Knee injuries?

[BLERDgirl 6,417]

I have arthritis in my left knee due to a meniscus repair and an unrepaired torn ACL in my right. I started Water aerobics and it has made the world of difference. It has helped with flexibility and strength in both knees. My ortho feels that as long I keep losing weight and keep active that further surgery may not be necessary.

[NewLife'sGr8 241]

I had a car accident in my 20's. "Dashboard Injury" they called it. Basically, the low dash broke and nearly severed my L lieg off at the knee- hung on with connective tissue. Great surgeon! Tendon, ligament, joint, muscles, all repaired. "Textbook" he said. If it was 1mm this way or that, woulda been a hot mess not easily repaired. Looked like Frankenstein all stapled up- made me gag looking at it- actually, I couldn't after that one time. Velcro ankle to thigh brace kept falling down- knee hole out off center. What a pain in the butt! Young & dumb, antsy w/ cabin fever, 6wks post, on crutches, snowshoe'd down a ravine, across a frozen river to an island for a weenie roast and a couple beers with friends, then back, by myself even though they brought a sled " just in case". It did wonders for my spirits. No harm, no foul. Held fast no limp no pain for 21yrs. I rode a camel in Egypt, donkey up the Himilayas, elephant in Thailand and a horse on the beach in Yucatan and at home with no probs @ all.

In 2009, @ 255lbs & sedentary lifestyle, was hurting. "Frayed" so got a miniscus scope. Not much pain post. PT, good as new! That's right around the time I decided on WLS- knee fixed- I focused on pre-diet.

About a wk before WLS, 25lbs lighter, I fell on wet stairs. Both knees, both hips, shoulder, neck & back screwed.

Got the R knee scoped, then the shoulder- had to have part of my collar bone sawed off too. About a yr after, the right hip labrum was dangling almost completely off- had the be reattached with raptor anchors. OUCH! A 12 on the pain scale. Couldn't get up for 3wks- only to pee. Got emaciated & dehydrated. Well the labrum reattached (was iffy- only the 2nd my University Professor surgeon had ever done, said it may or may not work) but... still had mega pain. A yr later, another scope to clean it up. Unsuccessful. Sucked out too much cushion. Bone on bone, on crutches for another year. Anterior Hip replacement, fabulous! Perfect! But... L hip blew out overcompensating too long. Replaced that one 6 mos after the R. Lots and lots of rounds of PT. Learned so much. That was 2013.

Now, 100lbs lighter and all bionic woman'd, no limp, rarely pain, except for the knees. I get cortisone injections. Works wonders! Careful, only 3-4 shots /yr max. If you get too many, it degenerates tissue.

Arthritis everywhere. I manage. Learned to live with it. Try not to take painkillers after taking so many during that long, dark, 4yr Ortho tunnel-trek. It was during that time I lost the 100lbs. Sloooow weight loss.

Eating alkaline reduces inflammation. Arthritis is a bio/physiological response to inflammation. Pain doesn't go away but is tolerable. Harder to get your Protein eating alkaline. Catch 22. Body cleanses help too.

If you put off getting the knee scope, you'll end up with more severe arthritis. My recommendation: go through a little pain now & save yourself a lot of arthritic pain for the rest of your life.

What happens with knee miniscus carrying a lot of weight is: the connective tissues (muscles & ligaments) that are supposed to support the joint weakens. This causes the miniscus to bear the brunt of the burden. It wasn't created for that, so wears out- sometimes fast. It's important to strengthen the large muscles (butt, thigh & calf) so they support the joints which takes the burden off the miniscus. That's why PT exercises can help prevent or delay joint surgeries.

Sorry this is so long. I hope it helps.

[NewLife'sGr8 241]

@Isu2868

Try squats, chair sit/stands and side-steps with a short elastic band around your ankles, while holding / pumping weights. Also, planks & straight leg & side leg lifts with ankle weights. Sit-ups on the balance ball for abdomen and back (forgot to mention those large muscle groups also support joints)

You have to target the large muscle groups to get them to support the knees. Walking, cycling, are more generalized exercises. Definitely beneficial but not target-specific.

[NewLife'sGr8 241]

Thinking further....

You likely thinned/weakened your meniscus being obese but didn't feel it. Probably during hiking/biking, you jarred/ jammed /twisted in such a way, your already thinned/weakened meniscus tore.

I had 5 distinct injuries in my (good) R knee; senovial & (the other side) tears, ligaments, jagged edge, and I forget what else. Any one, singularly, would've required a scope. Come to find out, it's No big deal. They're not mutually exclusive except for possibly increased pain without treatment. (But, if that's the only one you've felt, it's probably not a noticeable increase). The one scope fixes it all. Yay!

[lsu2868 708]

Every thing is doing better now. I had knee surgery last week. They fixed 2 tears in the meniscus, a slight tear in ACL and scraped out some arthritis from behind the kneecap. Know the self rehab begins so I can get back on the hiking trail! It was mostly just wear an tear. Thanks for the advice everyone.

Edited November 30, 2014 by lsu2868

[NewLife'sGr8 241]

Feel better soon

[lsu2868 708]

Thanks...so far so good. Just ready to hit the trails again.

[VSGAnn2014 12,992]

I had a car accident in my 20's. "Dashboard Injury" they called it. Basically, the low dash broke and nearly severed my L lieg off at the knee- hung on with connective tissue. Great surgeon! Tendon, ligament, joint, muscles, all repaired. "Textbook" he said. If it was 1mm this way or that, woulda been a hot mess not easily repaired. Looked like Frankenstein all stapled up- made me gag looking at it- actually, I couldn't after that one time. Velcro ankle to thigh brace kept falling down- knee hole out off center. What a pain in the butt! Young & dumb, antsy w/ cabin fever, 6wks post, on crutches, snowshoe'd down a ravine, across a frozen river to an island for a weenie roast and a couple beers with friends, then back, by myself even though they brought a sled " just in case". It did wonders for my spirits. No harm, no foul. Held fast no limp no pain for 21yrs. I rode a camel in Egypt, donkey up the Himilayas, elephant in Thailand and a horse on the beach in Yucatan and at home with no probs @ all.

In 2009, @ 255lbs & sedentary lifestyle, was hurting. "Frayed" so got a miniscus scope. Not much pain post. PT, good as new! That's right around the time I decided on WLS- knee fixed- I focused on pre-diet.

About a wk before WLS, 25lbs lighter, I fell on wet stairs. Both knees, both hips, shoulder, neck & back screwed.

Got the R knee scoped, then the shoulder- had to have part of my collar bone sawed off too. About a yr after, the right hip labrum was dangling almost completely off- had the be reattached with raptor anchors. OUCH! A 12 on the pain scale. Couldn't get up for 3wks- only to pee. Got emaciated & dehydrated. Well the labrum reattached (was iffy- only the 2nd my University Professor surgeon had ever done, said it may or may not work) but... still had mega pain. A yr later, another scope to clean it up. Unsuccessful. Sucked out too much cushion. Bone on bone, on crutches for another year. Anterior Hip replacement, fabulous! Perfect! But... L hip blew out overcompensating too long. Replaced that one 6 mos after the R. Lots and lots of rounds of PT. Learned so much. That was 2013.

Now, 100lbs lighter and all bionic woman'd, no limp, rarely pain, except for the knees. I get cortisone injections. Works wonders! Careful, only 3-4 shots /yr max. If you get too many, it degenerates tissue.

Arthritis everywhere. I manage. Learned to live with it. Try not to take painkillers after taking so many during that long, dark, 4yr Ortho tunnel-trek. It was during that time I lost the 100lbs. Sloooow weight loss.

Eating alkaline reduces inflammation. Arthritis is a bio/physiological response to inflammation. Pain doesn't go away but is tolerable. Harder to get your Protein eating alkaline. Catch 22. Body cleanses help too.

If you put off getting the knee scope, you'll end up with more severe arthritis. My recommendation: go through a little pain now & save yourself a lot of arthritic pain for the rest of your life.

What happens with knee miniscus carrying a lot of weight is: the connective tissues (muscles & ligaments) that are supposed to support the joint weakens. This causes the miniscus to bear the brunt of the burden. It wasn't created for that, so wears out- sometimes fast. It's important to strengthen the large muscles (butt, thigh & calf) so they support the joints which takes the burden off the miniscus. That's why PT exercises can help prevent or delay joint surgeries.

Sorry this is so long. I hope it helps.

Judas Priest!