The Results......Torn Meniscus

I have been waiting till I knew for sure but today I got the call. Yesterdays MRI  confirmed what my doctor and I suspected. I have a torn Left Knee Meniscus. To tell you the truth until my doctor told me what he suspected I didn't  truly know what a Meniscus was.  But boy do I know what one is now!!  Thanks to Google OR not.

The meniscus is a piece of cartilage that provides a cushion between your thighbone (femur) and shinbone (tibia). There are two menisci in each knee joint. They can be damaged or torn during activities that put pressure on or rotate the knee joint.

I have a "medium to severe" tear. I do know that is bad, bad enough to cause the "locking" up of my knee that I have been experiencing when I run or go down the stairs. OR even lying in bed the other night I moved just right and my knee locked up. Luckily it doesn't stay locked long but enough to get my attention. When you have a bigger tear you get the locking issues. The "tear" flaps over inside the knee causing the knee to lock up because that meniscus should be flat all the time so you bones can glide over on another. When they cannot glide, you cannot move your knee = the locking.

See aren't you glad I did some research for you?


So what does this mean? It means surgery to fix. It's a day surgery so not too terrible. I meet with a surgeon on Thursday.

Want to know the crazy thing?  So there are 3 of us in my running group. And my buddy Karen has the EXACT same thing going on with her right knee. She met with her surgeon yesterday and is having surgery next Thursday.

We have been keeping each other positive and sharing our research/doctor knowledge.

The good thing is the surgery recovery time isn't that long & you can start exercising pretty quickly afterwards. In fact it's encouraged so you can get your knee working again. The nice thing about this surgery is once the meniscus is fixed you're good to go. It's not like repairing a muscle or tendon. Where if you exercise to quickly after surgery you can hurt it again. Once the meniscus is fixed, it's fixed.

 It's the Best worst case for a sports injury.

And yes, I am still planning on doing the Tinkerbell in January. The doctor said I could be up and running for it. I wont finish in a stellar time but hey I wasn't planning on a wonderful time. It's my first half so no matter what I will PR, ha!