Knee injury

[Whole]

I tore my knee meniscus at gym about 6 weeks ago. It is very painful I am following medical expert plan, treatment. I hear in old age it will not recover by itself (40 year old)
I am on Neporxen and RICE therapy.
My gym trainer said i should not stop training otherwise i will lose all my gains. I do not squat or jump anymore.

I am looking forward here any relevant experiences or advices.

Thanks

It takes time .... i iced 3 times a day and did light physio exercises but still went to the gym to do what I could. Like you no squats or jumps. It took 4 months and seemed to suddenly improve so no extra advice just empathy and wising you patience!

Thank you. Have you had MRI scan? Also was your's severe

No, I didn't have a scan ... tbh I didn't want to get into the endless hospital appointment faff! But I did see a physio three times. I would say it was severe as the pain ran from ankle to hip especially at night and would wake me up. I couldn't bend to get stuff out of the lower shelves of cupboards and my knee was swollen. I almost thought it was never going to get better when over a period of just about a week or so it fixed surprisingly quickly but I was a ninja with the icing and exercising. Now back at the gym doing everything except weighted squats (too frightened of repeating injury) and am back running, so hang on in there!

Oh ok, yes I have the same symptoms pain is from hip till toe, even back side of the knee. My endurance and strength was one of the best in the group.
squatting, lunges were my favourite exercises.
Now when people do squats and jump i just stand😭😭😭😭

Thanks am positive now mine will recover too. 🙂

Happened to me about 18months ago. I saw a physiotherapist privately & regularly.

Her advice was that I needed to keep on exercising, as the cartilage likes stress! But I didn't squat or run for about 9 months, and I'm still not running. I'm 66.

But I now jump - I do a Hyrox run through with my personal trainer every few months - but cycle 2000 metres rather than run 1000 metres in between each strength exercise - and I'm fine with burpee broad jumps now, as well as upside down burpees and sideways & backwards jumps.

I got back to pretty heavy deadlifting after about 6 months, but it was slow and steady - I'm now back to reaching new PBs in my lifting. Back squats still lighter, but I can move 50 kilos without my knee complaining, and I am very flexible (dancer training) so my squat depth is pretty deep. I play squats by ear because the flexion in the knee they require can be a bit taxing.

"Kneehab" was a lot of supported one-legged squats, a lot of slow step ups onto increasingly high plyo boxes, light barbell back squats (nothing over about 30 kilos), a lot of mobility and balance work - standing on one leg on a Bosu ball, and rolling down my spine to touch my shoelaces sort of thing.

I used a crutch for about 2 weeks after the tear, and a long tight support bandage (Boots sell lots of different types) and I still use various tightnesses of support bandage.

My personal trainer was amazing in keeping me on track and not despondent.

I also do a lot of walking, and I warm up well before a heavy training session - gets the sinovial fluid going.

It's slow but you should recover. And physiotherapists are the angels who walk this earth - mine was so reassuring.

Now when people do squats and jump i just stand

Ask the coach, instructor or your physio what else you can do. I found squats to a plyo box or bench helped (I squat a lot deeper than that, so it was a good brake); I also found Spanish squats (with a band) were great, as were squats using TRX equipment. On my own, I find a strong fence (or ballet barre) that I can hang off in a squat position is great to test my knee - hanging onto the railing or barre or TRX ropes takes some of weight, so I'm taking the weight out of my knees a bit, but still working them through flexion.

It is a great idea 👍. Thank you

Was your tear severe? I am so sad cant bend my knee😭😭 i still go to gym and feel isolated as i do group sessions Trainer is not available for everyone

My dd has a different knee injury and her private physio was worth his weight in gold -brilliant. I would definitely recommend it.

I don't know how severe my torn cartilage was - I didn't go to the GP as I find NHS treatment for sports injuries to be pretty useless. There was swelling for several. onths, but after about 6 weeks I was starting to get mobility back.

I would book a session with a physiotherapist who is also a PT. This is what I did previously (meniscus tear and chrondal fissure). A lot of PTs have no idea about injuries, what helps and what makes it worse

Oh okay thanks for sharing