Any ever hear of a Torn Meniscus in the Knee? Finally, diagnosed with an MRI but never heard of this before?
Torn Meniscus?: Any ever hear of a Torn Meniscus in the... - NRAS
Torn Meniscus?
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patrickd
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Yes. Painfull I understand. Ouch.Take care.
Ouch .. footballers get this . Have you been playing football? 😁
patrickd in reply to
That's funny (I did play in the Super Bowl) ha ha! Of course, my meniscus tear is behind the knee. I'm told they usually "fix" this by re-attaching it (sew it back together) BUT of course (for some reason) I have minimal or non-existent tissue to "sew" it back for the repair. In my case, it will be a 12 month recovery after a repair surgery. Great huh? The ONLY good news I got was I have NO arthritis in the entire area which again (given this injury) is rare to not see.
Mine wasn’t a football injury but possibly a birth defect or impact injury. Going to check other knee when healed from this one. Consultant said there was no choice but to remove cartilage. Apparently an unusual injury I’m so blessed!! 😂
in reply to patrickd
Your unique 😁good luck with the op
Yes, have done it myself when I played team basketball. Not fun at all! What is the prognosis?
D🏃🏽♀️
Not good. It's bad. Have to completely avoid any weight-bearing for 3 weeks (use a cane), come back for another check. I think I'm screwed. They said I must have injured this pretty badly years ago and it never healed then either. Build up of tears and lack of "tissue" to fix. My bone is actually bruised too. At least I know why I'm in pain.
Only very recently found out after years of pain and mobility problems that the cartilage in my left knee was sheared. I had an operation last Thursday as it was so badly damaged it had to be removed. Been in a fair bit of pain, and using two walking sticks. Have been told only physio will help now and an eventual knee replacement. I’m a bit worried has I have similar symptoms in my right knee. I’m waiting to find out about the tendons as consultant said he was expecting to find problems there as well. I think it depends on how badly torn it is. I’ve also in the past snapped an elbow tendon very painful. That was trimmed and reattached with a small clip. I know knees are more complicated so keep chasing it up I was fobbed off with painkillers and antidepressants!
I have no pain killers and I'll tell you..THIS IS SO PAINFUL! I feel bad for you. How did you hurt yourself? I was going up the stairs as I usually do and heard a pop and snap and OUCH. Tell me more about your knee...how it happened etc.
Definitely need pain killers I’ve now stopped the morphine and am back on cocodamol. I’ve had pain and instability in left knee for over 15 years I switched to an automatic car because knee was so unstable. No idea how cartilage sheared consultant said birth defect or impact injury but an unusual one for sure. He didn’t say he could make things better but had to be removed. Will have to rely on physio for the rest of my life. I’d contact your gp for painkillers. Mine had no clue but at least gave me painkillers. Good luck and keep chasing the medics. After 6 physio assessments and NO physio recommendations I did put my foot down and said enough. Eventually had mri which showed lots of damage.
Yes, tore mine as a young adult. Healed ok.
I guess I've damaged my knee in past thus creating some sort of breakdown or lack of tissue to fix or repair the damage. I'm sorry but this "aging" thing is NOT for me. I quit!
It’s a torn cartilage & a very common knee injury.It can heal from rest..but there is a minor surgical procedure to fix it.
Surgery is more likely if you are in the senior ranks 👩🦯👩🦯
Can’t get rid of the underlining for some reason!
Yes I tore my meniscus during a flare when I stood up awkwardly. It was painful. I know surgical repairs can be done but my doctor recommended physio and rest. The pain eased and after about 3 months I could walk normally . I have to say my knee is not pretty as it’s a bit misshapen and it does get painful sometimes if I overdo things.
Sounds very similar to me. At least yours seemed to get better. May I ask how old you are?
Quite a bit older than you I think. I’ve always been fit prior to RA and still try to walk and play golf, but tennis is finished sadly. If you don’t have surgery it’s rest , ice and maybe some gentle physio . Maybe a knee support? I hope it eases soon and you can start start doing some sort of exercise. Like you I can’t stand being immobile.🙄
Yes. Very common in sportsmen and women. I don't know anyone who has had it though. I hope it gets better soon.
Yes , it’s very common actually , I have tears in both my knees healed up now but still get pain now and then when I snag them doing sport , scare tissue has very poor elasticity so more likely to go again , I should have had them repaired properly when I was younger, such is life .
I can NOT be un-active. It just don't work for me. Especially given my very poor RA prognosis. When I stop moving my RA takes over..BIG TIME!
i'm exactly the same , even thou it hurts i keep pushing , I use the analogy of the bolt on the back gate, if you don't use the back gate the bolt goes stiff and rusty. use it or lose it, good luck and don't give up. 👍
YES! My only concern is now I am favoring or "leaning" harder on my other knee/leg. Well, thank you very much for being on the same page. I just feel very strongly that "if you don't use it...you lose it". Granted I won't be running any marathons and of course I'll be taking it easy!
I had this kept telling my doctor it was a different pain from the rheumatoid but they kept aspirating it till eventual I looked up the symptoms and asked for an MRI which is the only way to diagnosis. There is an operation but it can make it worse I opted not to do it as it for me always took three days from swelling to get better stopped steroid injections too as with or without three days to get swelling down with rest. Now I very rarely have an issue except if I ever run which I don't do very often these days.
Honestly, I had a steroid injection and I believe it made it worse. No matter what or how I position my knee I'm in pain. My ONLY relief is in my pool when I swim. I am in agreement with you though as to avoid surgery. Any surgery I've had made things worse. I prefer some sort of natural healing so I am going to do my best to improve my knee naturally!
Yes I had one after twisting my knee oddly when getting out of a car. I had it mended with a keyhole surgery (day patient at local hospital) and its been brilliant ever since. Had my best day ever for back pain too cos i just had a spinal anasthetic!!! They also washed some bits out of knee too and evened out a hole in cartlidge all good.
That is encouraging to hear. What is very positive is nowadays most surgeries can be done as "outpatient" and I've heard people are walking around hours after the surgery! I do get how the spinal would really kill any pain too!
I actually had an appointment with an orthopaedic surgeon yesterday as an MRI scan I had for arthritis showed a meniscus tear in a May. I remember in April I twisted my leg and that’s what caused it. He said they don’t operate on this anymore as it’s been found it eventually does more harm than good, osteoarthritis more likely, or worsens after the op. He told me not to crouch down, not to kneel, and watch what I do that may cause pain. When I stand for too long or put more pressure on that leg than the other one it aches and pains more, so I have to rest it and I apply ice if swelling happens.I also wear AVIDDA knee supports from Amazon, they are great and definitely let me walk further, garden more etc. as my knee has support.
I’d also pulled all the tendons in that leg and for that I saw a sports physiotherapist for 6 sessions. That helped massively, but only good if you’ve pulled your muscles and tendons as well as torn the meniscus.
I don't know about the non-surgery anymore thing you were told. In fact, that was the first option of repair mentioned. They gave me a full detailed description of what they do to "repair" the Meniscus tear via surgery. They also explained that in my particular case, I have nothing to bind the tear too. I guess they go into the knee and repair the tear by (sort of) sewing it together to some tissue in the knee but given my case, I do not have any "tissue" of very very little tissue to be able to do that, so I guess my surgery would be more complicated. You'd think they could go into the knee and laser it?
I know this is an old post, but wondered what your outcome has been? I’ve had a problem with my knee since I knocked it sharply back in November, spoke to gp who thinks it’s meniscus tear, awaiting physio appointment but thought I’d see if rheumatology might refer for an mri as I’m seeing them tomorrow
Thank you for asking. The Orthopedist was VERY much against ANY surgery given the extent of my RA and other possible problems. He said that about 90% of Meniscus tears heal on their own without any surgical intervention regardless of a patient's health situation. When the actual knee itself is in bad condition along with the Meniscus tear, a knee replacement or partial knee replacement would be the option BUT my knee is in very good condition (given my age and my RA) so he was very much against ANY surgery. He said surgery WILL result in scar tissue and will increase arthritis (I have a very small amount of arthritis in my knee), he felt it will heal on its own. He said it might take longer than most and to be patient. He was correct! It healed! Yes, it took patience (happened in August 2021) but it is much, much better. I still have swelling but I was told that might be there for the rest of my life. I have more pain on certain days but that is arthritis within that knee, and the tear was quite extensive, and (believe it or not) it is still healing. On my last visit (about 10 days ago), the physician gave me an Ultrasound-guided corticosteroid injection to help and apparently it normally helps people alot but it did nothing.
I attempted Physical Therapy BUT it made it worse so the Orthopedist recommended I stop (which I gladly did). I ride my bike at my own pace. I started out at 5 mins or until the pain started and gradually increased.
How are YOU doing with your knee?
Mine isn’t bad at all during the day, I can walk and move fairly normally, just sometimes I have a sudden excruciating pain when I turn my foot inwards. The real problem for me is pain at night, when I guess I must turn in my sleep and the pain has me waking up shrieking out loud….. after several months of this now the sleep disturbance is really getting me down! I find if I sleep with a cushion under my knee, so leg is bent, it’s a bit better, but still wakes me several times each night. I also can’t swim at all oddly, I can’t kick my legs out, so the bit of exercise I really enjoy has lot been possible for months. I’m just so unsure about whether I need to stop movement or keep moving to facilitate repair. It literally feels like a tearing pain sometimes when I turn my foot!
SORRY this is so long BUT I really hope to help you! I can really relate to your pain!
I was dead set on having some sort of surgery to repair my knee because the pain was horrible. Majority of my pain was in my calf & inner part of my knee (right inside there the other knee meets). ALL the fluid from my Menisus tear dripped down into my calf thus, this painful "Charley Horse" type of constant pain! I went to three different Orthopedic MD's because I was so frustrated with the pain, and the "lack" of mobility. To be clear, I am a very impatient person when it comes to pain and immobility (who isn't?). Summer is such an active time for us too! I can tell you what finally worked for me... First (against my will) I stopped ALL my normal exercising which (helped my body heal the tear)..I couldn't ride my bike or do anything I would normally do without pain anyway. Normally, I feel "exercising" is only beneficial to injuries or RA but I was dead wrong in this case. Yep, it drove me CRAZY but when I finally listened to my body and my doctor and tried my best to do as he said...I started feeling better! My first Orthopedic MD advised physical therapy 4/5 times a week, I tried it once, pushed through everything the Therapist told me to do, and the next day my knee was worse (didn't think it could get worse), so I quit and switched doctors. My current Orthopedic MD recommended (actually insisted IF I wanted the tear to ever improve) I keep ALL weight ALL weight bearing off my knee as much as possible, and use 2 crutches, for 6-8 weeks! He said I would only damage my other knee IF I kept shifting and using that good knee TOO much (makes sense). This was so, so tough and I fought his recommendations but finally gave in because I wasn't getting better and was feeling so discouraged. According to my current Orthopedic MD (actually all 3 MD's agreed), you have to act in a certain time-frame for full healing to happen, and if it's too late (over a year I guess) it won't heal and surgery will be the only option. FYI, turns out I torn my Meniscus completely OFF (very rare but it does happen) so I had NO cushioning between upper (femur) and lower (tibia) "bone on bone" rubbing and YEP, that's exactly how it felt when walking. Apparently, your body does some amazing repair things BUT you need to help it out a bit! I did this for as long as I possibly could, (a total of a solid 3 FULL weeks, BTW I am a very active person so this KILLED me), my wrists, elbows, & shoulders weren't having it no matter crutches or canes. In the beginning, it was well "sort of" easy because ANY weight-bearing was painful. After, 3 weeks, I switched to just using a cane (still hurt my wrists but I kept switching hands). I also took Epsom Salt baths (don't know if anything is proven with that) but it helped with the pain. BTW..night time was the absolute WORST pain! I couldn't sleep, couldn't get comfortable no matter what. If I would move a certain way INSTANT Charley Horse "like" pain waking me up immediately! Someone suggested I buy a "wedge type pillow" to keep that leg elevated as much as possible ALL night. As your day wears on the Meniscus fluid continues to flow down into the calf thus increases the pressure & pain...you want to elevate at night to try to get that fluid from settling. Plus I kept a pillow between my legs to prevent my knee from knocking into my leg while sleeping. It didn't work immediately as I had to get used to having that leg up all night but once I got used to it...I slept ALL night long! My calf did eventually turned BLACK & BLUE and eventually my foot also. That scared me but my MD said it was all that fluid/blood having no where to go but down. He ordered a "Dobbler" (type of Xray/Ultra-sound) to make sure I didn't have any blood clots due to the pain in my calf and the black color. They wanted to make sure no clots were forming and than goodness I was fine!My MD highly recommended the use of a swimming pool as much as possible due to the "weightlessness" with water and how it would help my knee. I lucked out because the weather was really hot in August & Sept. Actually, the only time I wasn't uncomfortable was in the pool! I could walk around or swimming very gently without that pain!
Please feel free to ask me any questions. I would happy to try to help you anyway I can!
Thank you, your experience sounds quite different to mine, and it sounds like you’ve had a really rough time. I think I’m going to push tomorrow when I see the rheumatologist for some imaging to be done. Before this my RA situation hasn’t caused me to have any knee problems, but this is exhausting, so I need to find some resolution
Honestly, I believe an Xray/imaging is the only way you are going to know for sure what is going on with your knee. I had a simple x-ray done and I was told "your knee looks fine other than some mild arthritis". Shortly thereafter, I had an MRI done and that is when the torn Meniscus was diagnosed. Not sure if the UK allows you to ask for a specific type of X-ray but (if I were you and you can) I'd push for an "MRI" because it shows more). I feel your pain...NOT fun at all so I completely understand. It really sounds like a tear of some type but I am not a doctor, and the only way to be 100% sure would be x-rays. From what you've said you do have similar pain (moving your foot a certain way, the discomfort when sleeping) etc. I have a friend who fell off a short ladder hit/and bruised his knee around 9 months ago and is having knee pain..keep in mind, he is 73, hasn't gone to a physician to have it looked at it, or Xrays, and he isn't resting his knee or doing anything to promote healing at all! With any injury, it does take time and patience, (tough to have that when you are hurting)! I do wish you ALL my best and hope your knee problem resolves soon! I will say a little extra prayer for you. Hang in there and good luck! Please keep me posted on the results of your visit with your doctor.
Thank you. Today I e been told that I need to try some physio before they would consider doing an mri.
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