I went through a partial menisectomy on the medial meniscus of my right knee on september 3rd 2007 and the knee is way worse than before surgerysince, so I got it checked by MRI on wednesday. Turns out I have a big residual tear, one 7mm kyst and another smal kyst in the formation. So I will end up with a complete removal of my medial meniscus.
My question is, are there anyone here with a complete removed meniscus or know someone that does. Are you able to still run and train…I would really like to hear about it. Thanks.
I had the medial meniscus removed in my right knee over 30 years ago in response to a completely torn medial collateral ligament and a stretched and partially torn ACL. I was only 20 at the time, and I didn’t realize that the meniscus had been removed.
I took up ultrarunning and marathoning about 10 years ago, but had to stop due to pain in my ankle. Turned out I had developed arthritis in both the knee and ankle. I had surgery on the ankle in early 2007, and it’s a lot better now. I saw a couple of good orthopaedists about the knee, and both said knee replacement, or live with it. Apparently, the cartilage is gone in the medial compartment.
I found that weight training has helped with the pain I was experiencing in the knee. Strengthening the muscles around the joint helped.
As best I can figure, the removal of the meniscus changed the angle of the lower leg which put additional stress on the ankle, and that’s what led to the ankle problem. The lack of the meniscus eventually led to the deterioration of the cartilage in the knee. I battled a weight problem throughout that whole distance running phase, which I’m sure didn’t help anything.
One thing that they can do is to put you in a valgus unloading brace. This puts a torque on your knee which tends to bend the lower leg out (in the case of a medial meniscus removal). They suggested this for me.
So anyway, I hope some of this helps. If I had known then what I know now, I would have worked more on keeping my weight down, and maybe run less as well.
I had my left lateral removed 2 years ago. I am very knock-kneed, so that no-doubt predisposed me to a vicious tear right through the outer horn. Once it was removed, my knee was perfect, and has been ever since, thankfully. No pain, no instability, and full range of motion. However I really don’t want to press my luck, so I don’t make it a point to break parallel with my squats. Any pain I do feel when the knee is loaded is the same pain I had for years before the tear b/c of my messed up knock-knees (yeah, I was born like that).
My doc said that arthritis will most likely become a reality at some point for everyone who has most of their meniscus removed. He recommended VERY LOW IMPACT cardio to extend the usability of the knee for as long as possible (pretty much only bike riding, swimming, and moderate elliptical work). He also said that the best way to decrease stress on the joint is to strengthen your quads via leg presses and extensions. He advised me that I could continue squatting, but to approach it very conservatively - high volume, low load, toe-out (in my case), and only if my knees are feeling absolutely pristine.
You’ll be fine, dude. The meniscectomy really hasn’t gotten in the way of my leg training at all…You’ve just got to be smart about it.