Anyone had any experience with meniscus cartilage pain ?

[Tracytrace]

So I ran 14k yesterday and was ok , knackered but ok , today was just walking out of a shop and my right knee went and really hurt and hurt to walk back to work round the corner , got to see physio at gp earlier and he felt it and moved it around and said he thinks it’s the meniscus , now yes I’m afraid I’ve googled it and now worried that that will be it for me , I’ve only just started really and just want to run not much to ask 🙈😞 grateful for any info 😊

[roseabi Ultramarathon]

Sorry to see you are in pain 😥

Did the physio not give you any information or advice? If not I would get in touch with them if I were you!

[Tracytrace in reply to roseabi]

He just said not to run for 2 or 3 weeks 🙈 and he’ll email me some exercises

[roseabi Ultramarathon in reply to Tracytrace]

That sounds fine! Check with him if it's OK to keep walking - if it doesn't cause pain it should be OK.

[linda9389 Administrator Marathon]

Oh poor you! roseabi is right, you need to ask the physio about you and your condition.But if it's any reassurance to you ... I had keyhole surgery for a meniscal tear about 10 years ago now. It was pretty bad - it was agony if I sat back on my heels and would frequently give me pain if I was walking (it was originally from skiing, but then our young pup finished it off). The consultant said I could leave it or operate, my choice - but he considered I was a bit young to not be able to kneel down properly 😍. I chose to have the surgery and it was transformative! That was all before I ever considered running and it absolutely has not impacted my running one bit. So no, this is unlikely to be the end of your running, but how to fix it will be personal to you, so get chasing that with the physio.

[over61andstilltrying Half Marathon]

Hello Tracytrace, I hope my story can help you a little.

On 11th August last year I fell from a wall while carrying out a pruning task that I have done many times before. The wall is 3 feet tall, I knew that I was over balancing, why I was over balancing, I have no clue. I remember the event so clearly. I remember telling myself to bend both knees as I landed. Sadly one knee got the message, whereas the other didn't. 😢 My right leg was, as it were locked completely straight. I saw it doing an impression of a pneumatic drill. Seriously not good.

Over a period of time the full extent of my injuries and problems were diagnosed: Tibia plateau fracture, some fibula fracture, medial meniscus tear, very large Baker's cyst and arthritis. The arthritis had obviously been present before my fall, but I knew nothing about it. If this lot wasn't enough I also developed cellulitis, which set me back further.

After two days, I realised that I needed crutches, so went to A&E. I was discharged with a leg brace and crutches and a set of exercises.

Oh dear! My story takes far too long to tell. It was a subsequent MRI scan that revealed all my injuries, the cellulitis was diagnosed from a later ultra sound scan. I'll try and speed up.

Apparently, my fractures should be healed already (3 months from the injury) but the meniscus tear will take more like a year and even then will not be as it was before. As you probably know the meniscus ( we have two in each knee) is a shock absorbing cartilage, but instead of healing as cartilage, it heals as scar tissue. My tear was apparently 2/3s torn through, but unflapped. Unflapped is better than flapped.

Anyway, various orthopaedic clinic visits and phone calls, also GP involvement and a number of physio therapist phone calls later, I can tell you that I am running, although taking it gently. 20 minutes has been the most so far. My previous distance PB being 13km (it's hilly here).

The physios were keen for me to run and have given me loads of exercises which I am doing 3 times a week. I found one orthopaedic surgeon on the internet who said that running is far better for someone with a meniscus tear compared to leading a sedentary life, even if some sort of operation may be needed many years later.

The information that I was receiving conflicted at times. Eg I will have an operation, I won't have an operation in the short term, that is. The surgeon feels that an operation will not be beneficial, I think that was because of the arthritis. I have bought a compression knee sleeve support thingy, which I wear for running and gardening.

I wonder whether you have found out any more about your injury and how it is now?

Here's to a good outcome for you.

[linda9389 Administrator Marathon in reply to over61andstilltrying]

Crikey! Full house😕 Major kudos to you for getting back to running so quickly. My tear was flapped and would get trapped every now and again which was agony. I was lucky that I had no other conditions or signs of arthritis (that may well have changed in the intervening years 🙄), so the outcome from surgery was always going to be good. What I can't describe is just HOW good it was! I had been 'suffering' from a minor tear for about 10 or 20 years but just put up with it until the dog pull made it so much worse. After it settled post surgery it took me a full year before I would voluntarily bend down on that knee in preference to the other - the habit was so ingrained. About 8 years later when I started running and experienced 'runners knee' very early on, the physio pointed out the difference in size of the muscles of the two legs. Years of underuse had really left their mark, even though so much of that time I had barely been aware of the problem. As a consequence I am a massive advocate of knee surgery to fix a meniscal tear when no other conditions are present, it made so much difference for me.

[over61andstilltrying Half Marathon in reply to linda9389]

It was 5 months after my fall that I began my tentative steps back to running. I had a failed attempt before that, so 5 months didn't seem that I was getting back to running quickly. I literally ran 1 minute only, then waited to see how my knee coped. Then I expect I ran 1 minute then walked some minutes then ran 1 more minute, carrying on like this it took quite a while to reach W1R1 of C25k. I am still adding extra runs in to slow down my progress, so 21 minutes continuous running tomorrow. I am really delighted that my knee seems fine with the running, but I am completely aware that my knee is nowhere near normal and so I shall continue to listen to my knee and respond accordingly. I have realised that my good knee has been getting behind my poorly knee, so I have now started carrying out the physio exercises with my good knee as well as bad knee. What are you like at standing on one leg with your eyes closed? 😊

[linda9389 Administrator Marathon in reply to over61andstilltrying]

You're being so patient, well done! Rebuilding confidence is such a slow thing. Having had 'runners knee' so soon into C25K I imagined I would be plagued by knee issues throughout running, but (touch wood) it hasn't resurfaced again (although various other bits of me have taken turns complaining!), so you may find yours behaves too with a little extra care. Fingers crossed.As Caroline Jordan says 'it gets really breezy when you close your eyes' ... and I sway all over the place in that breeze!!! 😂

[Tracytrace in reply to over61andstilltrying]

Ooh I don’t know I’ll try it 🙈

[Tracytrace in reply to over61andstilltrying]

Thank you so much for your reply, I’m glad you’re running again 😊 I honestly don’t know what to do , granted it’s only been 4 days but I’m not sure if the diagnosis is even correct , the physio at the GP looked , felt and did some movement tests and said that’s what he thinks , I’ve looked up exercises on line and been doing those and wearing a compression sleeve , yesterday it hurt a bit but I’ll see today . On another note I have lumps on my fingers and pain in my neck that was diagnosed as “tension” which I do not believe , my mum has arthritis and I’m convinced it’s that but who knows 🤷‍♀️ Anyway thank you , I never thought I’d be so annoyed that I can’t run!

[over61andstilltrying Half Marathon in reply to Tracytrace]

Just to say that my C25k re-start was back in January, but I have taken 11 weeks to do 6 weeks as I started much more gradually than the c25k plan. So my re-turn to running was 5 months after my fall, with one failed re-start before that. The exercises that the hospital gave me were very tame compared to what I have now, but I could't do them all. Not surprising because of the injuries that I had. It wasn't until the MRI scan that I had any clue about the extent of my injuries. I wonder if you would be able to have an MRI scan.

[Tracytrace in reply to over61andstilltrying]

I’d like to but I don’t know what the chances are of that through the gp

[Decker Ultramarathon]

I’m sorry you are dealing with this. I had an injury last year related to knee and IT band issues, but with Covid at the time the physio had to review it virtually rather than in person. She gave me exercises to do as well. My problem was that I think I overdid the exercises and the cycling cross training and wound up with a different injury altogether on the opposite leg. So I suppose the advice is to just do the exercises but don’t overdo it. The lumps on your fingers and neck are strange though. I am no doctor but it may be worth getting a second opinion just to be more sure about your condition.