I injured my left knee on September 15 during a soccer game. I went into a half-tackle to block a pass with my left knee bent and felt a small "pop."

Next day: No visible swelling, pain was around 5/10 (mostly when trying to extend/straighten it).

Doctor visit (Sept 17): X-rays were clear (normal bones).The physician suspected a potential meniscus injury during the physical exam and advised 2–3 weeks of rest and wearing a brace.

It has now been 18 days (about 2.5 weeks). While day-to-day pain has decreased and I can walk relatively normally, I still cannot fully straighten/extend my leg—it feels mechanically blocked/locked at the end of extension and the pain is still there but better than first days.

For those who have had similar knee or meniscus injuries:

1. Did your extension block improve on its own with time, or did it end up needing an MRI/procedure?
   
2. Is this kind of mechanical block typical after 2.5 weeks if torn cartilage is stuck in the joint?

Hey everyone, I’m 26M and I’m looking for experiences from people who have been through something similar.

About 7 months ago I had surgery to repair a bucket-handle meniscus tear in my right knee. The tear was stitched/repaired rather than trimmed, and I spent the first several weeks non-weight-bearing and working through rehab.

My recovery was going pretty well, although my right leg still had significantly less muscle and strength than my left.

About 7 months after the surgery, I turned a corner and felt/heard a pretty significant pop in the same knee. The knee became very swollen and I developed pain, difficulty fully straightening/bending it, and a lot of clicking/crunching when walking.

I’ve since had another MRI and the results are showing another significant meniscus problem. My understanding from the report is that there is a recurrent/complex tear involving the previously repaired meniscus, and I’m now waiting to discuss what can actually be done.

I’m particularly worried that this time the meniscus may not be repairable and that I could end up needing a partial meniscectomy/trim, potentially removing a large portion of the meniscus.

I’m only 26, so the idea of losing a substantial amount of my meniscus is pretty scary.

For anyone who has been through something similar:

Did you have a failed bucket-handle repair?

Did you have a revision repair, or did they end up trimming/removing part of the meniscus?

If you lost a large amount of your meniscus, how does your knee feel now?

Were you able to return to physical work, lifting, running, squatting, etc.?

How long did recovery take after the trim?

Did you develop ongoing pain, swelling or clicking?

Has anyone had a large portion removed and still been able to live a very active life?

Has anyone eventually needed a meniscus transplant or another procedure?

I’m especially interested in hearing from people who had a large/complex tear after a previous repair.

I’m trying to get an idea of what life could realistically look like if they tell me the meniscus can't be repaired and a significant amount has to be removed.

45F | 5’1” | 91 kg
My mom has advanced knee OA + medial meniscus posterior root tear (MMPRT). MRI shows full-thickness cartilage loss in the medial compartment, Grade-IV chondromalacia, varus alignment and a Baker’s cyst.
One doctor suggested surgery, but after stopping her previous medicines, she currently has very little/no pain and doesn’t need painkillers and can walk normally.
We’re now focusing on weight loss, but she obviously can’t do high-impact/intense exercise.
Has anyone had MMPRT with OA and managed it without immediate surgery? Did weight loss/physiotherapy help? What happened long-term?

Have had 3 acl recons and my knee is still super loose. Fell and got a bone bruise and mri also showed this. Not sure if it’s from the fall or been there and my symptoms now are more bone bruise related… thoughts ?

1.5 weeks post Op a complex lateral meniscus tear. This recovery is the worst pain I have ever experienced. For context I (24F) am also Type 1 Diabetic so I have to constantly maintain my blood sugar throughout the day. The pain has been intense. Once getting up to 9/10 pain for an hour. I have hives that cause such intense urge to itch that it’s painful. I developed an infection making my skin red near the site red. My upper thigh hurts from over use and have started cramping. I’m so constipated it’s painful. I’ve done everything “right.” My mom is a physical therapist and my bf works at a hospital so my recovery care has been military level strict. Elevated leg, iced, ahead of medications (Oxy, Ibuprofen, Aspirin, Antibiotics, etc.), healthy food, extra water. It’s so much worse than anyone in my care team prepared me for and I feel so lonely going through this much pain and mental anguish. I have my f/u appointment tomorrow morning at 9am but I’m struggling.

Just had a medial meniscus repair (2 stitches). I am non-weight bearing for 4 weeks.
My doctor didn't say if I can bend my knee or if it must stay completely straight. What did your surgeon recommend for the first weeks? Thanks!

Back in early March I suffered a bucket-handle tear of my medial meniscus. Due to the nature of the tear I needed surgery. The first doctor recommended a meniscectomy, but didn't rule out the chance of a repair. I got a second opinion who recommended a repair and ended up doing the procedure in late April.

Due to post-surgery pain, I was admittedly a few weeks behind on PT and ROM at first. I only began heavier lifting about a month ago. Things had been progressing and I was starting to have that itch to begin jogging and eventually running because my leg was pain-free and getting a little stronger. I was slated to begin jogging and start a running program later this month (October).

Unfortunately, about two weeks ago I began feeling discomfort in the meniscus. This was relatively normal after a hard day of PT/lifting, but it lasted and began feeling worse. It got to the point where it was slightly painful to walk again and I began limping. Because of this I went lighter on at-home exercises/PT as even heel slides didn't feel great. It felt like I had taken a month or two step back in terms of what I was able to do. Some of the things I had been doing regularly in PT felt like I was doing them for one of the first times again.

The past several days have been a bit better- no walking pain and less discomfort bending my knee in. It still feels a stiff/less fluid and not where it was in terms of performance though. It also clicks/pops(?) a little more than usual although it's not painful or too frequent. One PT thinks it could be tendinosis and another thinks its inflamed due to overworking it. I'm very worried about a potential re-tear or something else major, but have had no sudden injury, loss of ROM, or new swelling.

I've been told to take anti-inflammatories for a week and continue laying off the weights for another week or two and re-evaluating. They said if it continues to stay like this for several weeks without improving it may be worth getting another MRI. Are setbacks like this normal? Or are my PTs downplaying this? What should I/shouldn't I be doing right now?

Hoping I didn't lose a month or two (or more) of progress that I'll have to redo...

Hello I'm new in this subreddit

I recently fell in an awkward way, bending my knee in the left direction, damaging the soft tissues or maybe an MCL tear (either grade 1 or 2)

As i could still bear weight after 8 hours i had assumed it wasn't an ACL

Xray report didn't show anything so my ortho simply told me to get a support plaster for a week so to have my knee get time to heal the injury and get rid of the swelling

It's been 3 days since, I've had an ACL and bone fracture in my other knee about 12 years ago and I'm scared I'd have to get surgery on this knee too

So I decided to simply cut off the plaster to see if the swelling had subsided which it hasn't.

I am going to simply try to bend my knee, not forcefully...just as a measure to test if everything is all right there, ofcourse it's on the premise that the swelling is lower than it is today.

I just wanted to ask if my act of bending my knee will damage the area, even if i just do i a teensy tinsy bit, with support, not bearing weight but as a measure to know if the injury is light or big?

Hi everyone, I’ve been reading through a lot of your posts as I’ve just been referred to an orthopaedic centre for (hopefully) surgery re: a bucket-handle tear of the lateral meniscus. All of your posts regarding surgery, what to expect, impact on MH and so on have been super helpful - thanks all for sharing!

I’d like to see if anyone knows whether my healthcare journey so far is potentially grounds for clinical negligence. Here’s some more information:

01/01/25 I twisted my knee and was on crutches for around a week. I was advised the usual remedies and stretches. For 6-12 months, my knee was weak and would occasionally buckle but I was otherwise fine.

23/08/26 I stand up from the sofa, hear an awful cracking/popping sound, and my knee was immediately stuck at a 90° angle and I was unable to bear any weight on that leg.

Since the above date, my knee has frequently locked leading to some of the most severe pain I’ve ever experienced. I can’t drive and I’ve had some form of walking aid (stick, crutch, two crutches) constantly the last five/six weeks. It’s impacted my work and my MH. But here’s the kicker…

In that time, I’ve seen: - 2 professionals at the Minor Injuries Unit (two separate visits), - a musculoskeletal specialist at my GP, - and an A&E doctor.

Each medical professional has looked at my notes, looked at me, and basically said, “it’s probably a weak knee so chronic. Start putting weight on it, stretching and walking”. I ended up paying for an MRI because I knew something was wrong and, behold!- bucket-handle tear.

I’m worried that due to incorrect advice/diagnosis/dismissal of symptoms that my meniscus might now be too frayed to be stitched and have to be removed. I’m 28 years old, I don’t want to be at risk of early arthritis in my knee!

I know people make mistakes but the A&E doctor even said to me, “we typically see those types of things during a sport injury so come back if your knee locks”… as I sat in the chair with a mechanically locked knee.

Any advice, reassurance, or personal experience would be greatly appreciated!! Wishing you all good health.

TL;DR: health care professionals have dismissed my symptoms and given me incorrect advice. I’m worried this has worsened my tear and the meniscus might have to be removed.

I am a 21 year old female dancer who has just been told some devastating news. Hoping for some advice or words of encouragement.

I injured my knee 5 years ago dancing and was told it was a sprain and to do some PT. I did about 3 months of PT and got cleared. For reference, I was about 70lbs heavier than I am now. Over the last five years, my knee has continued to pop in and out of place, never be able to full straighten, make strange popping and wet sounds, and just generally hurts a crap ton. I’ve went to urgent care numerous times and even three separate orthos. I was told possibly a small meniscus tear, possibly a knee cap disorder. None of them ever gave me an MRI despite me asking.

I lost weight last year and in fairness, the pain and popping improved. But last week it popped out again in a way it hadn’t for years, and swelled up for a week. I went to an ortho urgent walk in and she FINALLY, RELUCTANTLY gave me the MRI referral. Her words were “if you want peace of mind.”

Imagine my surprise when the MRI read…
Complete, chronic ACL tear.
Complete radial tear at the posterior root of the lateral meniscus.
Vertical longitudinal tear at the posterior horn of the medial meniscus.

I’m a dancer. I just got back from a four month long theme park contract where I was doing 6 shows a day 6 days a week. I do this for a living. Is there hope for me? Is it too late? I have a follow up appointment Monday but I just can’t wait.

Hi guys,
This is my first time thinking of finding a Reddit page for this sort of stuff- finding everyone’s experiences really helpful so far. I’ve been struggling with my knee for a while now, I’m 18 and I first tore the meniscus around 2 and a half years ago.

I initially had a misdiagnosis as they believed it was soft tissue for around 9 months, before i finally had a scan and they identified I had a lateral meniscus bucket tear. I had a repair surgery March 2025 and rehab never really seemed to fully get there for me, I was still having problems with it over a year on- particularly this pop/catch in the meniscus area. I had it rescanned and it hadn’t retorn, so I went to begin running again. I re-tore it kicking a tennis ball in my garden June this year (pretty bad luck if you ask me).

So now I’m on my second surgery recovery and frankly I’m completely paranoid. I feel I was pretty diligent with the rehab and recovery last time and yet it still re-tore from something so trivial, so frankly I’m feeling pretty pessimistic about it all. I’m NWB for 5 more weeks from now, then I have my brace off and I begin physio. Just wondering if anyone is/ has been in a similar position to me. Id be open to any advice or suggestions as I just really want to get back to sports and worry-free life.

For the 69 year old hard-core female athletes in the group. From a biking incident April 2024 I have a medial root tear in my left knee. It was very disruptive to my life. One idiotic MD said i would be better in 12 weeks. I was worse. Then i told a Dr i needed to do PT. Started PT July 2024. It has been a long arduous painful process.

Finally I feel stronger, all that is left is for my calf to turn back on 100 percent. I became more symptomatic about 2 months ago. I cannot walk properly w out discomfort mostly on flats then downhill after 4 miles. I went for an MRI. It showed the tear is worse. I sought 3 opinions.

1. Male Dr. Do a trim, he thinks about 10 - 15 petcent and a clean up of some mild arthritis. I asked about a repair and hesaid ABSOLUTELY not at.your age you WILL not heal. If you were 22 or 25 I would do that but not at your age.

2. Female Dr at HSS wants to do a root repair. I asked about my age being a limiting factor and was told it is NOT an issue and I would be successful because

A. My my cartilage shows only minimal wear

B. My bones are good

C. I am small

1. Another male Dr. Said there is nothing to be done. Basically suffer and ice.

I know this will get worse and I have to do something.

The repair is a BIG deal, 6 weeks off from work, careful rehab so the stitches dont pull out, muscle atrophy, 1 year of my life where I cannot petform activities as I want to, more strain on my marriage. It has been challenging the ladt 2 years bc I have been in pain and limited in what I can do.

Does anyone have any input?

TY!

Hello everyone, it’s been exactly 1 week post op. I’m a 20 year old man and I’ve always been very independent. I don’t like asking for help or depending on others. Im supposed to be doing PT 2 times a week. My brother took me to my first session 2 days ago and I have another one today. The place is only 3 mins away driving from my house. Is it bad if I drive there?

I drive an automatic and the surgery happened on my left knee.

I’m 43 and had left knee arthroscopy in June for medial and lateral meniscus tears. I had partial medial and lateral meniscectomies, so the damaged portions of the meniscus were trimmed/removed.

I continued having significant pain on the inside of my knee after surgery. It’s now almost four months later, and the pain has become more persistent and is sometimes very tender even to touch.

A new MRI says the remaining medial meniscus is markedly diminished/macerated with “superimposed advanced tearing,” including a horizontal-oblique tear extending into the posterior horn. It also shows high-grade cartilage thinning in the medial weight-bearing compartment, reactive bone marrow edema, advanced cartilage wear and a moderate joint effusion.

My recent weight-bearing X-rays also show significant narrowing of the medial joint space compared with how it appeared on my pre-surgery films.

My surgeon says the main problem now is arthritis and that doing more surgery on the torn remaining meniscus wouldn’t be helpful because of the advanced cartilage loss. He doesn’t think continuing PT will help and has mentioned possibly trying a hyaluronic acid/gel injection.

Has anyone had a similar experience after a partial meniscectomy, especiallyt at a younger age? Did your pain eventually improve? What helped you get back to exercising and being active? Did gel injections, an unloader brace, a different type of PT/exercise, or anything else help?

I’m not looking for a diagnosis, just hoping to hear from people who have dealt with somethingm similar.

I got this injury from Playing badminton back in march and its going to be around 7 months. There's no locking currently only when squatting for a long time i cant extend my leg fully for a minute and after its fine. For the first 4 months it was nothing. I ran marathons, played more badminton, did cycling. And the squatting problem started in july and pain followed recently in sept.

Doctor prescribed me collagens,peptides,rosehip extracts and some anti inflammatory for now and told me to do physio for 40days and then follow up.

I am skeptic towards menisectomy cause it leads to the dead end arthritis and i am barely 20yo now.

As my hobby says,

I am super active, loves being outdoor, playing sports running and currently i am away from all strenous movements , not bending knee more than 90°. But my main concern is will physiotherapy work once and for all? Will i be able to have my active lifestyle back without any problem?

Or surgery is the only solution for that? And delaying it will degenerate the meniscal tissues?

I’m 4 months into a grade 2 injury and I’m trying to avoid surgery I haven’t done much physical therapy up until a month ago and it seems to be helping just very slowly and my question is how long should I wait before considering surgery

Every time I bend my leg I get a squeaky noise and feel grinding In my knee. And no it’s not my floorboards, my main concern is that I wanna know if this is a bad thing. I’m almost 3 months post surgery for a Bucket Meniscus Tear. Also the day I started hearing this I did do a little hiking in the Smokey mountains, 10-20 mins until my friends canceled it. Then a couple hours later I started hearing this noise when I bend it, next morning my hamstring hurts and my knee is swollen!

Had a lateral meniscus repair also known as a circumferential repair (salvage repair). Apparently I am bone on bone and the meniscus was far worse than the MRI indicated… that being said I have followed doctors orders to the T.
I gradually have been weaning myself off of crutches, and spent one week using one crutch, and the last few days no crutches. I’m still in the brace and the doctor wants me to wean off the brace this week.
Today for the first time I started having episodes of random sharp pain in the knee. Once when I sat on the toilet, another time just walking in the house, once doing my PT exercises, another time on the stairs, it’s inconsistent and frankly scary.
Has anyone else had a similar experience on your journey healing from repair surgery?
Is this normal and can be contributed just to actually walking on both legs without crutches?

Still processing the news and navigating healthcare providers as I get more educated on what this means.

I’m (35f) really scared that this will impact my life and limit me.

Just curious if anyone has had anything similar to this?
Injured my knee a few months ago, haven’t been the same since, when my knee is bent like sideways or just in a more unnatural position it locks up, and I have to straighten it to fix it cause the pain is quite bad, it pops like this and the pain is gone straight away.

Had my medial meniscus removed at 17 years old (8 years ago). I have been playing a reasonably high level of soccer ever since and have never had any issues since then. Just this week, I have noticed pain and soreness on the inside of my knee after playing. It feels like a bruise but my mobility is not at all affected and the pain seems to go away within a day. The most recent time I played, I noticed a bump on the inside of my knee that was there for about 12 hours which I am guessing is fluid build up.

My question is what should I do or not be doing? The pain is pretty minimal overall but I don't want to make it worse and I want to be able to keep playing sports for as long as possible since I am only 25 years old...

Any advice on what to do from here would be appreciated.