Lurker needing advice on knee injury

[pinkly]

Hi, all! I am really just a lurker, but I was hoping to get some advice, I guess.

Last October, I started to have pain in my right knee while driving. Annoying but not awful. I wasn't working out at the time, and only really noticed it when in the car.

In December, I started Insanity. In February or March, I started running. The pain was then most noticeable with the videos - lunges and anything where that knee was bent and the foot off the floor. It did not hurt when running.

In the months since, I have cycled through insanity, and all the phases of Focus T25, as well as worked up to running 4 days a week.

I now feel the "wrongness" in my knee 24/7. It is not always pain, more discomfort. Same pattern of when it is at the worst.

I recently had an MRI which showed torn cartilage on my knee cap. The dr asked that I come in to discuss options. That appointment is later this month.

Basically I am wondering if any of you have experienced torn cartilage with no clear moment of initial injury? And if you were able to continue your workouts / training. I am actually training for a marathon at the moment and would hate to be derailed.

Sorry this got so long, and thank you if you made it all the way through!

[sadlebred]

I tore the meniscus in my right knee with no known moment of injury. I woke up one morning unable to walk without severe pain. A MRI confirmed a large tear about 2 weeks later. Because I was in so much pain, we decided to repair it several weeks later. I had surgery to remove the damaged portion of the meniscus, correct patellar tendonosis, and clean up some other things in the knee. I had a second surgery a week later because it got infected (I also spent 5 days in the hospital).

I'd see what the doctor has to say. At the very least, you are probably looking at some time off and physical therapy to help your body heal. At the worst, you could be facing surgery. I don't know if anyone can say "yes, keep working out" as everyone's injury is different. I was able to ride my bike without too much discomfort and rode with my doctor's ok. I could barely walk, though, and it was causing a quality of life problem. It never killed anyone to take a week off, ice your knee, and give it some time to heal. Have you taken any time off?

Pain is our body's way of telling us something is wrong. Follow your body's cues. None of us know if working out will hurt it more, make the injury worse, etc. If it hurts, don't do it, and ask your doctor for medical advice for your situation.

[pinkly]

Thank you! Yikes, that sounds painful.

Technically, no, I haven't taken time off. However, the pain started nearly 2 months before I even started working out. So yeah, 2 months off in a way.

The dr mentioned injections or surgery in his voicemail, so we shall see.

ETA - dr went on vacation pretty much immediately after he read my MRI. He's not back yet. So I haven't been able to talk to him.

[thom]

I think Sadlebred is exactly right. Follow your doctor's advice, as none of us can say exactly how exercise or running will effect your knee.

I'm sorry your dealing with this. I hope you can heal up with minimal intervention. GL!

[emilyj]

I had knee pain/issues for several years. Ultimately, I had a similar situation to Sadle, minus the infection. Torn meniscus with no real known moment of injury. When I had the MRI, they discovered the tear, additional torn cartilage, and a ton of scar tissue that needed to be cleaned up. The doctor said I could try PT and see if that worked, or have surgery. I opted for surgery, because I didn't want to waste 6 weeks in PT to only end up needing surgery. I was tired of the constant, nagging pain I had been having for years. The new, intense pain was too much to deal with.

[ilovecandy]

I had a torn meniscus just over 2 years ago. I ended up having surgery on it. with physical therapy afterwards. And I even had to go get a shot a few months later because I was still having some issues. Best bet is to wait for the doctor, because there are different degrees of tears. I also had no known moment of injury other than my knee was bothering me. Finally it bothered me so much that my doctor ordered an MRI and that is when I found out.

I would definitely go light on the physical activity though because that can aggravate it. I did when I was having my pain. It wasn't too long after my surgery that i started running again (thought don't do what i did and over did it so i was in pain again thus needing the shot). I think maybe a month and half after my surgery and I was running again.

[emilyinchile]

Speaking very generally as someone who's been around a lot of sports but is not any kind of doctor, for meniscus tears you can often avoid surgery by strengthening muscles so that you have no or minor pain during activity. The tear is still there, but you often don't make it worse by working out on it, so it's just a question of managing pain rather than avoiding further damage. The injections he mentioned could be a corticosteroid to reduce swelling or a straight-up analgesic to reduce pain, both of which I would imagine would have the purpose of allowing you to do PT to see if that's enough or if you need surgery. But again, my experience with this is all as an observer and much more for meniscus tears than patellar cartilage. Good luck!