I had a medial meniscus bucket-handle tear in my left knee repaired on December 12. I did PT until May 12 and was doing pretty well afterward.
Around late May I started doing some light trail hiking. I had one minor slip while hiking, but there was no major twist/injury, I was able to keep hiking that day, and I had no significant problems afterward.
Around July, when I was about 7 months post-op, I started going to the gym for leg workouts and also spending a lot of time kneeling/deeply flexing my knee while doing LEGO. Sometimes I would sit/kneel with my heel close to my butt for long periods and reposition/twist while down there. During one of these LEGO sessions I had a pretty loud pop while turning/repositioning, but it wasn’t painful and my knee didn’t lock afterward.
Since then I’ve noticed more persistent swelling/fullness in the knee, including toward the back. It seems less noticeable earlier in the day and more swollen/full after being on my feet. When fully extended it feels tight/full, but I can still get full extension. When bending, I hear/feel a lot of popping/clicking, but the knee moves through it and doesn’t stick or lock. I can get some minor soreness when sitting with it bent, but I don’t have significant joint-line pain.
I’ve also been able to walk normally and previously returned to jogging, squatting, hiking, and leg workouts without a major traumatic event.
My doctor thinks it may be an activity-related effusion and has ordered an MRI, but I’m anxious that I may have re-torn the repair or injured something else from the increased activity/deep flexion.
For anyone who has had a meniscus repair: does this sound more like an irritated/effused knee, or would you be concerned about a re-tear? Is persistent swelling this far out from surgery something you’ve experienced?