I’m still in a hand cast (with my right thumb, index finger and thumb wriggling free, but my pinky encased and my ring finger barely visible, like a pig in a blanket). So I’m going to keep this short.
I figured I’d try something different. Often you ask me questions, which I spin into blog entries. This time I’m going to ask all of you a question.
My brother, who loves to hike and work out at the gym, has a torn meniscus. Apparently he injured it when shoveling snow. He turned to pitch a load of snow, and the torque on his knee and weight of the loaded shovel must have combined in a bad way to tear his meniscus.
In the immediate aftermath of the injury, he had difficulty walking for a couple of weeks. Since this happened, the knee has never been the same.
He has scheduled surgery for November. Now you probably know where I stand on that. In the world of knee studies, you can throw a stone and hit three or four clinical trials that say surgery for a torn meniscus is no better than physical therapy.
However, that’s fine in the abstract, but when you’ve got the torn meniscus, and PT hasn’t done you a lot of good, surgery starts to look very tempting.
So here’s my question for all of you out there: Anyone have a torn meniscus that they recovered from? What kind of rehabilitation program worked for you?
Okay, all from me for now. This cast (fingers crossed) should be history next week, as long as the bone healed properly. Because of the nature of the break, that’s not a given. Still, my doctor seemed fairly confident.
(Oh, I’m still riding my bike, only indoors. If any of you are on Zwift, that’s me in the blue-and-white jersey, trying to hold 240 watts going up that giant mountain in Watopia.)
Cheers!
