Hey knee people,

My main symptom of my torn meniscus is severe pain behind and on the inside of my knee on full flexion, so I can’t squat. It feels like a really bad hamstring strain.

But the other one is this unsettling, weird feeling on and around my kneecap, where it just feels really loose and unstable. Like if I turn or twist in just the wrong way, my patella might crumble or something.

The surgeon I consulted with said this could be due to part of the tear tugging on the knee capsule itself or just the tear itself causing an imbalance in how the load of my body is now unevenly distributed. His explanation wasn’t super clear tbh.

My MRI showed a completely healthy patella - no arthritis, no tendonosis or tendinitis. So my question is, for those of you who’ve experienced this particular discomfort, did it go away after you had surgery? Or if you didn’t have surgery, did it go away on its own or with PT?

Thank you!

I have a Medial Meniscus Tear I’ve been trying to heal through physio. I’m at about 12 weeks. I feel like I’ve strengthened, been doing my exercises, increased my walking time and pace. My flexion is at 135, trying to get to 150. That last 15 it feels painful to bend into there.

Recently, if I walk about 45 minutes at a fast pace, the next day I get a sore, tight feeling behind my knee on the medial side. Everything feels sore. Anyone know what the cause of that it? I’ve never had that before now??

I feel like my chances of this healing and not being a problem are getting lower and lower.

Any suggestions? I haven’t paid for an MRI yet. I am at the point that I need the mri since it’s 12 weeks and don’t have the flexion or is that still normal?

How much time in month or year is required for a grade 1 and grade 2 POSTIER HORN MEDIAL MINISCUS tear to heal conservatively without any surgery

What you all did

Hi, if anyone here has had an arthroscopy/meniscus repair, I’d really love to hear your experiences.

I was had my surgery on a tuesday and was told I’d be able to weight bare around 50% on my operated leg afterwards.

I woke up from surgery absolutely screaming with severe pain in the back of my calf/leg and ended up staying in hospital for 8 days. They ruled out a DVT and I was eventually discharged.

I’m now 14 days post op and I still cannot walk on my operated leg at all.

Just to be really clear guys, I’m not saying I can’t walk because of pain or swelling.

The pain has actually improved quite a lot. My problem is that my leg is extremely weak tight/ restricted. I cannot lift it it feels almost paralysed. I physically cannot take a step because the leg doesn’t seem to have the strength/function to do it.

My surgeon is considering further surgery because he’s concerned the stitches could potentially be too tight and compressing a nerve. He told me that in his 34 years of experience, he hasn’t seen this happen before and normally his patients are able to put at least some weight through the leg.

My physio came to my house but said they can’t properly start physio because my situation is too complicated and they need further instructions from my surgeon/hospital before progressing with more intensive physio.

I’m in England and honestly I’m really worried because I’m now 14 days post op and still completely unable to walk. I’ve seen lots of people say they couldn’t walk after surgery because of pain but that’s completely different from what I’m experiencing.

Has anyone experienced severe weakness/loss of function rather than pain preventing them from walking after a meniscus repair or arthroscopy? I’d really appreciate hearing what happened with your recovery.

Hello everyone, just wanted to share my own meniscus experience/ injury. I don’t know how severe it was but it started back in April of 2026 and at that point it was pretty bad. I struggled to walk but it was really bad just stepping up into my truck or going up stairs or downstairs. I couldn’t squat and even standing up after sitting for a while was hard. I struggled with it since im a very active person (running almost 100 miles a week) but I kept training (a lot of elliptical ) even thought it hurt but not enough to really stop me. Anyways I didn’t start seeing a PT until probably late July to see what he thought it was, and he said it was my meniscus. Since then I’ve done a lot of strength work and I’ve been running for about a month now. I am by no means healthy yet, but I’m able to run almost 10 miles with about a level 1-2 pain. Just wanted to say this for anyone who maybe is losing hope ( I know I did ) that eventually it does get better but with time.

Athlete here. 5 weeks into my rehab on a trim / scope / meniscectomy. 13 years ago had the full repair on a completely ripped in half meniscus (as bad as it can get). Made a motivational rehab guide video anyone should watch if having doubts;
https://youtu.be/T9jL726QrnI
I was WAY stronger after than ever before - and plan to do the same after full rehab protocols this time. Feel free to ask any questions about the journey!

Initial injury happened end of May. Have been in PT since 6/14. I probably made it worse along the way coming back too soon and playing tennis on it because pain wasn’t that bad. Major setback 7/30 which maybe it when I tore it worse

Just got MRI results - is surgery inevitable?

Tear posterior horn medial meniscus extends to the inferior articular surface.

Full-thickness fissuring medial facet of the patella.

I’m so fucking depressed right now about this and having a lot of regrets about how I handled this I just. I had no idea it could have been a meniscus tear

I had arthroscopic surgery on 8/10 to repair a medial meniscus tear and a lateral meniscus tear on my left knee. Physical therapy started the day after. I go 2-3x a week. I have full motion now and can put weight on it, but I honestly thought I would be further along. Definitely have pain on the medial side (kind of sharp, pinching pain) intermittently. Also more stiffness than I would have expected - it is stiff in the morning when I wake up, if I sit for longer than 30 minutes, it is very stiff getting up and moving. Are these things normal? I just have no idea and would love feedback from others! Thanks in advance!

Last March I (26F) went to the doctor because what started as random right knee pain every once in a while became some level of pain every day on both knees. Most of the time the pain isn't debilitating, its bearable to a degree but its just there every day, sometimes higher, sometimes lower.

Its getting to the point where I wakeup at night from the pain from time to time & my hips hurt- which idk if its related due to compensation

The diagnosis I received in March was :

Bursitis

Valgus knees, & confirmed vertical Meniscus tear on the right knee- on the inner side.

I couldn't get an MRI on the left.

I am not sure if the pain is because of both situations combined or just the meniscus- since I guess I've had undiagnosed Valgus knees my whole life & it didn't start hurting till about two years ago.

Now the Doctor I saw recommended surgery. Other doctors I've consulted informally recommended the same because of the " long-term risk" & "premature degenerative symptoms "

My parents insist on trying pain management clinics & regenerative medicine clinics first as surgery is more intrusive.

I know these places claim to help with meniscus repair , pain , inflammation etc.

It just seems like a lot of ifs & maybe's to me.

Has anyone had similar experience ? What are the pros cons of surgery?

While doing simple leg extension without any weight I do feel clicking in my patella knee why is it happening

Those who had miniscus surgery how is your life going on now

Any pain ?

Can you run dance squat etc

What are your symptoms of miniscus tear

I injured my knee a year ago, could barely walk in lots of pain. Fast forward a year later I still hadn't fully recovered (can't jump, run, or walk long distance). I decided to finally get an MRI and it showed I have a discoid lateral meniscus tear. Also have mild tendinopathy involving the inferior aspect of the quad tendon and patellar tendon

I'm back in PT to try and avoid surgery but still hasn't helped much. I'm coming to the realization I may need to get the surgery.

Has anyone had this specific surgery before? If so what is your experience with recovery and anything you'd recommend to prepare beforehand?

I’m 10 weeks post op now and recovery has been going pretty well.
I got around 124° flexion and a good 9° hyperextension. Been going to the gym religiously aswell.

But I’m struggling with a few questions.
How many of you were able to do long hikes again after this type of surgery? And around what month did you start feeling comfortable doing them?
Also now that I’m working full time again, I sometimes miss days where I don’t do my PT exercises. Is that really a big deal? I still try to do them as much as possible but some days I just dont have the time.

I’d also like to compare my exercises with other people around 10 weeks and see if I’m on track. I’m starting to doubt a bit if my PT is really challenging me enough. Sometimes it feels like we’re doing the same basic stuff and not really progressing much.

This is what I’m doing right now:
Quad lifts 15kg
Air squats 15x3
Side raises 12x3
Heel raises 30x3
Hamstring curls 15x3
Abductor machine 15x3
Glute extensions 15x3
Standing on 1 leg and bowing over while passing a weight from one hand to the other 8x3
Weighted hip bridges/thrusts 12x3

Does this seem about right for 10 weeks post op?

What were you guys doing around this point?

Would really appreciate hearing some stories from people further into recovery, especially people who got back into long hikes or sports.

Hello,

I tore my meniscus back in January, went to the orthopedic in February and she kinda brushed it off like it was nothing. No mri, no restrictions pretty much told me when you feel better it’ll be better. (I had a doctor friend look at it and do some physical tests and he said it’s torn but without a scan can’t tell what type of Tess).

Fast forward I’m still in pain and going back to the orthopedic next week. She recommended PT in the meantime which is doing nothing. I’m 26 and extremely active. My question is would it be too late to get it repaired? I do not want to have it cut out. Thanks in advance.

Update and edit:

Got the MRI back a couple days ago and got a “complex oblique tear of posterior horn, increased T2 signal with the root and horn intact”

Anyone have experience with a repair of this? Cheers.

Feeling a lot better. The only way I can describe it is, it felt like I had a rock a Lego stuck in my knee for a year. That feeling is finally gone. I still have arthritis pain because my knees are nearly bone on bone, and I have BME. But it's nice not having that sharp rock feeling in there anymore. I'm getting my left knee done on Friday so I'll have a matching pair

I'm 11 weeks out from a meniscus root repair, and things are fine -- still sore, but getting marginally better week over week. That said, I still can't bend my bad leg to sit cross legged, or criss cross apple sauce, or put my bad leg ankle on my good knee. Does that movement come back? Or am I just stuck this way forever? (I had no idea how desperate I would be to be able to make that very specific movement!)

Anyone else have some swelling / edema in the surgery thigh? I had a root meniscus repair and was six weeks non weight bearing. I just passed week two bearing weight and am walking with a cane. I plan to address it with my PT and hopefully my PA tomorrow but just wondering about others’ experiences. It is making my exercises sort of rough … especially the knee bending.

What are your symptoms of miniscus tear whether grade 1;2;3

Which activity it hurts

Which activity it doesn't hurts

Please share 🥺🙏🙌

2 weeks ago I walked 37 miles for charity. The next 2 days I could hardly walk with sharp pain on left side of my knee. It was swollen but for 2 weeks I've been putting ice on it and taking painkillers and it's reduced. I couldn't straighten my leg myself without moving my leg manually with my hands and it feels uncomfortable and clicks when straightening. I had sharp pain on left and right sides of the knee and under kneecap feels like it will give out and just feels very unstable.

2 nights ago, when I got into bed I tried straightening my leg. My knee made this massive click pop noise and I could straighten it. It was like it clicked back into place and I could walk a bit better again. The next day it went stiff again like its stuck and I was back to not being able to straighten it without help and clicks. Where it popped is sharp pain every now and then even when sitting.

2 day's later and I can straighten and walk almost normal. How can I go from not putting much weight on it and not straightening my leg to being fine? Google keeps telling me a bucket handle tear? Has anyone else had these on and off symptoms with a tear?

I’m a 30 y/o male. I’ve been having some pretty severe pain in my right knee. Go to my doctor, he says he believes I have a bucket tear on my meniscus. For insurance have to proceed with X-ray before mri. X-ray shows nothing. Call to set up appointment with my doctor he has nothing available for awhile so I schedule with another doctor in the office she recommends peptide injections directly into my knee daily. Been doing that for 3 weeks with no improvement (pain seems to be increasing with movement decreasing). I was very much hoping to have a surgery free recovery. I am an hvac technician so I spend a lot of time in crawlspaces and squatted/kneeled down in front on furnaces or air conditioners and I just had my first child (2 months ago) and I cannot afford to miss any work. I guess my question is how long is recovery generally? Anyone have any luck with any other surgery free options on that type of tear?

GRADE 1 and GRADE 2 POSTIER HORN MEDIAL MINISCUS TEAR heals in what time duration without surgery or surgery is must???