Meniscus trim experiences / recovery

A snowHead

Hello all,

I know you cannot compare two surgeries etc but I would be interested to hear people's recovery experiences after having their meniscus trimmed. Mine was done 3 weeks ago, I had about 35% trimmed and I waited 3 months to get the op so my pre-hab was good and I went in with quite a strong leg. Since the op, I was told to move as much as I could and have been decorating and walking (without a limp) with good ROM - BUT I am still in quite a lot of pain. My swelling has nearly gone and like I say I can walk and bend the knee etc but the pain is such that i cannot imagine it going or being able to run and ski in future. I asked the surgeon and he prescribed more painkillers and he said come back to him a week if still not improved. However, pre op he told me I could expect to be fully fit at the 4 week mark and I am a very long way from that. The pain is what is worrying me as some people I know said they still had swelling and/or movement issues but my main issue is pain near the site of the original tear which is in fact worse than pre surgery. Anyone had a similar experience? Interested to hear thoughts from anyone who has had this op. Thanks Smile

A snowHead

Hello Libertine,
Sorry to hear that. I have had my left knee meniscus trimmed on two separate occasions and whilst stiff, I didn’t suffer any pain. In both cases, the operations were done in October and late September and skiing was fine the following January . I only tell you that as I think it ought not to hurt and maybe another visit to the orthopaedic surgeon might help. Maybe have a go at asking for another MRI

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Hmm. Yes, that sounds very uncomfortable. I had a meniscus trim with effectively no post-op pain and recovery was quite quick. Mind you, it made no difference to the knee, really!! Bit of a waste of time and money, in fact.

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Thanks both, was hoping to hear maybe someone had had similar and come out the other side but if pain is unusual it's good to know that at least. Surgeon doesn't seem that concerned at this stage and has just told me to wait another week but it just doesn't seem to be improving Sad

will keep you updated! Thanks again

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Yes i am libertine's wife. Sorry!

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I’ve had ‘trims’ in both knees, recovery was different for each on, with the first I ran a 10k 6 weeks after having it done - it was a stupid thing to do so soon as I paid the price for a weeks afterwards but it was basically fine.
The 2nd took a full 12 months to fully recover from. I kept doing too much on it, including several weeks of skiing and games of cricket And rounds of golf.
If I had another one done I would try not to over do it and listen to my body. In my experience they do get better but it can take time.

Thanks Charliee, the advice can be quite contradictory. In Australia, they seem to say take it easy for first 4-6weeks. Here in France, I was told do as much as you can with free movement so until now I have been on my feet 8 hours a day painting and decorating, plus walking around 4km - albeit with pain and now think that may have been unwise. Did you have pain during recovery? I guess I will try resting more for a while.

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@Libertine, I had that procedure about 4 years ago. It was still quite painful after a few weeks. Post op physio and specific exercises were emphasised as crucial to best recovery, so I worked hard at those and still do.

Good news was that after the op in late October I skied again the next April. I’ve skied a few weeks each season since then. Still have to manage that knee carefully but a positive outcome.

Persevere with treatment and exercises and good luck with recovery. snowHead

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@Libertine, is the pain constant or during certain activities?

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@pam w wrote,

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Hi NickyJ, the pain is always there as a dull ache but spikes up during walking. Sometimes moving seems to help but other times it makes it worse. It is always there though even sitting still which based on what everyone is saying i am going to rest more. Really appreciate the feedback

A snowHead

PeakyB, good to hear you had a good outcome given that you still had some pain a few weeks following op. It makes me feel more positive, i think i have read too many stories of people going out running on week 2. My surgeon also indicated a much more positive and rapid recovery than what i am experiencing which is part of the reason i am so concerned. Will see what he says weds. I have had full acl reconstruction and meniscus repair (rather than trim) 10 years ago so understand long rehab. I just thought this surgery was pretty minor and maybe need to manage my own expectations a bit. I don't even mind longer rehab, it is just the pain being ongoing which is worrying me and this is coupled with perhaps unrealistic expectations i had.

A snowHead

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Definitely continuing with icing it certainly helps! Thanks Pam Smile

I don't have a physio, only home exercise (am in france), may look into booking a physio appointment but will see what surgeon says on weds. Obviously, he said only contact him on weds if no improvement but unless i have a big improvement over the next few days i imagine i will be going in for follow up. Fingers crossed!

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@Libertine, yes I had pain in the left knee, the second one, it would pop and click occasionally (swelling apparently) I was good at icing but simply did too much too soon. After a while I felt it maybe as good as it was going to be so got on with normal activity. I think weight training helped but my physio finally solved the issue. At last resort she decided that the scare tissue on the inner and outer layers of the skin and knee tissue where rubbing against each other and exacerbating the issue. After several weeks of scare tissue work my knee improved significantly, however it was only after a period of rest after a ski season that it finally settled down. It’s been fine ever since.
Good luck, give it time, some rest and some ice and it will be fine.
Remember it’s a significant operation for your knee, it may not seem bad to us but your knee is put thru hell and the body takes time to heal.

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Sounds like you might have overdone it a bit causing some inflammation and perhaps scar tissue. Happened to me with first ACL reconstruction and a subsequent keyhole surgery to remove the scar tissue solved it. Did loads of physio / biking etc and took a while until the surgeon agreed to do a follow up MRI which showed the issue.

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Had a meniscus repair for 2 tears 2 years ago. No pain at all and did not use the painkillers I was given. Did all the exercises, used ice but was walking about outside the next day and did my usual Christian Aid house to house collection that week! I was told not to run now as I had hoped to get back to running with my family. I should say that I am in my 70s and had a acl repair age 55 and tibial plateau fracture after that so happy to be able to ski and cycle and just accept I do not run now. Also do lots of walking - Himalayas a year ago. Everyone is different but I would get the pain investigated.

Thanks for the further feedback. It definitely seems everyone has had differing experiences and unfortunately for me i seem to be at a worse stage than most post op. Have taken the advice on physio so as well as talking to surgeon next week i also have a session with a physiotherapist booked for monday evening as well as weds. Here is hoping i can find a way to get through the pain and start to see improvements' fingers crossed!

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Any updates please - or any further advice (particularly aftercare) ?
I'm having an arthroscopy (keyhole) on knee due to extensive cartilage (meniscus) tears.
Op this week - really hoping to ski in March (?)
Any experiences / advice gratefully received.
Thank you

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@Dippy, I’ve had ‘trims’ in both knees, recovery was different for each on, with the first I ran a 10k 6 weeks after having it done - it was a stupid thing to do so soon as I paid the price for a week afterwards but it was basically fine.
The 2nd took a full 12 months to fully recover from. I kept doing too much on it, including several weeks of skiing and games of cricket And rounds of golf.
If I had another one done I would try not to over do it and listen to my body. In my experience they do get better but it can take time.

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Libertine's wife here. He is still not fully recovered from his surgery on 13 may. He has had physio twice a week for 5 months now and still not right. Painful and stiff at times and achy all the time although the mechanics of his knee are okay. He can't run and is concerned skiing/boarding won't be great. Physio said he could try boarding for an hour or so and see how it goes (we are in a ski resort). Kitesurfing was okay during summer. He is improving but it is very very slow. I don't think his recovery is typical. A friend was okay after 3 months (but she's not really that active so doesn't run or ski). His surgery was delayed by 2 months and i think that did not help. He has residual pain with ligaments etc overworking during the tear. I think with proper advice and a normal recovery you should be okay but nothing is certain with this surgery unfortunately.

@julietp, oh dear that is concerning. Sad

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Hi NickyJ, it has been a very frustrating year! He is (i think) improving but it is very very small gains. He has had a second mri checked by 3 surgeons which shows op was a 'success' but residual pain appears to be due to muscle wastage, locking knee, strained ligaments whilst op was delayed... is in good hands with the physio but it is safe to say this has turned into a much longer recovery than he ever anticipated

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A snowHead

I had keyhole surgery at the end of July for a meniscus repair. The inner side of my left knee was badly torn and the top of my knee also needed trimming. I didn’t need to take any painkillers post op. After a couple of weeks I started walking 2 to 3 miles and cycling. If I did too much I would get discomfort particularly with the cycling. At the 6 week review stage with the consultant he said the tissue across the bottom of my knee cap was the cause of the discomfort and said it would be at least another two months to improve significantly. He encouraged me to cycle but not run. I still had some swelling at this stage but he was not overly concerned. He said I would be fine to ski for December.
The swelling went down after a couple of weeks but I was still getting discomfort when I did a lot of exercise. It was not really pain. This continued until the middle of November when I had a cycling accident and took three weeks off all exercise. After returning to both cycling and walking long distances my knee is absolutely fine with no discomfort. It may well have been that it needed one long period of rest to give a final boost to recovery rather than the constant pushing by me to keep fit. Looking back I may have been too impatient and more recovery time may have been warranted.

A snowHead

Cheers everyone - appreciate information offered.
I've only been waiting 4 weeks for op from MRI scan and knee has become considerably worse in that time - probably due to the fact that I am generally on the go most of the day (horses) and have still been exercising within my limits (not running). I clear 20,000 steps most days (according to fitbit) - so not doing anything for up to 6 weeks is going to be difficult! But .... I have been told NOT to overdo it, especially in those first 6 weeks!
I've been trying to strengthen muscles as much as possible prior to op to aid recovery also.

Ill update on here - so any info may be helpful for anyone else in the future.

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@Duster, Thank you - I think thats what I needed to hear!
Just need to stop worrying about putting too much weight on - especially as its Xmas!

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Just an update on my husband's (libertine) meniscus saga. We moved to a new village in france recently and signed up with a new GP and new physio. Rather than just saying my husband's slow recovery was age/time etc they said it is not acceptable to still have pain at this stage and promptly arranged an x day and an ultrasound. The ultrasound clearly showed a meniscus cyst! This is a rare complication of surgery which wasn't picked up on his post OP MRI. It explains the source of his continued pain. So after 6 months of twice weekly physio, cortisone injection, acupuncture, HA injection and various second opinions we finally get somewhere. It is not good news in the sense that all his efforts in the last 6 months to get better have in some part been in vain and now it looks like he will need a second athroscopy but finally he has a diagnosis and hopefully we can make some progress now. He is pretty depressed about the last 6 months of 'wasted time' but his leg muscles are strong from physio so hopefully if (highly likely) he needs a new surgery to remove the cyst the source of pain will be gone and he can work with physio to get his knee working again! Consultation with surgeon on 20 jan do will update then. Thank God for the new GP who unlike previous one didn't just say you are old, lose some weight, give up running. He is 48 and 68 kilos!

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@julietp, Many thanks for update - and in an odd way, good(ish) news! That does seem to explain a lot!
Hoping this will now eventually lead to a successful recovery.
The lesson for me here is - insist on x-rays / scans before things progress beyond possible repair.
If only I had discovered my problem earlier I feel I could have 'possibly' prevented having to have an arthroscopy - but.... I'm nearly 3 weeks post op and doing really well.
Keeping everything crossed for some skiing mid/late March.
Best of luck to your husband.

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@julietp, thanks for update and at least good that, with a clear diagnosis and treatment started, your husband can look forward to better progress.

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Hi Dippy, that is wonderful news that your recovery is going well!! Good luck in your continued progress. PeakyB, the cyst is very near the original trim- will find out more when the surgeon looks at it. Fingers crossed and thanks all for the support/feedback throughout this saga!

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@julietp, Thank you very much.
I've found this post very helpful.
Best of luck

That’s good news Dippy that you are doing well after 3 weeks. Let’s hope recovery continues ok. I hope you are able to ski in March. I am just over 5 months now and can’t wait to test it out skiing but I am having to keep deferring due to the restrictions.

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@Duster, Thank you - I have definitely taken note of your wise words and been 'careful' not to overdo it too soon!
Noticing a good improvement each day - managed over 20k steps (according to fitbit) yesterday and feeling ok.
I must admit - any skiing this season looking more and more distant. Crying or Very sad

Help!!

Meniscus trim experiences / recovery

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