Where’s Waldo?Posted By Rod Kaufman |
"Imagine 200 years ago; you would have been disabled for the rest of your life."Originally Posted by James Lacey
Sounds like a medial meniscus, the most common meniscus injury. It will be six to eight weeks before you start to feel "normal." It was a lot longer for me until I felt 100%. My wife recovered much quicker. Everyone is different, but you will be in good health after it's all said and done. It's a blessing that we live in a day and age when they can fix this. Imagine 200 years ago; you would have been disabled for the rest of your life.
Not necessarily but certainly a possibility. Depends on where the tear is, whether or not there's locking or giving way, and degenerative arthritis, if severe.
Reasonably complete current synopsis:
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9205760/
No one has ever died from a meniscal tear but people have died as a result of complications and adverse reactions to the invasive treatments for it:
https://www.thelancet.com/pdfs/journals/lancet/PIIS0140-6736(18)31771-9.pdf
From what I've seen during a decade in occupational med, most cases were mild and not really an urgent need for invasive treatment. Disability played into it a lot. Therapy could be started relatively soon after a procedure but I tended to see the orthos back off early PT as it could be potentially too aggressive with patients complaining about it. I could detail cases like the latter but this isn't the time or place. Hopefully, Jim will have a successful intervention with a very positive outcome as you and your wife did...