Hi @jetnz - happy to share my experience. I discussed surgery with my (excellent) GP and given the risk of worsening the problem I decided to try the physio/exercise option, counting on my body absorbing the ripped bits and repairing itself.
I removed all high impact stuff (running) from my exercise regime and worked on strengthening the muscles surrounding the joint through stretching and resistance exercises, gradually increasing the weights involved. I also stopped tramping, which was a bit crap.
Three months in I began to notice real improvements - I could squat and deadlift large weights with no pain. At this stage I tried easing back in to running. The pain and inflammation returned, so I bought a road bike instead and started training on it - 10-20k rides at first, nothing strenuous. I also started doing easy(ish) tramps, trying to avoid any steep downhills if possible.
At six months I was pretty much back to normal, with the odd twinge here and there.
Between then and now, I've spent two weeks trekking in Nepal, winter climbed Taranaki (twice), Ngauruhoe (thrice) and Ruapehu (twice), and I average 200km a week on the bike. I don't think I'll ever go back to running, and I'm still very, very careful not to twist or jar my knee on descent. It does slow me down a bit, but is probably more psychological than physical, particularly on ice slopes when a knee giving way could have dire consequences!
That's what worked for me - I'm glad I avoided surgery, but there was no guarantee the natural option would work. My best advice would be to take it slowly, listen to your body, and back off if you experience and pain at all.
Best of luck with your recovery!
Jeez, that was a novel :-)
@hutchk thank you for describing your experience. Great that you were able to gain much of your mobility with physio and exercise.
As yet I don't know what kind of 'tear' it is and whether it has enough blood supply to heal with time and physio alone. I hear horror stories about botched operations yet leaving it can mean early osteoporosis.
What type of tear was yours? And was it Medial or Lateral?
And did you take any dietary supplements?
My other observation is that Vitamin D seems essential to joint health. Over a lifetime of tramping my anecdata is that spending too much time in the office, and out of the sun, is a recipe for joint problems ... regardless of how fit I am.
The other useful observation is that Pilates (or any other exercise which targets core strength and balance) is extremely helpful when traversing rough ground. Both my partner and I noticed a very real improvement in our stability, endurance and speed after about a year of moderate mat Pilates classes.
And this stability translated into much less knee soreness after long descents.
This doesn't help much for those with knee injury already (and I did my right knee a beauty about 20 years ago) ... but these are a couple of things I find helpful in preventing them.
Just looked it up - "Acute meniscal tear, lateral".
I did trial a few supplements, but a lot of googling led me to the conclusion that 99% of them are next to useless if you're already eating a balanced diet. 'Expensive p*ss' as a mate of mine refers to them...
Forgot to mention , I also bought a cheap neoprene knee support from Rebel Sport and used it when I first got back in to tramping. Worked really well, supporting the joint and keeping it warm and mobile. Well worth the $30 - I still pack it now, just in case....
It took me about nine months (Oct-Aug) to return back to my pre-injury state.
The first 4-5 months were primarily physical rehab with exercises, physio and gradually increasingly longer walks/day tramps. Initially the exercises were just for the knee, but later on the physio identified some issues with my hip strength/flexibility as well (probably separate issue but since I was on the table...) so some additional exercises were prescribed.
The knee was strapped a few times with Kensio tape for day walks and it seemed to help, particularly early on in the rehab. The physio wasn't keen on strapping the knee over a long-term basis, especially once it appeared the meniscus had repaired.
The last few months were mainly about was building psychological confidence in the knee especially from impacts from a long steep descent or on slippery surfaces. I did a weekend Tararuas trip in August and when I got back my wife asked how was the knee. I realised then that I hadn't compensated for or even thought about the knee all weekend. So everything was good.
I still get the odd twinge every now and again if I do something that is outside what I normally do (extra-long day, tackle rugby with the son and his mates, but nothing a day's rest and vitamin I can't fix).
Thanks guys for your helpful answers... @hutchk; I will get one of those knee supports, good idea. It's a torn medial meniscus for me. Suspected parrot-beak tear - but I'll know much more tomorrow.
I've done two tramps on the knee since the original injury including an overnight to Cameron Hut so minimum climbing/descending. Just two hours of discomfort till it sort of 'clicked back' into place and was fine for the duration. But disconcerting how quickly it can reduce me to a limp... confidence does take a hit.
@nzbazza; so you didn't need an operation either?
I've read and heard enough to be concerned about agreeing to have cartilage removed. Did you discuss options or was physical rehab the best course of action in your case.
Have torn meniscus in both knees. Had one operated & the other not & am running a controlled experiment. Operated knee gives low-level pain continuously after hard use ... presumably due to reduced padding from missing meniscus. Tear in non-operated knee gets caught-up occasionally causing intense pain & complete lack of movement. However have some stretches that seem to get it back working. Frequency & severity of issues with non-operated decreasing over time, whereas low level pain in operated knee unchanged or possibly getting slowly worse.
For operated knee keeping muscle strength up around the knee (as recommended by physio - they recommended taking up cycling) seems to be the key. Taking desk jobs & doing occasional trampling is recipe for pain. Walking the hills every day, work & play, minimises problems but long downhill under load still have me reaching for the nurofen.
This post has been edited by the author on 15 December 2015 at 17:18.
@Madpom that's rough to have both knees giving you jip. Both resulting from a specific injury in the past?
