meniscus surgery? yay or nay

[LIFEisGNAR]

tore my meniscus 2 years ago, got an mri last spring that confimred it. surgery was recomended but my insurance denied it so i tried PT for a while, seemed to help but didnt fix it. I have heard mixed things about the surgery. Any opinions?

[Bosco]

Had one my my knees done last year, and glad I did. I blew both ACL's in the late 80's skiing squaw and JH, and last year had a "complex tear on the posterior horn of the medial meniscus". It would lock up and hurt like sh*t. Skied the last two days, and feeling good.

[LIFEisGNAR]

how long did you go before your surgery?

[detrusor]

I had a medial meniscus repair on 2003, split it like a stack of pancakes, not a tear like you think of. Had it repaired, 6 months until I had pain free range of motion. Simply chopping it out would have been weeks. Surgeon said I would buy myself decades with the repair.

[WMD]

I tore my meniscus and knee was locking up and severely swollen. I had surgery and they removed 70% of my meniscus. Knee has never been the same since, and now I'm told I'm a candidate for a total knee replacement (instead I've had stem cell injections that have helped a lot). I had to do something as the knee wasn't really functional, but damn I wish I still had some padding in there.

The other has been confirmed to have torn meniscus also but no locking up or major problems and I'm not having surgery until I have to. I did some PRP a couple years ago and the knee feels a lot better.

[LIFEisGNAR]

whats prp?

[Alpinord]

How much of a tear? I had a small flap removed in Sept because it kept causing knee swelling and limiting steep down hikes and climbs. So far so good. Various exercise and spinning hadn't helped.

[LIFEisGNAR]

not sure how large the tear was but it was mostly in the low blood supply zone. there was a possibility they would use sutures as they couldnt tell if it was torn near the outside, which is supposed to be a significantly longer recovery. I'm a carpenter and the work i do tends to keep it irritated, sometimes there is no pain, sometimes its weak and feels like giving way.

[rod9301]

I tore my meniscus and knee was locking up and severely swollen. I had surgery and they removed 70% of my meniscus. Knee has never been the same since, and now I'm told I'm a candidate for a total knee replacement (instead I've had stem cell injections that have helped a lot). I had to do something as the knee wasn't really functional, but damn I wish I still had some padding in there.

The other has been confirmed to have torn meniscus also but no locking up or major problems and I'm not having surgery until I have to. I did some PRP a couple years ago and the knee feels a lot better.

My impression was that stem cell injections can help repair the meniscus. At least that's what regenexx said.

[WMD]

My own experience and understanding from reading about it is that both PRP and stem cells can help heal the meniscus. PRP is platelet rich plasma, or your own blood spun in a centrifuge to separate out the platelet rich plasma from other blood components and then this is injected into the injury site. PRP has growth factors that can help tissue heal. Ive had good experiences with both. Downside is they aren't covered by insurance, but PRP is much cheaper than stem cell treatment.

[WMD]

There has been a lot of news about studies saying meniscus surgery is not useful. See this for example: http://mobile.nytimes.com/2016/08/04...o-useless.html

I am not n the medical field so only am sharing my own experience and stuff I've been reading. So know my opinion is pretty limited.

[Benny Profane]

My knee was locking up periodically (maybe every three months) for about four or five years, not enough that I couldn't deal with it, especially since it wasn't painful after the first few lock ups. Skiing and biking wasn't hindered. Then I really screwed it up a year and a half ago, and had to have it repaired. 50 % lateral meniscus gone, and it hasn't been good since, although I can bike and hike well after a lot of PT. the problem now isn't really felt directly in the knee, but the whole leg, which was weak and pretty much out of whack since the surgery, since my knee is ever so slightly cocked to one side, if you look at the X-rays. Skiing is, well, difficult (afterwards, not during), but, it's an ongoing process, learning to deal. I wear a brace to both "straighten" the knee while skiing, and protect it from further damage.

Has anybody had this stem cell treatment? I'm pretty sure Splat has, he's talked about it. I need to "fill" that empty space, it seems, but I am very skeptical of what some professionals, especially surgeons, tell me after this experience, since I got "no problem" a lot from them, before and after surgery. Will I be skiing in eight months? "No problem!" Well, no. I'd love to find a pro that can help me figure this out, and be honest about the real risks, instead of an Internet board, but, I've been to five different specialists, two surgeons included, who say, uh, I dunno why your leg is fucked up. Pay the girl up front.

Anybody ever use a physiatrist?

[GoldMember]

tore my meniscus 2 years ago, got an mri last spring that confimred it. surgery was recomended but my insurance denied it so i tried PT for a while, seemed to help but didnt fix it. I have heard mixed things about the surgery. Any opinions?

I think it depends on the tear and the proposed fix. I tore my medial meniscus a little over ten years ago and had it trimmed that fall. Prior to the surgery, it was locking, I couldn't run on it, biking was a little painful at the top of the pedal stroke. Four days after surgery, I was on the stationary bike (lightly) and walked 18 holes of golf, packing my bag on Day 8 with no pain. I was skiing after four weeks; nothing too hard, and was full-on skiing six weeks post surgery. I haven't had any problems since. However, that was a minor procedure when compared to other tears so it's difficult to predict your outcome. Good luck.

[plugboots]

Had a bucket handle tear 20 years ago, so they cut that chunk off. Bingo! I'm healed! Wish I still had that chunk of padding in there somehow.

[Dantheman]

I think it depends on the tear and the proposed fix. I tore my medial meniscus a little over ten years ago and had it trimmed that fall. Prior to the surgery, it was locking, I couldn't run on it, biking was a little painful at the top of the pedal stroke. Four days after surgery, I was on the stationary bike (lightly) and walked 18 holes of golf, packing my bag on Day 8 with no pain. I was skiing after four weeks; nothing too hard, and was full-on skiing six weeks post surgery. I haven't had any problems since. However, that was a minor procedure when compared to other tears so it's difficult to predict your outcome. Good luck.

If you read through the comments to the article WMD posted there are a lot of stories like this. The majority of meniscus surgeries are unnecessary, but there are definitely times when it is appropriate. Surgery will probably help for tear caused by an acute injury that is causing locking or other mechanical symptoms, but it won't help with degenerative tears in an already arthritic knee. Unfortunately, in the latter situation too many surgeons will operate anyway.