According to a MRI scan I have a slight tear to the meniscus L knee, options are to have arthroscopic surgery or of course HTFU!!! but unfortunately it doesn't seem to be going away.(had it for 10 mths)
Also have been told its 4 weeks recovery time, so is it reasonable to think i,ll be back in the water after just 4 weeks?

Any kiters out there who have had the surgery & had a good result,also how long were you off the water.??

Pain right under the knee cap, the pain is much worse when riding strapped & boosting....ride mostly unstrapped now.

Just booked in for surgery next week

This is probably one in a million, but i knew a guy when i was working in recruitment in Darwin who needed an arthroscopy after falling off his postie bike and injuring his knee. He was employed by my agency. He went in for the op, and all was well afterwards, and he was back swimming and fishing soon afterwards (maybe too soon). A week or so after the op the site became infected, and shortly after, within a day, he was in hospital in a critical condition. He had contracted a serious tropical infection that the doctors said was likely from the ocean. It was a flesh-eating bacteria and over the next fortnight he had 11 operations and died on the operating table 4 or 5 times, and they removed a large part of his leg from ankle to hip. He did end up fighting it off and recovering, albeit with a massive scar, and lost most of the use of his leg, though still able to walk. We retrained him and he came to work for us. He was apparently one of only a couple of known similar cases in the world at the time.

Had surgury 15th August for the same injury but while they were in there they did a few other things and still not been able to kite. Tried to kite after 5 weeks the operation and put it back months still cant go out on the water and I have done it all to get better, Physio, rest, deep tissue massage and still looking at getting on the water in the new year...every one had a different out come...be patient or you will make the recovery time triple..Good luck and a speedy recovery to ya........

I had a large tearthat i put up with for over a year untill wakeboarding oneday did a big tantrum and because the muscle had faded away because my other leg was taking up the work. I ended up falling funny and tore it again.

Anyway so i had a huge tear and my previous tear had been chewed up by my knee bones and was floating around the back of my knee just under the skin.
The new tear had to be trimmed and sewn and the old tear trimmed.

I was told 6 weeks.......
Cruches for 8 weeks, knee brace for 3months and wasnt able to start racing sailing dingies again for over 9 months. I had physio every 2 weeks. I did a worlds about 6 months after and it was still dodgy.
Its still pretty bad but before the surgery i couldnt bend my knee, as in squat or come close without alotof pain or poping the tear out the side, i used to get a big lump when i felt like my knee was out. That was the cartilidge.

Anyway i got mine fixed through public, my mri scan was a six month wait and another six for surgery. So it was a long time all up.
If your were to go private dr kuhnemann if you are on the goldcoast, he is somehow related to my gf, and her grandpa got his miniscal tear fixed by him.

Oh and im only 21 at the moment and my surgery was two years ago.
Trustme you wont be kiting in 5 weeks

Knee surgery through key hole - torn meniscus (Chonroidal flap?)
Sore for a week, stiff for a few weeks, able to take kiting at about 6 weeks, didn't feel confident for taking full on pressure for a couple of months.

Prince Charles Private - Tony Ganko, 2008?

Think I will cancel the surgery for now and try to find another way to deal with the knee, & if that doesn't work have the Op in the off season.

Thanks everyone for the info & PMs.

Also good luck to the guys that have been under the knife & still recovering, hope your back on the water soon.

Cheers, Top

toppleover said...

Thanks for the feed back so far.
Surely someone out there has a happy ending to their knee surgery?

ANYONE???

Ive had 2 on each knee, i was back at work after a week because i had too being a roof chippy at the time, have had a niggle in my left knee for a while now but i'll wait til this seasons over if it ever bloody starts

toppleover said...

According to a MRI scan I have a slight tear to the meniscus L knee, options are to have arthroscopic surgery or of course HTFU!!! but unfortunately it doesn't seem to be going away.(had it for 10 mths)
Also have been told its 4 weeks recovery time, so is it reasonable to think i,ll be back in the water after just 4 weeks?

Any kiters out there who have had the surgery & had a good result,also how long were you off the water.??

Mate, if it is a slight tear, I wouldn't be considering surgery, I'd be hitting up a physio and getting onto a course of rehab. An ex of mine who is a physio said to me surgery should be your last resort, as it does more damage getting the arthroscope in and out of the site.

I guess only you know how sore it is but I would be getting a series of exercises to do off a physio and being disciplined about it, doing them 5-6 times a week to stabilise your knee. The upside being, if surgery is the route you end up going down, you have a nice strong stable knee and recovery will be faster.

Also, you won't be killing your kite season, although being in QLD, I believe it's backwards to the Southern States anyway

I had tears to the meniscus some years ago. It was quite painful driving and excruciating when I got out of the car after a trip.

Had the surgery and it was good as new. I was under orders to be careful for 6 weeks. In reality it was fine almost straight away. I obeyed the doctor's orders ... mostly.

Some years later I got some more intermittent knee pain. I went to the same surgeon. He asked if the pain was persistent or if it went away. I said it went away. He said come back and see me when it doesn't go away. It's been fine since.

So, if your surgeon is any good and you trust him then do what he says. Certainly all the orthopoedic surgeons I have spoken to will only cut as a last resort.

Whether you can kite after 6 weeks is up to you. I can edge and pop and all that. Lots of load and hard work. I can also cruise on a directional and carve around with virtually no strain on my body at all. It depends on the weather and my mood.

The other side of all this is that I am in my mid-50s. Things start to hurt once you pass 50 and there is nothing you can do about it. Just keep fit. Have fun. Don't moan too much when the pain hits.

djdojo said...

Had 70% of medial meniscus removed 7 months ago and it's still slowly improving. Was kiting after 2 months but not really loading until 4 or 5.

The meniscus won't heal, and if a bit is flapping about it can make it get worse.

Surgery is expensive and painful but is better than letting it deteriorate further.

(I've heard that for young people, less than 25, there are some new rehab options, but didn't pursue them as I'm too old for the tissue to have the necessary regenerative capacities.)

Whilst the meniscus generally has poor healing capacities (depending exactly where the tears is because there is some blood supply to the outer rim) it is not exactly true that doing nothing is going to make it worse/untreatable. Studies have shown that every time you surgically enter a joint you speed up degenerative processes just by making the incisions alone so sometimes its a hard call to make particularly for the younger riders as early surgery normally leads to more surgery down the track. Sometimes you can't avoid it and need it done which is all fine but like most others have said you are doing yourself a favour to exhaust all other options first.