hi everyone i went to my os last may with swelling and alot of pain in my knee.. he had me do pt for 3 mos with no relief.. he than ordered an mri and said i had lateral meniscus tear and the beginning of arthritischonromalicia patella bone spur and cyst . said i needed arthoscopic surgery. i had scheduled it for aug but a family emergency came up. by the time i could do surgery xmas was around the corner and i decided to take pt job ( at a local grocery store in the deli, took it cuz it was pt and thought i could handle that much) till the beginning of the year and do the surgery. i did the surgery 1/12 and was told the tear was the least of my problems. today i start pt next week i go back to the os for a follow up the best i can remember of my conversation with him after the surgery was my cartlidge was more damaged than originally thought. I would need a replacement sooner than someone else my age and that there more options available to me I am a single mother 46 slightly over weight and really confused to what damage he is talking about. hopefully the therapist will help me out more today. he did talk to my mother who came with me and told her my knee was like that of an 80 yr old. in my 20's i remember having a really bad fall and my knee swelling up so bad the er would not do an exray the swelling and pain went away so i didnt pursue it. my mistake! anyone know of options for me? or what that means? would appericiate it Maryann

In October of 2005 I hurt my right knee. I was unable to lock out my leg & I couldn't stand. Days later I saw an orthopedic surgeon & he diagnosed me with a torn meniscus. Some days I could straighten my leg & have minor pain but other days I could only limp around on a bent knee. After an MRI & several appointments, I had surgery. Going into the surgery, he was undecided on which procedure he would do; merely remove the tear or repair it. I came out of surgery & was told that my meniscus was flipped & torn and that he simply trimmed it out. It was a successful surgery & I was walking with only little pain 3 days later. I was cautious after my surgery. A month or so after I was unable to squat but I wrote it off as something I would be able to do again with time. Six months past & I still couldn't comfortably squat or kneel. It felt unstable. I saw my doctor, who DID NOT check up on me after surgery, and he said I should live my life around it & take tylenol. Now, 10 months later I am experiencing a shakey leg after standing for more than 20 minutes, popping & pain when I kneel & my knee just feeling tired doing normal things. My experience with the surgery has been an unsatisfactory one.

I am a 29 yr old female. I injured my left knee horseback riding @ age 21 (1 month after my wedding day). Needless to say I had surgery 2 times since and the pain is unbearable. My knee stays swollen,painfull all day.Meds dont help. I can hear the fluid in my knee and it feels like the joints are rubbing together bone to bone.I was told I'll possibly need another surgery(about this time). The first 2 were to clean up scarred tissue and a small ACL tear.Now I'm having pain in my right knee.More than likely from trying to keep off the painful one.Can anybody thats been through this tell me whats ahead????

New to the site.Having both my knees done in two weeks with a arthroscopic lateral release. Been battling knee problems for over 20 years. so this is a big deal for me. I hear of lots of good and bad stories, but I haven't heard of two knees been done, and advice on what I may experience post op. Feeling nervous which is understandable, any comments would be great. Aunt Moo

Hello, I had an arthroscopy 8 months ago. This was all due to a car accident. The first MRI that I had showed that I had a shattered knee cap and two torn miniscus. My knee cap was taken care of durring my surgery, however my orthopedic had said that after taking a closer look my miniscus appeared to be fine. He did not fix it. 8 months later the pain in my knee is worse than before I had surgery. My knee catches and locks w/ great amounts of pain and allarming noises. I have since had another MRI. The area where I am having pain is has not with stood any further damage, however the opposite side has. The miniscus appears to be torn still. My orthopedic has sugested another arthroscopy. However this particular one will be done w/ a local and only to poke around a bit more. I will have this procedure on Oct 31st and am not looking forward to it. My question is could more damage have been caused because of the surgery? Is it possible that I am experiencing reffered pain? If my miniscus looks so bad in both MRIs shouldn't this have been fixed the first time? Any opinions/answers are welcome at this time.

I had a good size tear in the meniscus. Had surgery done 6 months ago to have it repaired. Now, my doctor wants to remove the meniscus since it is still swelling, numb, and I can not kneel on the knee. Should I have the surgery and deal with the pain or go for the surgery?

On August 11 I had my third knee arthroscopy due to an injury (the previous ones were back in 1992 when I fell down while skating with my kids and in 1993 when a little boy ran over me at a store). The last one happened on February 2005 when I fell on the same knee as I ran to answer the phone and tripped over a stack of empty cardboard boxes lined up for the trash. I didn't go to the doctor until last month when I put an end to this procastination and could not endure the knee pain I had, shame on me...I had another meniscus tear repaired and the chrondoplasty. When I woke up at the recovery room I felt so thrilled because the pain was not as bad as the previous surgeries, however, as I got up to head home my knee started bleeding profusely. The ace bandage was pretty soaked but the nurse put another bandage on top of it and said I should elevate my leg and ice it... that it was normal, and that I shouldn't change the dressing until the next morning. At home we just applied more pressure and ice. The next day my husband helped me change the bandage and we were shocked to see the awful sight. I felt like an injured soldier. There was blood and clots all over my whole leg. One of the incisions was still bleeding for a while. I called the doctors office and was told to continue with the pressure and ice and to call back if it didn't stop. It did, so I thought I was ready to walk but to my surprise I had this terrible pain in my calf, and swellness which I never felt in my previous surgeries. Two days later I woke up with a black and blue bruise all the way from the back of my knee to the ankle. Since the pain grew worse my doctor thought I could have a blood clot and sent me to the hospital for a doppler test. Thank God it came out negative. My frustration is that 11 days after the surgery, which was supposedly a very simple procedure, my calf muscle hurts so badly I cannot walk without the crutches, it is so swollen and bruised all the way down to my toes now that it is preventing me from ambulating as I should by now. Needless to say I was supposed to be back at work and I won't, at least for another 10 days. I am starting therapy tomorrow and hope it helps but according to other stories I read, it goes very slowly. My doctor says maybe I bruise easily and that I have to be patient, but to tell you the truth this has been the first time I do, if so... I share with other patients my frustration and anxiety, although I am sure there are other stories which are really life threatening and I shouldn't complain.

It is now 3 weeks since I had an arthroscopy to determine what created sudden shooting pain in my knee which occurred during a gym workout. My surgeon removed a meniscus tear and cleared some cartilage. My knee is improving each week and I am almost walking again. My main problem is that I have a severe pain from below inside of my left knee right down to my ankle. It feels numb but at the same time it feels very painful as though someone peeled the skin from my knee down to the sole of my foot. This pain has not receded in any way and is keeping me from working, sleeping and just trying to get around. I have tried creams, gels, ice packs etc but these do not really help. Anyone got any suggestions??? Mike

I am suffering from after op swelling I had an arthroscopy 7 months ago in which a small amount of cartledge was removed, ever since this op my knee has been painfull i am restricted in movment and after light exercise the knee sweells to an orange sized ball can anyone shed any light onto this problem cheers

I had arthroscopy 3 wks ago for meniscus tear, was not a tear but just arthritis. Doctor shaved bad cartiledge, wanted to know any good exercises to help recovery. I was/am very active prior to surgery, LOVE spinning, weights,aerobics, (I guess all of these helped my knees wear quickly?) do not like machines but willing to try any that will help with strenghth and mobility-I have gone spinning 3 times since surgery, each time feels a little better and I feel a little stronger. I am on my feet all day after 2 weeks off work and feeling pretty good...I just hope this lasts and I am not hurting myself, doctor did not give much advise on rehab and says "do what does not hurt, you will know." ANY SUGGESTIONS?? THANKS!