Rough dude. I had a partial meniscectomy. Surgeon was much more gung-ho than that. It’ll fix it, etc. But reading a lot more afterwards there are mixed views on whether it is good or bad. Sounds like you need something done to get somewhat normal functionality back in your knee though. Good luck with it.
Thanks mate. And to Rolly & co for the helpful tips.
And right on cue this article popped up in my twitter feed… it discusses the efficacy of meniscectomies towards the end.
Worth a read IMO, even if it is on the long side.
It’s a bit of a crap shoot, unfortunately. MRI and other imaging can only tell them so much, surgeon won’t fully know what he/she is dealing with until in there and poking around. I had partial meniscectomy, debridement and a general vac and polish done on my left knee shortly before Christmas. Surgeon reported he found a few more things going on in there than the imaging revealed and a bit more work needed than he expected.
It’s about 10 weeks post now and results looking very promising…so far I’m happy.
FWIW I didn’t feel mine “go” at all, just steadily increasing pain and restricted movement until I couldn’t do much at all. Spent several months last year needing a cane for walking. Good for getting seats on trams but a giant suck for everything else. I hadn’t had knee problems for more than 20 years then it just sorta crapped out. Meniscus in the other one has quite a bit of damage too but surgeon advocates a wait-and-see approach with that one (and then there are the hips…)
That was a pretty interesting read. Gives me faith in my surgeon, as he was forthright in telling me that although he makes lots of guarantees to his patients, he couldn’t afford me the same luxury in this case. If he’d just said yep no worries we can fix it, I would’ve been absolutely gutted if it was a failure. At least this way I can prepare for the possibility of that happening.
I still reckon it’s a decent enough gamble to take. Sure, I may have arthritis in its very early stages and a couple of minor issues from a past injury, but the fact that I can more or less pinpoint exactly when I did it and it hasn’t improved ever since makes me think that the chances of my meniscal tear being purely coincidental are pretty slim, especially considering my knees have never caused me any recurrent trouble prior to this current issue.
Fingers crossed.
Also that’s good to hear Captain. Here’s hoping I’m in the same boat at 10 weeks post-op.
anyone had pain on the outside (right side of my right knee) of their knee before?
seems to be primarily when i’m climbing whilst seated. noticed it a little bit on an 88km/985m vert gravel grind yesterday, but seems worse this evening after a relatively flat 45km.
ITB?
Yep, ITB. Time to roll it out.
laaaaaaaaame.
thanks though, guess i better get/borrow a foam roller.
Rollers and spiky balls are cheap at kmart
I find it borderline excruciating to roll my ITB, where as I know some people can just roll it all day long.
Rolly, if you find that the case work on the muscles all around it too, and get into the front of the hip and the glute with a ball or something too. I’ve had my fair share of knee niggles and have found a bit of routine stretching and going to the gym have helped heaps in the last 12 months.
I cant believe you’ve made it this far without one (with your knee history).
ebay is also a source of cheap physio equipment. pretty sure my spiky balls and roller were 50% of rebels pricing.
Also - echoing what your ginger-ninja brother says… just rolling the ITB is one part of it. Working on the glutes/hip flexors with a ball (spiky/tennis/golf) is also good and regular stretching is also key. I have a bunch of stretches/exercises i can share with you (that all resemble ones that everyone else gets for knee/lower back issues).
i find/found that it was pretty ‘invigorating’ at first but after a while it eased up to a low buzz… most likely due to the tightness dissipating. or my pain threshold increasing…
Used to similarly be in agony when rolling my legs out but can now roll them out pretty much pain free (actually quite enjoy it TBH…). Regular rolling and stretching got me there relatively quickly.
thanks all, will try and get onto it asap.
nik - my knee issues have strangely never resulted in ITB pain, and therefore have never owned a foam roller etc. guess going to pilates over the years has resulted in some minor stretching, but i’m as amazed as you are really. i mean, why not add that to the fuckin list eh?!
will need to sort it soon though if i wanna do this ride in NSW in 20 days…:eek:
Yes lame joke was lame, but legit in this case.
I have a foam roller you can borrow to try out if you’d like before dropping the cash on one. Can also show you how to use it for ITB.
laaaaaame comment was more at the situation than your pun geofffffffffff.
I think the whole “Fixies (brakeless) are bad for your knees” ideology is untrue.
Fixies will cause knee trouble if:
- You have inherited bad knees from your parents
- You are not using proper foot retention or have poorly alligned cleats
- You are running a high gear ratio
- You are riding a poorly fitted bike
- You are skidding too much and/or resisting too hard
If you stretch before riding and have a correctly setup bike with a low gear ratio then I don’t see how riding brakeless is an issue
^^this is one weird thread bump!
in actual knee news…I had my right knee drained and then a shot of cortisone a week ago…i’m trying not to get too excited but it’s feeling amazing. did a bunch of test too, and nothing seems pathologically wrong…fingers crossed this is stay good for a while.
Most of my knee problems came from sitting at a desk all day. After quitting my office job I worked as a courier. Despite riding all day I had no more knee pain. YMMV of course.
Got my first weird knee pain 
Previously my pain has come from playing basketball or running when i havnt done either in a long time, the paint emanating from what feels like just below the kneecap, but wearing a knee band seemed to have sort that out.
This time i was simply sitting crossed legged on my bed for about half an hour (this was friday night) by sunday morning i started feeling pains, mainly on the inner part of my knee (inner as in. right knee, but left hand side of the knee, bit on the outside if that makes sense??) Definitely swollen, seems to be worse when i get up after sitting down for a period of time.
No pain cycling though
Ive booked a physio, kind of scared. Fingers crossed nothing serious.