17 Year old, with Meniscus Injury.. need advice

Hi Brian,

Be sure to get a second and maybe even a third opinion from other orthopedic surgeons before you chose to have surgery. Explore all options before you decide to have surgery. I am 58 years old and just had a TKR last summer. I tore my meniscus when I was 19 years old. I didn't get a second opinion then prior to the surgery to repair the torn cartilage. I wish had never had that surgery. 40 years later I had no choice but to have a TKR because of the unnecessary and botched surgery at age 19.

I don't know what kind of surgery a meniscal tear would need to be honest. All I know is a total knee replacement would mean a lot of pain medications and physical therapy. And I don't know if karate would be good for you or not. Your doctor is the best one to talk to you about all this. Good luck to you.

Depends on how bad it is. Doc won't know the extent til he gets a MRI. Even then it won't show everything. Usually they scope them. He will then see how bad it is.

Meniscus tear is very easy surgery. Mine was in and out surgery in Thursday. Back to work on Monday  ( at the time I taught young children and constantly on my feet).  No other surgery was needed until 25 years later, unrelated TKR.  I don't know where you are but here in the U.S. the surgery is quite simple. You would. not need heavy duty pain meds. School would not be a problem. As for wrestling,  that would be determined by your doctor.

A lot depends on severity of tear. Anything from rest and physical therapy to surgery. A sports medicine Dr is generally the one to look at this injury due to your age and activity. Rest now so you do no further damage. If it it a tear that requires surgery, you will need therapy post o.o and will have to give it time to heal. Not sure what you mean by rest of the year but generally this is a 6 month to year getting it strong enough for competition

Mri gives a clear look at damage. Symptoms can decide if surgery is necessary.(ie locking, knee giving out- there can be floating cartilage that needs removal) Ellen57898 is right. Easy in and out surgery in US. Via arthroscopy NOT PKR OR TKR. A few weeks swelling. Karate has to wait a while as kicking and being kicked adds to inflammatory process reducing your mobility. How long your out is up to your doc. You may need a knee replacement down the road because a meniscus tear that requires arthroscopy is a shaving of the cartilage. So that means how long will your cartilage last before you have symptoms of bone on bone. Google a tear and write a list of questions for your doc. Informed consent is everything.

Good luck

Hello there, yes if you need surgery it will be arthroscopy. Day case surgery, you go home when you've recovered from anaesthetic. It's minimally invasive, quick & gives good results after torn cartilage. You will need Physiotherapy after but that is'nt too bad.

I had arthroscopy in 2007 on my left leg, had 2 tears 'tidied' up & told I had arthritis in knee. I had TKR on my right knee in Oct last year. The left needs TKR but after the arthroscopy has been less painful than the right. So it was a good decision to have it done.

MRI may not show anything, mine didn't!

Good luck, I hope they sort it for you soon.

Marilyn

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