiffen up.
Always within the limits of pain though - thats really important. Take ibuprofen and paracetamol as theres no point in being in discomfort but icing 4 times a day for 15mins and keeping it elevated will deal witht he pain and swelling much more effectively.
From what my consultant told me they can't really be sure until they look in the knee during an arthroscopy. An MRI helps alot and by doing various tests (Lachman and Pivot Shift) they can feel whats going on.

Chin up its gets better pretty quickly. I was walking around after 10 days with out that brace thing.

In reply to aligibb: And I "learnt" to walk again by using the kitchen table and doing laps while using my hand on it for support!

In reply to aligibb: Thanks a lot pal for taking the time to give me some advice its really valuable stuff you been saying so thank ya very much appreciate it, you definatly know your stuff

In reply to stevo 30: it helps having a mum who is a physio!!! I'd def try and see one as soon as poss.