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knee arthroscopy

PDRM

27-May-2013
3:33:05 PM

Brains trust,

How lame will I be and for how long after a knee arthroscopy to trim up a dodgy meniscus?

Paul

prb

27-May-2013
3:44:14 PM

Your knee will probably feel better after the op than now so you might be tempted to overdo it too soon. The surgeon will tell you no climbing for a ~6 weeks. I ignored that but did relatively gentle grades. Avoid violent heel hooks, drop knees, etc!

Eduardo Slabofvic

27-May-2013
4:00:39 PM

Just as lame as you were before, except your knee shouldn't hurt so much.

Big G

27-May-2013
4:08:48 PM

I had one two years ago. I had quite a lot of meniscus removed from top and bottom and kneecap. recovery wasn't too bad, a few weeks or so but i lost a huge amount of muscle mass from that leg before and after the op and as a result found eny sort of pressing up on that leg remained very hard for a very long time. even now there is still a bit of a differnce in strength.

One Day Hero

27-May-2013
4:09:15 PM

Yeah, had most of my lateral meniscus chopped out 6 weeks ago. Was biking gently 1 week after surgery with physio approval, which is up to medium-gentle riding for an hour a day now. Running is still a fair way off, I hope I'll be able to play soccer again eventually.

Just returned from 2 weeks at araps climbing easy stuff every day. I made a point of not rocking over (how I blew the bloody thing up in the first place), and had to limp up a few things with the non-gimpy leg leading the way. Didn't seem too stupid, but I started very easy and talked Grantoss into taking the sharp end on everything I was keen to go up but iffy about leading.........and simultaneously made it sound like this was all for his benefit :D

james

28-May-2013
4:42:00 AM

I dislocated my patella (kneecap) years ago. Arthroscopy after 2 weeks, on the bike after 6 weeks (4 weeks post surgery), then went on a mountaineering trip after 8 weeks (6 post surgery). Trip wasn't super successful, I wasn't very fit, but it was doable.

salty crag

28-May-2013
6:37:33 AM

Get on the wall as soon as you feel you can but avoid crash pad landings. Had both knees done and improved my down climbing heaps.

freesolo

28-May-2013
6:59:56 AM

important you ice numerous times a day immediately following surgery. massage the muscles (thigh/calf). take the anti-inflammatories. don't walk on it for 48 hours if possible. then try very gentle bends. the knee itself will be fine. it's everything around the knee from swelling to cramps that is the biggest pain in the ass. don't forget to stretch your hamstring.

lacto

28-May-2013
8:17:42 AM

If the pain doesnt drop off quickly go back to see if it is infectected . One knee was great the other many years later was infected which took ages to clean up with antibiotics and eventually got rid of the creaks (not regular pain ) after a long course of antimflatories. treat carefully as my "next step" is replacement which have a 15year life

PDRM

28-May-2013
8:28:18 AM

Thanks for all the great info. My main concern actually is that I'm flying to the US at day 12 post-op...

Paul

One Day Hero

28-May-2013
9:21:56 AM

12 days is not a long time, my knee was still very swollen and creaky at that stage.

prb

28-May-2013
10:39:19 AM

To answer your original question PDRM, it will depend on how much work the surgeon needs to do. In my case, a washing machine-sized boulder went through me on the Dent du Geant causing a torn medial ligament, a partially torn ACL and a tear in the lateral meniscus (and a squashed foot which really hurt!) At arthroscopy, all they did was put a few stitches in the meniscus and remove a piece of cartilage about the size of a 5c coin. I climbed in a knee brace for a while after that which prevented any impulsive, damaging moves. If you need a lot of cartilage removed like ODH, it's obviously a different story.

PDRM

28-May-2013
12:15:31 PM

Reasonably well define lateral (to which I read not a parrot-beak) tear on the underside of the medial meniscus. Not complete thickness resection. No ligament damage. There was some slight bruising of the subchondral bone at the time but I assume that has resolved.

oberon

29-May-2013
9:45:59 PM

For what it's worth, I had a knee arthroscopy to clean up torn medial meniscus about 6 weeks ago (sounding very similar to what you have described). Can now ride, walk, do most stuff, mostly back to normal. The physio is boring but worth doing as others have said because muscle wastage happens really fast, while you are hobbling around post surgery. After only twelve days your knee is likely to still be swollen etc. Remember that the holes they put into your knee look really small, but then they are raking around in there with metal probes.

Winston Smith

31-May-2013
1:41:55 PM

Had one-third of my right meniscus removed arthroscopically. Riding a bike two weeks later. Climbing three weeks later. Running four weeks later. No physio.

grantoss

31-May-2013
2:31:20 PM

On 27/05/2013 One Day Hero wrote:
I started very easy and talked Grantoss
>into taking the sharp end on everything I was keen to go up but iffy about
>leading.........and simultaneously made it sound like this was all for
>his benefit :D

And here I was thinking you were just a good bloke, all coming into perspective now!

PDRM

1-Jun-2013
7:08:37 PM

What did the physio involve?

P

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