Torn and Repaired Meniscus - thoughts/input - When can i climb again?!?

Thanks so much for the replies.  This is really heartening to hear success stories about this. 

with my acl and meniuscous repair, i had to learn to turst the knee after a year, i treated it like it was glass and should of been acting as if it was equal. ended up twisting opposite ankle, and then had to. which makes me feel equal. but riding a bike and doing strong yoga stances has been my constant therapy. I feel the ACL needs to be stretched and worked and the ankle needs to be constantly strengthened. Tiring yes, but it pays off yes

Wanted to share my situation and hopefully get some advice.  I'm 52 and just started climbing but have spent the last 4 years getting into pretty good shape (Gym, Crossfit and training/running a lot of Tough Mudders and Spartans including Trifecta's last 2 years along with Ultra Beast).  I'm a big guy at 6' and about 210 pounds but carry the weight pretty well.  Problem is that it looks like I tore my meniscus yesterday.  Stepped up pretty high, twisted for a grab and heard a pop.  Decent pain but went to urgent care and ruled out everything so 99.9% sure it's a fairly minor medial meniscus tear.  I can walk pretty normal but getting up from a low chair is very painful, not much visible swelling.  Doing ice and anti-inflammatory.  

Now for my question:  Urgent care Dr. thinks its pretty minor and suggested I treat it myself and get back to activity as the pain allows.  She thinks that there are too many surgeries for minor tears and data says its better to try and let it heal naturally.  I'm concerned about seeing an ortho, getting and MRI and then being kind of  led down the path of surgery.  Of course, on the other side, I'm worried about going the natural route only to get back to near full speed only to tear again, ever worse, then surgery, longer recover, etc.

Of course this is a personal decision but does anyone have any thoughts or personal experiences that would help?

Torn ACL and Meniscus in 2002 at 18.  Was playing rugby on it in a little over a year (not incredibly helpful for your question), but on the bright side, over 16 years later the knee is great and has never given me issues with any activities.  My older brother and older sister both had the same injury in successive years before mine and I could see that doctors steadily fine tuned that surgery.

I've had both of mine worked on for tears about a year or so apart. It's been about 5 years since with no issues. Still going strong on approaches, climbing, backpacking, skiing etc.
As others have said, do your PT and take it easy for 6 months. The elliptical machine is another option, instead of the bike.

good luck.

Marvin Landrum wrote: Wanted to share my situation and hopefully get some advice.  I'm 52 and just started climbing but have spent the last 4 years getting into pretty good shape (Gym, Crossfit and training/running a lot of Tough Mudders and Spartans including Trifecta's last 2 years along with Ultra Beast).  I'm a big guy at 6' and about 210 pounds but carry the weight pretty well.  Problem is that it looks like I tore my meniscus yesterday.  Stepped up pretty high, twisted for a grab and heard a pop.  Decent pain but went to urgent care and ruled out everything so 99.9% sure it's a fairly minor medial meniscus tear.  I can walk pretty normal but getting up from a low chair is very painful, not much visible swelling.  Doing ice and anti-inflammatory.  

Now for my question:  Urgent care Dr. thinks its pretty minor and suggested I treat it myself and get back to activity as the pain allows.  She thinks that there are too many surgeries for minor tears and data says its better to try and let it heal naturally.  I'm concerned about seeing an ortho, getting and MRI and then being kind of  led down the path of surgery.  Of course, on the other side, I'm worried about going the natural route only to get back to near full speed only to tear again, ever worse, then surgery, longer recover, etc.

Of course this is a personal decision but does anyone have any thoughts or personal experiences that would help?

Marvin,

Torn my L medial miniscus, tear cut out, there is no repair. Cycling helped keep quad steong and pressure and swelling out of knee. I did it playing soccer and even though i was playing again with two months, the swelling only went away with cycling.

I'm going to call this post "Looking back on my knees at 60" - or maybe, "Looking DOWN on my knees at 60"? :) Anyway...after years of being way too active with skiing, running, scaling high mountains and getting into rock climbing at age 50 (not to mention genetic issues from my Mom, dang it!) my knees experienced a few medial meniscus tears, twists, sprains, the whole enchilada at various younger ages. Each tear was not a repair but instead a snip/snip of the meniscus until all of a sudden, it was gone in my late 50s! I was bone-on-bone in my left knee, ouch! So a few years ago I did the full knee replacement and voila! I was back in action, including climbing (but no running or exciting sports like basketball) in no time...yay! And the pain/hassle/recovery time of a knee replacement doesn't sound NEAR as bad as the 'meniscus tear repair' (hey, that rhymes!) stories that you all posted above. Moral of the story:  If you're young and you wanna get back to 'goin' for it ASAP' in your activities, go for the meniscus snip/snip option - but then you MAY need knee replacement later, but heck, there are so many options these days like stem cells, micro-fracturing, OrthoVisc injections, etc. that can delay/replace knee replacement for years. Have a BIG time gettin' back to it!

I'll be another data point for the thread.  Was hiking back to the car and had to squat underneath of a fallen tree.  was wearing my pack so it was a bit awkward, immediate pop and pain.  Knee was locked, couldn't bend or straighten it.  Waited a few days before I could get in to a sports dr.... he originally diagnosed it as a dislocated kneecap.  After 6 more weeks of walking with a major limp, a few more followups, confirmed bucket handle meniscal tear, I finally went in for surgery.

Surgeon said I would have lost 90% of the meniscus had it not been repaired, he used 5 anchors to repair it.  Currently at 5 weeks, still locked straight in a brace and getting around with crutches.  Been working on range of motion, can finally get it straight with some manageable pain.  Might be able to bend it 45 degrees or so before it's too much.  I can post recovery updates a little further down the road.

Good luck with the recover Eric! I just hit 1 year out from my meniscus repair surgery. I'm back to all physical activity, climbing, running, hiking, skiing, etc. I have some lingering pain, otherwise the main issue I'm still dealing with is lack of flexibility. I don't quite have full flexion back in my injured knee, and any sort or figure 4 type stretch is still painful. 

My experience..... had my knee pop while I was squatted down on my heal to get a rest on an arete sport climb. It hurt and all that but i kept climbing and doing rehab under the care of my doctor.... fast forward 2 seasons. Did a hi step while 4 pitches up and the darn thing just blew out on me and locked up my right foot right up to my butt... got down and hiked 12 miles out on my hands and knees (another story) The doc needed me to wait for 4 weeks for the swelling to subside, had surgery. After about 3 weeks I was feeling better and doing PT, after 12 weeks I could climb slabs- sort of. But it was over a year before I could really trust the sucker to hi- step with confidence.
Good luck 

Welcome me to the repair club. My surgery is next week. Even though I’m 69 my surgeon recommended the repair because of my level of activity. He said I can expect to recover to same fitness and all of my activities.
Interesting to read the different protocols. I was expecting him to tell me 6 weeks no weight bearing. He said 4 weeks and I’ll start PT “right away”.

I’ve done very long rehabs for my two shoulder surgeries and I’m good at complying with all the protocols. Looking forward to walking outside and at least belaying my partners 4 months from now!

Good luck with the recovery Phylp. Funny enough since I last posted on this thread I managed to have the exact same injury and surgery on my other knee. Now I'm now 8 months post meniscus repair number two, and am back to climbing/hiking/trail running. 

Ian MacDonald wrote:

Good luck with the recovery Phylp. Funny enough since I last posted on this thread I managed to have the exact same injury and surgery on my other knee. Now I'm now 8 months post meniscus repair number two, and am back to climbing/hiking/trail running. 

Thanks for the encouragement Ian!  I appreciate it.  This was an acute injury for me, seemed different than the shoulder stuff and my previous other knee meniscus injuries, which grew worse over a long time.  Trying to analyze what contributed to the "pop" in my upper right calf that resulted in two tears - a horizontal tear and a small complex root tear, it seemed to me that I had increased my treadmill aerobic exercise significantly over the previous two weeks and my muscles were very tight the day I was climbing when this happened.  Usually I'm very careful about being stretched out but circumstances kept me from my stretching routine.  I was lucky there was no ACL damage - just the meniscus.  I've done lots of active "prehab" since this happened end of August, so it's not like I have been sitting around, but at this point I'm really ready to get this done!

I had a diagnosis of a "bucket handle" type of meniscus tear. Surgery was offered as an option, but I opted out of it. Waited for the swelling and pain to subside, albeit slowly, and went on with my life. Over time, I've learned to pay close attention to when that "bucket handle" might lift up and cause locking in the knee. Deep bend (e.g. big step down), bend and twist in combination, or just mindless jogging without engaging leg muscles would cause it. If I am careful not to push through a locked knee, usually the discomfort goes away relatively fast (up to a day or two in the worst case). I seem to be able to climb/run/dance with it, although I'm super careful with moves like heel hooks and might even back off of them if I fear aggravation. 

I have no doubt that surgery is the right choice for many people, but I just wanted to provide another "data point" on the matter. Best of luck to all the torn-meniscus club members!

P.S. BTW, Google "meniscus surgery placebo". I know the research somewhat influenced my decision back then. I have no regret today many years later.

Mei pronounced as May wrote:

I had a diagnosis of a "bucket handle" type of meniscus tear. Surgery was offered as an option, but I opted out of it. Waited for the swelling and pain to subside, albeit slowly, and went on with my life. Over time, I've learned to pay close attention to when that "bucket handle" might lift up and cause locking in the knee. Deep bend (e.g. big step down), bend and twist in combination, or just mindless jogging without engaging leg muscles would cause it. If I am careful not to push through a locked knee, usually the discomfort goes away relatively fast (up to a day or two in the worst case). I seem to be able to climb/run/dance with it, although I'm super careful with moves like heel hooks and might even back off of them if I fear aggravation. 

I have no doubt that surgery is the right choice for many people, but I just wanted to provide another "data point" on the matter. Best of luck to all the torn-meniscus club members!

P.S. BTW, Google "meniscus surgery placebo". I know the research somewhat influenced my decision back then. I have no regret today many years later.

careful, I lived with my torn meniscus for a year or two for similar reasons. I finally got the surgery and it was fine. But in the following two years I developed different knee pain in that knee, and pain in my other knee. It was because I had spent 3-4 years avoiding that deep bend, and bend and twist because I had trained myself to never do that because it hurt. I had atrophy in my bad knee from never using those muscles and tendons for so long, that I developed a weird style of hiking and climbing, and it eventually carried over to my other knee compensating.
I went back for some extreme physical therapy that mostly trained my brain that it was okay to deep bend, and it was okay to land on my right foot really hard, and I started to actually use my knees like I had always pre injury. Now I'm like 99% good, that last 1% I think is still mental as I'm STILL nervous about banging on my right knee. I spent way too long babying it.

gtluke wrote:

careful, I lived with my torn meniscus for a year or two for similar reasons. I finally got the surgery and it was fine. But in the following two years I developed different knee pain in that knee, and pain in my other knee. It was because I had spent 3-4 years avoiding that deep bend, and bend and twist because I had trained myself to never do that because it hurt. I had atrophy in my bad knee from never using those muscles and tendons for so long, that I developed a weird style of hiking and climbing, and it eventually carried over to my other knee compensating.
I went back for some extreme physical therapy that mostly trained my brain that it was okay to deep bend, and it was okay to land on my right foot really hard, and I started to actually use my knees like I had always pre injury. Now I'm like 99% good, that last 1% I think is still mental as I'm STILL nervous about banging on my right knee. I spent way too long babying it.

Thanks for the kind reminder! I pay close attention to those maneuvers, but I mostly do not avoid them. After all, on the steep descents, you can't avoid deep bend anyway. My climbing style employs drop knee a lot, which is a combination of bend and twist. Proper alignment and engagement of leg muscles is very key in preventing those maneuvers from aggravating the torn meniscus, so I have to be very mindful. 

I realize that OP has already gotten the surgery, so the original inquiry is closed. But hopefully this thread will be helpful for people who stumbled here while searching for information.

FWIW, I subscribe to the theory that we need to get fluid into the knee joints to properly nurture the various structural elements, including the torn/healing meniscus. I have adopted a simple dance routine that I do regularly that basically let me pump fluid into the knee joints. You don't have to dance though. Imagine you stand on a step on one foot holding on to something, and now try to jolt/kick the other foot as if you want to shake off some mud on the bottom of the sole of that shoe. Of course, I don't have any double blind study that prove this helpful, but it was a tip passed on to me (the prescribed routing is 36 times a set and 3 sets, which does not take long), and I, after some time, honestly noticed improvement in my knee alignment, the reduction in the knee lockup, and just over all better knee stability. I do it with both knees because why not. 

Mei, we are not talking about simple meniscus trim surgeries in this thread. We are talking about tears which are sewn and secured with anchors. Two very different injuries with very different longterm outcomes if you do not have surgery. In these injuries, if the cause was acute and not degenerative, surgery is the preferred course because you get accelerated knee degeneration without it.
you can google meniscus root tears if you are interested.

Hey fellow climbers. I wanted to add my injury to this list as well, because I certainly used this list for info when the injury happened. In late December I got a lateral bucket handle tear from a high step bouldering. There was a loud pop and my knee was stuck in a slightly bent position. I knew I fucked it up pretty bad immediately. I got a MRI the next day and learned of the bucket handle tear. I started researching what exactly this tear was doing and how to resolve it, and that’s how I found this thread (thank you to everyone who contributed). My surgeon wanted to do a partial removal and I almost went with it until I started reading about lots of negative problems further down the road. So I went with the repair after a second opinion from another doctor. I’m 38 and I’ve been climbing for roughly 20 years and plan on climbing till my death day. I’d definitely recommend a second or even third opinion for people debating what to do.

I had the repair February 16th and it was about 2 weeks of a locked brace after surgery , and I’m just starting physical therapy now. I post again after 2 more months.

The only thing I’m worried about after I start to heal, is if I’ll ever be able to high step confidentiality again. I’m short and I’ve always depended on that move. However like a lot of things in life we adapt and find other ways to solve the problem.

Peter Graupner wrote:

I had the repair February 16th and it was about 2 weeks of a locked brace after surgery , and I’m just starting physical therapy now. I post again after 2 more months.

The only thing I’m worried about after I start to heal, is if I’ll ever be able to high step confidentiality again. I’m short and I’ve always depended on that move. However like a lot of things in life we adapt and find other ways to solve the problem.

You ought to be able to high step again. I tore my  meniscus in a high step almost exactly 10 years ago. Had the repair surgery. It was about 4 months until I could climb, and about a year for the knee to feel 100%. From that point on, no concerns or limitations. It's my good knee now.  Though I was 23 at the time if surgery, so that helped.

One major factor for me has been hip mobility. I find if my hips are tight, that messes up the biomechanics of the high step and stresses the knee more. This may have contributed to my original injury - forcing a high step outside the range of my hip mobility. If the mobility is sorted through the whole chain, especially at the hip, the high step feels a lot safer for the knee.

The 4 months of recovery time feels like forever, in the moment, but on the scale of a climbing career it is just a blip. You'll be back as capable as ever.