acl & meniscus recovery.

[sander134]

Hey whats going on...im new to this forum, so im looking for some insight into my recovery. I recently had surgery on my right knee, Acl plus medial and lateral meniscus repair. They used my hamstring tendon and they made around 8 stitches for my meniscus. i had it done by a leading surgeon at the hospital for special surgery in nyc so u can say it was done in a very prestigious hospital. So my question is how long will i experience the pain ( its been 5 days since surgery) and my doc said between 4 to 6 weeks till i can bear weight on my knee, yet is there a chance that i can do this earlier ? im going for post op wed...

[Woodlandclown]

My husband just had the exact same surgery April 22--so 11 days ago and I also had the exact same surgery just over 2 years ago. Pain is very relative. The worst of the days should be behind you, that is until you can weight bear and start rehab. I stopped taking painkillers about a week after surgery, so that was when the bad pain ended, but I had moments throughout the healing process where my knee bothered me--I wouldnt say pain though. Especially after a hard workout. this went on for months. then I skied and would have aching afterwards. My knee did not feel normal for pretty much exactly a year to the date of surgery. But aching, not pain.

Good luck--just really rehab and follow Dr. and PT instructions. I think because of my experience, my husband is now in better shape than I was. He is actually following my advice. His flexion is at 90 and extension is back to normal. Unfortunately no matter what you do, it still just takes time. especially with the meniscus added to it.

[Woodlandclown]

Hey whats going on...im new to this forum, so im looking for some insight into my recovery. I recently had surgery on my right knee, Acl plus medial and lateral meniscus repair. They used my hamstring tendon and they made around 8 stitches for my meniscus. i had it done by a leading surgeon at the hospital for special surgery in nyc so u can say it was done in a very prestigious hospital. So my question is how long will i experience the pain ( its been 5 days since surgery) and my doc said between 4 to 6 weeks till i can bear weight on my knee, yet is there a chance that i can do this earlier ? im going for post op wed...

6 weeks before i could weight bear. 3-4 weeks no weight, 2 or so 50%. sucks but it goes by quickly.

[BadGalSkiier]

I may be wrong but the reason why you cannot weight bear is because you had a meniscus repair. Most times the meniscus cannot be repaired and is just shaved off. You need to stay non weight-bearing so the meniscus can heal back together. I believe it is about a 50/50 chance that the meniscus will heal itself after a repair is attempted. If your meniscus was just cut out you would be able to weight bear because it would not have to heal. I had to have 1/2 of my medial meniscus removed which is not a good thing at the age of 28. In any case, saving your meniscus is way better so follow your doctor's orders. Good luck.

[jmars]

Sander, who cut you? Robert Marx just did mine at HSS on 4/19. I have no weight bearing for 3 weeks and the reasoning is my meniscus repair that they did when they did my ACL (petallar tendon). The doc actually threw a stitch in my menicsus.

I am an odd case b/c my first 2 day were a cake walk...then I started having pain but not sever pain. I was more stiff, sore and uncomfortable. I also was able to cut pain killers by the start of week 2. As of this past monday I'm on week 3. I would expect relative pain/soreness for a while, you just had a pretty serious operation. If you are having debilataing pain then contact your doc.

Good Luck.

[jmars]

Oh and I broke both collar bones and wo ribs last season only to show back up in the docs office with a torn meniscus 2 months later. Now I'm back in this season with a torn ACL. He explained that I'm a high risk canidate who will forget he is injured.........he pretty much nailed it.

[sander134]

Special thanks to everyone who contributed to their very own advice!!...anyways its been about two weeks after surgery, and i have to say the pain is pretty much gone. It is now just the lateral side of my meniscus in which i feel a little ache. The swelling is down by more then 50% and i have started PT. To answer the question on who my doc is, his name is Dr. Andrew Pearle, he is the mets ortho and the cyclones ortho out in bk. Anyways, my rehab is going well and everyday i find through my little workouts and daily life my knee is only getting stronger. I have to say my knee looks great though, two little cuts and one little cut by my hammy(pt said it looks gorgeous haha) to sum it up, thank god i have great insurance and was able to get the treatment necessary at the hospital for special surgery. btw...why at night like 3 or 4 in the morning i feel like throbbing in my knee??

[hell yea jett]

has anyone had their meniscus cleaned out instead of repaired along with the acl recon. trying to get an idea of my no weight bearing time since i'm most likely gonna have to get the cartilage taken out since its apparently beyond repair. have heard that its less no weight time since im not banking on a repair. any advice will help.


jethro

[BadGalSkiier]

Non-weight bearing only applies to meniscus repair. If you have a menisectomy (they just take the torn part out) then there is no weight restriction because the cartilage does not have to heal..

[sander134]

well to answer your question i had both medial and lateral repaired and it sucks lol...i had a hammy allograft which to me seems a whole lot better compared to the patella tendon which is more painful in the rehab. If i were to give u any advice it would be to try to save the meniscus, god only gives u one set so use it wisely or at least in this matter try to save it as much as possible. My doc told me 4 to 6 weeks on crutches no weight bearing and now im at 3 and some change and well its not all that bad. My pt is working well and im currently at 50 degrees on the brace and in no time i will be walking...so in summary try to get a meniscus repair and try to get the hammy as the new acl, it will all work out in the end. best of luck to you

[ChaosVon]

I have had the same exact surgery as you about a month ago. I am curious to how you have been getting along. I have all my pain in my inside meniscus and it is much more annoying than I thought. I have had friends who have had the simple ACL surgery and they where biking and running after only a month. I got off the crutches pretty early but I still cannot move quickly and I am having a hard time riding bikes. I am also worried about how much longer I will need my brace and not be able to run since I seem to be lacking in exercise. If you have any advice or tips that would be awesome since it seems like we are going through something similar. Or anyone else.