torn meniscus and acl

apparently I've been training a good while with a torn meniscus and quite likely ACL, which the scoping will confirm or not

If you've had this type of surgery I'd love to know:

how long before you could walk?

how long before you could do cardio(elliptical or some such)?

how long before you could really train? As in full speed preinjury training...

how old were you when you had it done?

thanks. I'm trying to think positive here...grrrrrrrr

 

The answer to all is "a long time"

Surely you should be asking your surgeon these questions. Each individual case is just that... an individual case.

 

never had it done but know people who have and it takes awhile to get back but don't get down keep plugging away and best luck to you

 

depends on what they find when they scope. recovery from the scope is pretty quick, surgeon will have you in physio in a few weeks, even with cleaning up the meniscus. after mine i was back doing stuff in 6 weeks

if you've torn your acl, however... recovery just got a whole lot longer. more on the order of 6 mo...

 

These days, the operations are much less severe that they used to be, and so recovery is quicker.
Not as bad as you, I had a knee op a couple of years back (exploratory + clean up as it turned out), and all I've got now is a couple of tiny scars where they did the keyhole.
The worst thing for me was the wait on the Nashnul Elf!

 

my friend had 80% of his lateral meniscus shaved off in his surgery. the doctors say it's almost certain he'll get arthritis when he's older. i'm wondering if it's possible for someone with this kind of injury to return to 100% pre-injury activity.

 

i'm going to go out on a limb from personal experience... probably not. not 100%. very likely possible to get close, tho. there's a lot they can do to help, and physio therapy has made enormous strides.
the problem is that cartilage doesn't really regenerate (actually there's a lot of argument over that), or if it does, it's very slow going. so the cushioning isn't going to ever be 100%.
as for the arthritis, if your friend stays healthy, exercises regularly, keeps up with the physio, & watches the diet, it'll help a lot with keeping the arthritis at bay.

 

I have 8% cartilage left in my right knee, I'll need a new one in a few years.

Though, the meniscus/acl surgery I had I walked out after and was walking around an hour after, back to normal after two weeks.

 

mei did they do a recon on your acl, or just a patch up?

 

Recon, had a few surgeries done on it, two major reconstructs, two scopes and a exploratory.

 

and you walked out after the surgery??? wow, hats off...

 

Huxy,
Sorry to hear that bro. No fun for sure.

That being said... one of the guys I roll with did some damage to his knee (approx. the same as you) and had to go in and get minor surgery. The scope in a tube and the whole deal.

He's been off of rolling for about a month now but is back to walking.. but with a bit of stiffness and soreness. He is now working on building the knee back up via physio and will be back to ligh rolling in about another month. Maybe two.

Granted all cases are not the same. But there is hope.
Just keep a positive attitude. That does wonders for recovery.
Our whole club kept my mates spirits up while he was down and so he's on a fast track to recovery.

Good luck bro and let us know the haps.

 

thanks guys, I appreciate it. I guess I'll be concentrating on upper body strength and flexibility for a while

 

good luck...
it's no fun, but keep positive, you'll get back out there.

 

Good call. Maybe a good time to focus on something like pull ups that is often weak on many people.

 

BTW, when it's done, an exercise bike is a good way to build up strength without putting pressure on the joint.
(And you come off it well warmed up so you can do leg stretches; sitting with legs apart and stretching to each side, and/or leaning forward till head touches the floor doesn't stress the knees.)

 

It depends upon the type of surgery that is being done. If you have a reconstruction from your own tendons, the surgical wounds tend to be quite extensive and the recovery time can last up to six months, sometimes more. If you have endoscopic surgery and a donor tendon (like I did when I had my ACL reconstructed) you should be up and walking within a day or two. It took me slightly longer as I still had a lot of residual damage from dislocating my knee laterally, so there was quite a lot of tissue trauma from that.

The only thing you have to be careful about is reinjuring your knee- which I did. I am now facing the fact that I am going to have to do another reconstruction (I am planning to go back to the same guy) because I went back to work (at the time I was an archaeologist, so it was pretty physical) within a month and half of the surgery and ended up slipping on wet concrete and tearing the ACL again. The second surgery ought to have a much faster recovery rate.