Post Meniscus Repair "Catching"

[LancerM]

Hey, I had a medial meniscus repair on December 28th. I did two months of physical therapy with a therapist, four weeks of which were non-weight bearing, before my surgeon gave me the green light to go on my own. I stuck to the general protocol of low impact activities ann strength training, with the hardest thing I did being the elliptical. Just recently, at the 16 week mark, I began running.

While my knee has regained a lot of its strength, virtually all of its range of motion and there is very minimal pain when I run, I still have one problem. Whenever I do hamstring curls, or any similiar motion, something in my knee will "catch." It's not just a pop, as I can definitely feel something mechanically catching in my knee. It occurs every time I do the motion, except if I don't lock my knee out between reps. In other words, if I do a hamstring curl and then only extend my leg to slightly less than locked out it doesn't catch on the way back down. The problem becomes less pronounced when I've warmed up my knee, however it is still there. While it's not a particularly painful feeling, it's definitely an unenjoyable sensation.

I was curious if anyone else has had a similiar problem with their meniscus repair. I'm hoping it's not a consequence of a failed mensiscus repair, as that would obviously mean another surgery. I'm only 21 and the prospect of having a partial menisectomy is hardly appealing. Furthermore, they did already had to trim 5% of the meniscus out when they repaired this tear, and I had an ACL reconstruction as well. Dr. Cris Barnthouse was my surgeon here in Kansas City, if anyone knows him.

Anyways, thanks for the responses in advance! This is my second knee surgery as I already had an ACL reconstruction on my other knee several years ago. It turned out great and I'm optimistic for this one too!

[Vinman]

It sounds as if you know your knee well and have done your home work. The tem mechanical is not something the everyday person thorws around when they talk about their knee.

If you are truly having mechanical symptoms, call your doc, he might want to see you.

Could the catch be coming from under the patella and not internally in the knee?

either way a call to your doc or possibly the person you did your rehab should be your next step.

[upallnight]

i'm certainly no doctor, but i have learned alot about knees as i went through a meniscus repair 1 year ago and associated rehab.

i'm going in for surgery in a couple days as the repair failed.

it kind of sounds like you are experiencing early signs of a failure -- enough to warrant another visit to the doc at least.

it took me a year to discover what was going on; i wish i had known earlier so i could deal with it and get on with life. i'd recommend figuring it out ASAP instead of waiting/worrying/wondering what is going on.

for me, the last 6 months involved gradually decreasing mobility/flexibility and increasing pain. it crept up on me slowly so i didn't realize how bad things had become -- it was easy to accept a little at a time.

my doctor had told me that "i would definitely know" if the repair failed (meaning my knee would lock up); this never happened, so i delayed going back in thinking it was just "normal" pain i needed to work through.

trust your instincts. i should have trusted mine earlier.

[LancerM]

Well that's a downer, though it's also what I expected to hear.

In the event that I do have to have more of my meniscus trimmed, how well do knees hold up after that? Obviously it depends on the amount trimmed out, the amount/type of sports one partakes in and also just on the individuals themselves, but could anyone who has had this operation describe how their knee has since held up? And in regards to how well it's held up, what kind of activity have you been doing with it.

Thanks guys!

[upallnight]

Well that's a downer, though it's also what I expected to hear.

In the event that I do have to have more of my meniscus trimmed, how well do knees hold up after that? Obviously it depends on the amount trimmed out, the amount/type of sports one partakes in and also just on the individuals themselves, but could anyone who has had this operation describe how their knee has since held up? And in regards to how well it's held up, what kind of activity have you been doing with it.

Thanks guys!

i'm not the best person to ask on this subject as i just got out of surgery yesterday for my meniscectomy. i lost about 1/3 of mine (and also had a partial MCL tear). the bigger issue was that in the year since my repair, i had a ton of wear on the patella & the bone/groove it fits in -- enough to be a concern. i wonder if the amount of activity i did over the past year (coupled with the fact that the repair did not fully take) accelerated this wear. well....it's obvious it did accelerate the wear, but what i mean to say is that if i spotted the break-down in the repair earlier, i wonder if the other damage could have been caught sooner.

i think having the offending tissue removed earlier could actually be better for you than continuing to be active on it. you are likely in a better position than i am. i biked a couple thousand miles on my repair and skied ~130 days, among other activities.

early word is that it is ill-advised for me to ever run again...and hucking may no longer be in my future. we shall see.

i'll be rooting for you.

(so far, this surgery is 1,000 times easier to deal with than the repair -- that was brutal.)

i'm told i can start spinning on a bike as early as next week. i'll keep you informed, if interested.

good luck.