Forums >General Running>has anyone ever recovered after a meniscus issue?
Hello!! Good morning
Iam just wondering if anyone has ever fully recovered and gotten back to running after a meniscus issue. I would appreciate if you can share any lessons learned and what kind of specialist helped you through the process.
I was being treated by a sports doctor but recently I had to move back to my hometown where I have not being able to find a similar specialist. The thoughts were that I could get better with no surgery and she had just started to focus mainly on nutrition and strength training.
Thanks and regards,
Laura
I guess it depends on what is the nature of your meniscus issue, but I've never heard of addressing it through nutrition. I tore a good piece of my meniscus in 2009, had much of it removed as part of a bigger surgery, and have been running ever since then except that along the way I also managed to damage part of my articular cartilage surfaces, and don't know if it was related to running with the compromised meniscus or if something else caused that or if it was somehow related to my original injury and was just not noticed until it became symptomatic. Anyway, I had a cartilage "repair" technique performed on the knee in 2011 and have been running mostly without any issues then since March 2012. But yeah, I have recovered from a meniscus issue and run several PRs afterwards, in fact. :-)
- Joe
We are fragile creatures on collision with our judgment day.
I have had a meniscus repair in each knee. Both from acute rather than degenerative injuries. Be patient in your recovery and you can run as well as ever. I have recently run 5k, 10k and 10m personal bests four years after first and two years after second surgery. come back gradually and be consistent in your mileage build up
Yup. Severely torn and parts of it in shreds. Had surgery. Sergeon cleaned it up, and sew it together. Had a toen ACL at the same time. Fully recovered...running better than I was before the surgery (due to no more pain).
good friend of mine tore her miniscus about 18 mths ago. doc said no more running, ever, done. she stopped for about 2 months after having surgery, then started up biking, swimming, & light running. she has gradually built up on all 3 & is doing her 1st ever triathalon on 13th of this month. 1.2 swim 56 bike 13.1 run.
she is a 3x Boston Qualifier & has run Boston 2x. Probably not going to reach that level again with her running but I would not bet against her either. She is one tough small gal. physically & mentally tough
runktrun
Totally possible, happens often, but I repeat the same caveat: depends on the damage and how you rehab. Keeping quads and hammies strong and balanced, and glutes firing properly will take a lot of stress off the knee, and minimize any twisting or torqueing that would irritate the already busted meniscus. I tore mine slightly biking (bad fit, awkward pedal stroke, rode 80mi straight...because I'm smart like that), and PT was enough to get things working smoothly again. I focused on VMO strength to keep the knee straight, and took Mobic at the first sign of any arthritis flare-up. Keeping the inflammation under control and NOT RUNNING while it was painful and stiff minimized any additional damage to the torn up pieces. Of course, I tried ice and rest before resorting to Mobic (NSAID).
By nutrition, do you mean supplements? Research into the effectiveness of chondroitin, etc doesn't yield promising results, but there are PLENTY of anecdotes, mine included, to support its use! Can't hurt!
Also, I have a connective tissue disease and supplement with vit C, helps with collagen formation. So, good nutrition certainly can help holistically, but I don't think it can target any specific cartilage healing. Worth looking into, but make sure you find some good references. Anything that sounds too good to be true, I try to cross check with any studies www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov. Finding a PT with a background in running should help. Ask them to guide you through the exercises to make sure you're doing them right and firing the proper muscles (proprioception and mindfulness go a long way to moving pain-free). And give them good feedback on how you feel!
Not running for my health, but in spite of it.
It took me two years to fully recover. I would run 15 min on TM durring a gym workout and wait to see how bad that hurt.
After it stopped hurting as much I ran more.
Tai Chi is what helped get the knee stable again. You move in all directions knee over toe.
Now I can't tell it was ever hurt.
Return To Racing
Ortho gave me a cortisone shot. Pain was gone in 2 weeks and never came back. That was 18 months ago. Apparently it was not a bad tear.
I really appreciate you taking the time to share some of your experiences, thank you!
Sorry for the confusion. The doctor requested blood tests and they came with weak immune system, so she was trying to prevent anemia (it wasnt too bad). Nutrition part was mostly because of that.
Nevertheless before this doctor specialized on sports, in the previous city where i originally had my knee tested, the ortho said i was not a candidate for surgery and that i should take hidrolized colagen for 3 months and strength training (swimming, biking ). After the test results i only had one appoinment and then i had to move temporarily because of work and found the sports doctor i talked about the first time. Now i need to have someone else in my hometown to try to determine where am i at in the process of getting better. I have not been running, except this week, i walked ran 400m for a total of 3.6km, it was ok.
Ha! Got it.
delicate flower
I tore my left ACL in 2009 and 2013, and both times it came it multiple meniscus tears and slight MCL/PCL/LCL tears. Since that first tear, I've run six marathons (3:16 PR) and run about 50 mpw. Doc says I have about 80% of my left meniscus remaining, which he says is pretty good after the damage I've suffered.
<3
Sorry to hear of your injury. I tore my left one in the Fall of 2009 and finally went to get it looked at it in the spring of 2010. I wasn't aware of when it happened but I think it was when I was standing up from sitting crossed legged on the floor. Over the next six months there were a handful of occasions where some motion on my knee caused the (what I later was told I had a) bucket handle tear to move around, and that was the pain... over about a week's time, the fluid would build up and the discomfort was minimal... so every time I was about to make a dr. appt, the pain would subside. After a spring marathon (which actually was a pretty good one), I had an mri done on Thursday and had the procedure done on Monday. They cut out the bucket handle. I laid around for a week, and started running again after two weeks. I had no issues aside from mental ones (what was that? a twinge? oh no.) and ran a Fall marathon. I have had zero issues with that knee since then. Hope yours goes as smoothly.
Rhode Island Road Runners