Repaired meniscus

[santacruz skier]

So I have a flap tear meniscus and have been doing PT and going to a trainer. The jury is still out on surgery or not.. Think I am past the point of no return as too close to ski season. My PT said yes I can ski but only groomed. It has been 6 months and have been working really hard on strengthening muscles around knee..
I'm hoping to ski everything but will have to see. I have appt with orthopedic surgeon next week . I can finally straighten leg and have pretty good ROM but knee does hurt now and then. I don't really want surgery. Also I was told my avulsion fracture to ACL is healed but don't have blood supply to flap tear meniscus. Does this make sense?

 

[bounceswoosh]

The study looks at debridement (cleaning) and excision, not repair, and the outcomes are no better than aggressive PT over time.

Thanks! That sort of makes sense I guess ...

 

[Obrules15]

So I have a flap tear meniscus and have been doing PT and going to a trainer. The jury is still out on surgery or not.. Think I am past the point of no return as too close to ski season. My PT said yes I can ski but only groomed. It has been 6 months and have been working really hard on strengthening muscles around knee..
I'm hoping to ski everything but will have to see. I have appt with orthopedic surgeon next week . I can finally straighten leg and have pretty good ROM but knee does hurt now and then. I don't really want surgery. Also I was told my avulsion fracture to ACL is healed but don't have blood supply to flap tear meniscus. Does this make sense?

I think so.

 

[altagirl]

Thanks! That sort of makes sense I guess ...

I can see that - if you go back to basically full activity right away you aren't losing muscle. If you have a repair, those are delicate, require a lot of guidance in what is safe to avoid destroying the repair, and often require lengthy periods of non weight bearing, which left my one leg looking like a twig. For that, no pt would be silly.

 

[Skise]

Are you serious when you say you think this is the first repair this surgeon ever did, or were you just grumping?

I'm quite serious. I thought it was odd I was actually asleep during surgery (typically at least here they are done with the patient awake) and it was only afterwards I realised it was probably to keep me from hearing and seeing the two surgeons debating how to do this

There was no post op appointment. Just met physiotherapist because of my shoulder pain last week and it turned out he is an enthusiastic skier and was less interested in my shoulder than my knee. "You can't let this prevent you from skiing!" So another appointment for my knee next week.

 

[vickie]

I'm imagining the conversation in the OR:

"What you you doing over there? The meniscus is in the KNEE, you dolt!"

"But, but ... on YouTube ....."

 

[newboots]

I see you found the right physiotherapist! Excellent!

No post-op appointment? So different from here.

 

[Skise]

I'm imagining the conversation in the OR:

"What you you doing over there? The meniscus is in the KNEE, you dolt!"

"But, but ... on YouTube ....."

The surgeon actually directed me to a YouTube video about the procedure. Perhaps that's where he learned to perform it

 

[newboots]

The surgeon actually directed me to a YouTube video about the procedure. Perhaps that's where he learned to perform it

I'm glad you can laugh about it! Hoping for an excellent recovery!

 

[bounceswoosh]

The surgeon actually directed me to a YouTube video about the procedure. Perhaps that's where he learned to perform it

Oh, man.

The surgeon who did my knee has been doing knees and shoulders for years. He's a joker. When I asked how many ACL surgeries he'd done, he said, "Oh, none - but I found a tutorial on Youtube and I'm going to bring my laptop into the OR!"

... I'm so glad that was a joke. I mean, *someone* has to be the first ... but I wouldn't want it to be me.

I have since met several people who had much worse damage than mine and were fixed up by this doc.

 

[Obrules15]

The surgeon actually directed me to a YouTube video about the procedure. Perhaps that's where he learned to perform it

I haven't commented because I'm speechless.

If it is your first procedure (as surgeon) normally you'd be more anal, more prepared, have more follow-ups scheduled. IDK. Weird.

 

[Obrules15]

I'm quite serious. I thought it was odd I was actually asleep during surgery (typically at least here they are done with the patient awake) and it was only afterwards I realised it was probably to keep me from hearing and seeing the two surgeons debating how to do this

I am almost 99% certain that they wouldn't have put you to sleep just to keep you from hearing things. Most types of anesthesia in which you are awake have a limited amount of time that they work, so if there is any concern about the case, putting you to sleep in the beginning is safer than realizing halfway through that they need more time and need to put you to sleep.

 

[snowski/swimmouse]

Ooh! Scary thought!

 

[Skise]

I am almost 99% certain that they wouldn't have put you to sleep just to keep you from hearing things. Most types of anesthesia in which you are awake have a limited amount of time that they work, so if there is any concern about the case, putting you to sleep in the beginning is safer than realizing halfway through that they need more time and need to put you to sleep.

About that I was half joking. The reason they cited for general anesthesia was the faster recovery. When I wake up from general anesthesia, I wake up but with spinal anesthesia my leg is asleep for hours afterwards.

 

[Skise]

"Which one is better for the knees, telemark or alpine skiing?" I asked my physiotherapist today. "Snowboarding" was the answer

 

[bounceswoosh]

"Which one is better for the knees, telemark or alpine skiing?" I asked my physiotherapist today. "Snowboarding" was the answer

Next time, ask your physio which one is best for wrists =)

 

[Skise]

So... I skied two times last winter. Two hours was the maximum I was able to ski and I was quite depressed (it takes me three hours to drive to slopes, so 6 hours of driving for 2 hours of skiing). It was almost 8 months after surgery and I still couldn’t ski properly.

But last weekend I went to Ruka with my friends. Not all of them skiers so I knew if I couldn’t ski, I could do something else with them. And I skied for two days, no pain!

 

[Skise]

Now I’m thinking of buying new skis

 

[MissySki]

Now I’m thinking of buying new skis

Tis the season!

 

[snowski/swimmouse]

@Skise : To my great surprise. I saw improvement for up to 2 years later!