Howdy, Stranger!
Categories
Options
Meniscus Trim - 14 Years after ACL Rupture - Running Help :(
xink1982
✭✭✭
Hi Guys - I'll try to keep this short - but I've been through the following over the last few years:
2004 - Ruptured my ACL playing Football - aged 21
2007 - After a failed reconstruction, I then got an ACL revision done to stabilise my knee and decided to quit football for good.
2009 - 2013 Joined a Running club and did several 10k's a year and quite a few Parkruns.
2014 - Tore my meniscus (whilst trying to train for my 1st marathon) - I didn't initially know what the injury was and so did some limited running before getting a scan done
2015 - Meniscal repair done. I went through rehab but a few months after returning to running the repair failed
May 2017 - Meniscal trim done where they removed 50% of my Cartilage due to the severity of the tear.
So now I'm back to running - albeit shorter distances (3k to 4 k tempo runs) - My knee feels better than before the surgery with no pain but.....
I seem to have almost permanent inflammation in the lateral side of my knee where they did the surgery.
And the worrying thing is my knee is becoming very aggravated and sore/ swollen from my desk job which I've noticed more so before the XMAS holidays.
Has anyone had similar experiences ? I kinda think I've probably got arthritis setting in now. Which concerns me long term in so much that running which I love may well become more difficult as time goes on - and being only 35 now - I have serious concerns over the long term health of my knee
.
I'm unsure if there is anything medically which can be done for me now. (Meniscal transplants cost in excess of £10k)and I don't think I can physically do another surgery
Thanks
Michael
2004 - Ruptured my ACL playing Football - aged 21
2007 - After a failed reconstruction, I then got an ACL revision done to stabilise my knee and decided to quit football for good.
2009 - 2013 Joined a Running club and did several 10k's a year and quite a few Parkruns.
2014 - Tore my meniscus (whilst trying to train for my 1st marathon) - I didn't initially know what the injury was and so did some limited running before getting a scan done
2015 - Meniscal repair done. I went through rehab but a few months after returning to running the repair failed
May 2017 - Meniscal trim done where they removed 50% of my Cartilage due to the severity of the tear.
So now I'm back to running - albeit shorter distances (3k to 4 k tempo runs) - My knee feels better than before the surgery with no pain but.....
I seem to have almost permanent inflammation in the lateral side of my knee where they did the surgery.
And the worrying thing is my knee is becoming very aggravated and sore/ swollen from my desk job which I've noticed more so before the XMAS holidays.
Has anyone had similar experiences ? I kinda think I've probably got arthritis setting in now. Which concerns me long term in so much that running which I love may well become more difficult as time goes on - and being only 35 now - I have serious concerns over the long term health of my knee
.I'm unsure if there is anything medically which can be done for me now. (Meniscal transplants cost in excess of £10k)and I don't think I can physically do another surgery
Thanks
Michael
The materials in this website are in no way intended to replace the professional medical care, advice, diagnosis or treatment of a doctor, qualified personal trainer, therapist, dietitian or nutritionist Runners's World, Part of the Hearst UK well-being network © Copyright 2017
Comments
Much the same pal
Ruptured ACL playing football in 1996, but wasn't diagnosed properly till I changed doctors in 2006. They couldn't repair it as a cyst had formed on the bone where the ACL had pulled away. I did have some meniscus removed the following year to relieve some pain.
In short I'm missing about half the meniscus, the ACL, have a cyst and arthritis to some extent.
However, I still manage to race 10K, half marathons and in the last couple of years have stretched to a marathon.
I think there's a lot to be said for keeping moving, keeping the legs strong. In fact my knee tends to flare up during periods of inactivity. The cold seems to be my worst enemy, as is sitting for long periods and not keeping it moving.
Like you I have that swelling on the side but tend not to ice it (see cold above).
I found switching to a forefoot/midfoot strike useful. Carrying on worked for me, but it's not an endorsement to do so as everyone's different
Good luck
My issue here is that I've ran approximately 300 Miles between 2014/2015 with a torn meniscus ( for 90% of this time I was unaware I has such a serious issue as it wasn't painful)
By the time I finally got it repaired and then trimmed I had developed a double bucket handle tear which in turn resulted in 50% of my meniscus being trimmed out.
My knee is now swelling badly at work after sitting for long periods ( it wasn't during early December) which means I've either torn it again OR I've reached a point where my knee can no longer handle running...
I'll most likely get an appointment back to see by GP but as I'm sure you can appreciate this is pretty devastating for me having to exit the sport at only 35. I know there are always people worse off - It's just very raw to try and process this at the moment & to fathom that I'm potentially not going to be able to run ever again