Pain after meniscus repair

I think you are correct the menisci(plural) can heal by itself. The meniscus has two parts..the read and the white part. The red part is the outer part that has some amount of blood flowing to it, but the white doesnt. So there is a possibility that your tear happened at the rim. I am currently suffering from a posterior horm meniscus tear (medial) that use to keep me up at nights. I had to do arthoscopy of mine and sew the tear together. I'm in my 9th week post surgery and 12 week post injury playing basketball. I have a pain right below the knee cap that i was wondering if anyone suffered the same. Its more of a burning. This is the same pain that i felt right after surgery so i'm a bit nervous. My PT says its normal but i'm still wondering. Any thoughts...

I too have had many surgeries, hystertomy, etc.. but this was a doozie ! I am 4 months out and was doing fine 7 weeks after, but now, I am in loads of pain, maybe the Pilates, the swimming, the high-heels, but he said I would be able to play tennis after one month... No way..what am I to do now, the pain is in the exact place as it was before the surgery, and am going to Europe in 5 weeks.... I am so upset, I thought I was cured.. Maybe just a bad few weeks?

Part of meniscus removed March. Seven months later I can do most things except stand still! The knee feels unstable when I stand still and has a similar pain to pre operation problem but not as pronounced. Friends have come up with 'housemaids knees'. Any other suggestions? I also stretched the ACL and the MCL. Lots of 'give it time' advice. Can anyone with similar problem reassure me that it may get better -please.

That's exactly what happened to me. After the meniscus tear I waiting a few weeks and was able to go back to the gym and now it's locking occasionally and I realize it will not heal on it's own. I am currently out of the gym and scheduling a consultation and MRI to see how bad this tear is. I will sacrafice my work outs for now, I don't want a cronic problem.

I'd like to share my experience with my surgeries. Twelve years ago I had part of my meniscus removed and had a lot of pain until 6 years ago when I had another tear and had surgery again. I had pain from the day of the first surgery and was glad to have another surgery 6 years later. I had the second surgery done a local University and the surgery was great. I did have holes drilled in my bone to form scar tissue and except for the first week, which I had little pain, I have been pretty good. A few weeks ago I was exercising and my knee began to swell and I couldn't walk on it. I went to the University, had x-rays done and received a shot of cortisone. I didn't feel I had torn the little meniscus that I had left because the symptoms were not like the two previous injuries. My pain this time was from a Baker's cyst. I've had this cyst since my second tear but since it couldn't be seen during the surgery it couldn't be taken out. Over the past 6 years I have had stiffness in my leg but I wouldn't say it was pain. I do have arthritis in my knee and I'm sure that does account for most of the stiffness. I will be getting a TKR in the future. I do have the option of getting Synvic injections should I choose to help with the stiffness. I'll be seeing the doctor in a month to discuss this. The symptoms I had from the cyst were pain in the calf and thigh, sometimes very intense and sharp.

So have you found out any thing else, i have read in other sites and its sounding more common.

I am 3 weeks also into recovery from my arthroscopic surgery (medial meniscus). Began light jogging and am having terrible pain in my calf as well. I went to the hospital and had an ultrasound done b/c the doc was afraid it could be a blood clot. But that came up negative. I'm still unclear as to why mine is in so much pain...have you found out anything?

Thanks for the insight AWR. I can relate to the meds, I've taken Vioxx, Bextra, and even Celebrex, but would rather try to stay away as much as possible, they really upset my stomach causing me blisters in the mouth. I can also relate to being the feet all day, eventhough in my line of work it fluctuates. I am surprised that they did not opt for a donor replacement. There is also the option of Human Growth Hormones, so you might want to check this out. Take care and good luck.

Should have elaborated on the menistectomy question. Was it partial of full? Take care and good luck.

I was told that my torn meniscus needed to be removed and that repair was usually not successful. I had the removal of the torn meniscus and it took the 6 months of pain etc. to feel better. It has been good until now. It has been over a year and all of a sudden I am having the same pain as if I had torn the meniscus. The ortho drilled to stimulate pseudo scar tissue formation which would mimic the meniscus (or that is how I understood it). I had a fair amount of pain for a while (more than he thought I should have). I am a nurse and went to work part time two weeks after but would run for 9 to ten straight hours with much swelling and throbbing after the shift. After 6 months things were good, til now. Anybody have an idea what could be wrong now? Everything else looked good in the knee according to my surgeon. Thanks for any advice. AWR

Well, I myself was in so much pain from tears in the meniscus in the left and the right knee. That I couldn't wait to see if they would heal in time. Every time I sat down or got up, or layed down I hollered out in pain in both knees. I had my meniscus that was torn in my left knee trimmed off in July 14th surgery. Then in September 18th I had my meniscus in my right knee pulled together with pins that will desolve eventually after they have done there job and held the meniscus together to heal. The right knee is iffy, the DR. says, "It may not hold, and if not more surgery to just cut off the torn portion". Time will tell. They have came a long way, my knees recovery. And they have alot more healing to go. But most importantly , they are much less painful now. Happy Healing All, JS

I too was under the impression that the meniscus could only be repaired with surgery. I was wrong. Ten days ago I had ACL reconstructive knee surgery. In pre-op my OS told me he had just had another looked at my MRI and he would repair the partial tear of my medial meniscus. Post-op he says the tear healed itself and my meniscus was '' completely intact''. I had my surgery 5 months after my ski accident and the MRI was done 1 week after the accident. Up until the time of sugery I could not squat down ( like a baseball catcher) or do a complete quad stretch and I always assumed this was as a result of my meniscus tear. Apparently not. Any thoughts..........

I had a torn medial meniscus in my left knee and had the scopic surgery done July 14th, they trimmed off the torn part. I also had a medial meniscus tear in my right knee. So I just had this scopic surgery done August 18th. They put in a couple of clips to try to hold this tear till it goes back together. The DR. said, he wasn't sure if it would hold or not. If not another surgery. Well, it has only been 2 weeks today since the surgery but I am limping around something terrible. The pain behind my leg where it bends together at the top is killing me when i walk. I still can only bend my knee so far, it is very stiff. I am so disappointed with it. I can't do anything. I go back to my Ortho in 2 weeks to see how it is doing, but i was in so much pain last night I almost went to the ER. My question. Has anyone had this kind of pain and stiffness 2 weeks after there scopic meniscus surgery? I don't know if something is wrong or what. Thanks, Jill

can any one tell me how long it takes for meniscus tear to heal. I am two weeks from the injury and am still in pain level 10 and can not bend the knee. I had Mri and have a lot of pain in mcl ligament as well. I am presently out of work and have just seen PT and am going a couple times a week. I am on crutches with evelevated knee for relief. Please help

I am almost 14 weeks post-op on a repair of my left medial meniscus. I have been going to therapy for 10 weeks and have begun to run for a few minutes at a time. Recently, (during the past two weeks) my knee feels stiff in the front under the kneecap, with some pain - especially doing stairs, running, etc. I go back to the doctor on June 23rd, but in the meantime have been worried about what the pain/stiffness is. I also have numbness down my shin where the saphenous nerve was aggravated during surgery (hopefully this will go away!). Can anybody offer any insight into my recent bout of stiffness and pain? Thanks!