Knee Surgery

Anybody here have knee surgery lately ie in the last 4 or 5 years? I may have to have it done, probably torn meniscus (cartilage) or MCL tear. Just
trying to get an idea generally about people's experiences from a non medical or regular guy point of veiw. I know most everybody here isn't a
doctor so if you can share feel free to please.

I haven't had a knee replacement but I have had a hip replacement, surgery went well, pain was bearable just taking everyday panadol, I should have had it done earlier.
I do have a friend who had a knee replacement about 3 weeks ago his experience is similar to mine, very happy he had it done.
Norm

MARNAV1 said:

Anybody here have knee surgery lately ie in the last 4 or 5 years? I may have to have it done, probably torn meniscus (cartilage) or MCL tear. Just
trying to get an idea generally about people's experiences from a non medical or regular guy point of veiw. I know most everybody here isn't a
doctor so if you can share feel free to please.

Click to expand...

I had my right knee done 4 years ago for a torn meniscus. I had orthroscopic surgery in the hospital. In at 6AM out at 4PM.
Best way to describe the pain prior to surgery is a sharp knife
in the knee joint, only certain times. It got to the point that I couldn't sleep, every time I turned, the pain would wake me up.

Surgery went well, I was walking around about 2 hours after the surgery, no pain. They had me stay in recovery for a few hours because I had a spinal to numb the lower half for surgery. I was out for most of the surgery.

I am over 40 - the surgeon had me wait 4 weeks before starting Physical Therapy (PT) . I had been riding a bike a lot prior to the surgery, I have fairly strong legs. I did PT 3 times a week for 2 months, that went well. The last week my knee filled with fluid and got 2x normal size. I had it drained and I finished the PT.

My knee is still slightly swollen, let's say 5%. My first doctor had me wait too long before surgery, The knee is slightly arthritic. You know how people complain about joints when it rains - well mine does. I have about 95% of the flexibility that I had before, No matter how much I try to stretch it out, The left leg is always a little better. Both legs are equal in strength. I get a dull pain if I walk a lot, not all the time. Every once in awhile I have a very slight limp. The knee is just not the same.

I am glad I had the surgery, I probably should start exercising more again.

Hope that helps -

not sure I am any help....but yes. In March I smashed my tibia plateau to bits

Got a load of stainless steel in there now

Still recovering. Partial weight bairing on crutches. Its a bit different to what you are talking about though.

Stu

I have had the operation in both knees,,,before operation just like above post like a hot knife twisting in my knee,,
surgery was fast recovery about a week,,
now a few years later knees are great just a ocassional pop,,but all is good,
I used dry beans in a sock stuffed into freezer than laid the sock with beans over my knee worked way better than ice packs it molded right in

http://www.lifespan.org/staywell/videosurgery.html

Lasernerd said:

I have had the operation in both knees,,,before operation just like above post like a hot knife twisting in my knee,,
surgery was fast recovery about a week,,
now a few years later knees are great just a ocassional pop,,but all is good,
I used dry beens in a sock stuffed into freezer than laid the sock with beans over my knee worked way better than ice packs it molded right in

Click to expand...

What kind of beans?

I completely tore my right ACL about 6 years ago...had surgery about 5 years ago. Partial meniscus tear also.

Doc did orthoscopic surgery to clean up the cartiledge problem and I had a hamstring graft (instead of the patellar tendon or allograft). Also had them use bioabsorbable screws to attach the graft since I thought it would be slightly easier to get a waiver to enlist this way. (I got the waiver)

Make sure you get the ice-box with the aquarium pump...it will really help with the pain. Make sure you use the CPM machine as often as you're supposed to also.

Had physical therapy for about 7 or 8 weeks afterward. This is important in order to regain full range of motion on your knee. The doctor told me those weeks right after the surgery are a crucial time in regaining your knee flexibility, so do your best at PT. It will hurt. A lot. But it was worth it to have a stable knee again.

Good luck.

JM-99

I've had my right knee worked on three times. ACL reconstruction and meniscus repair. They had to remove the repaired meniscus three years later. About only half of it healed properly. The surgery is pretty simple but the recovery is another story. You really need to do all the physical therapy as perscribed and ice it often. Dont forget tho use R.I.C.E. (Rest, Ice, Compression, Elevation) Get moving as soon as you are able. Oh and its painfull too

My mother had knee replacement surgery 10 months ago. She spent 4 days in the hospital, and about three weeks at home with relatively restricted mobility. She said that right after surgery the pain was fairly severe but still an improvement over the constant pain before the surgery. And the post surgery pain was controlled better with the meds. It was about 3 months to regain full mobility which was a great improvement over what she had before surgery. Her only continued complaint is that it aches during cold weather. She still uses a walker on trips to the store and such due to her back problems, but normal daily living is much better.

My sister had her knee replaced - that is a whole other thing than a torn meniscus. Major surgery vs orthroscopic. Recovery and PT is very different.

I had surgery on my left knee about 2 1/2 years ago. They removed about 25% of the meniscus. It took about 2 hours and after recovery I walked out of the hospital. I still have pain and clicking in the knee, and I was not able to recover to a level to return to work as a peace officer.

All in all, I would have it done again. I'm not happy about the overall outcome but that is the fault of the injury not the surgery to fix it.

I have a torn ACL too... Damn skiing... I think I'll "bring it in for repairs" in winter. ATM I have no pain but it's a little unstable. Walking is ok but not running...
They do the arthroscopic surgery and the "hamstring graft" thing here in Germany too. They tell it works great... But I never had a surgery...
How were your anesthetization? Partial or complete? I've been told, they normally do anesthetization through the medulla. But I don't like to be awake!

I've had the exact same surgery back in 2004 on my right knee and it's nothing to worry about.
Now depending on the extent of the damage, the Dr might have to open your knee with a scalple if it's too extensive, or just make micro surgery with a laser if it's minor damage. With the scalple you will end up having a small scarr 3-4 stitches and with the laser, two small holes that can barely be seen.
I had the scalple treatment I was admitted on a Wednesday, did the surgery on Thursday and got released on Friday
What you need to look after is the post surgery treatment, try to put weight on your leg as soon as possible, i was leaning on it by Monday and was using 1 crutch by Tuesday.
It's going to hurt a lot at the beggining but the more you leave it the more difficult is going to be to recover later on.
Good luck and i hope it all goes well

Just got it done yesterday and it went very smoothly. A little painful right after they gave me morphine for that. Rehab starts tomorrow but basically no pain, didn't even feel the IV needle at all. Thanks for all your input guys!

:thumbsup: Take care!

Wish you a solid recovery!

Larry

Get well soon and don't forget to work on it as much as possible and after the work out use an ice pack.

I'm glad it went well MANAV1, and thanks for the smooth trade we had on the day you had your surgery. I like my "vintage" surefire. :wave:

Jan