[at-l] meniscus repair/recovery question

[athiker@plantnet.com (Peter H. Fornof)]

Subject: [at-l] meniscus repair/recovery question


> I am looking for some persons who have had meniscus repairs done by
> Arthroscopic surgery.  <snip>

I'm not sure what you mean by repair, but I've had the medial meniscus
"trimmed" in both of my knees. On the last surgery, in 1995, I went
backpacking approximately 8 weeks after the surgery. I wore a special brace
on my leg that took, perhaps, 20% of the load off of the knee. I had pain
the entire trip and prematurely ended the trip after I jumped off the top
bunk in the Spence Field shelter (actually I fell trying to get down). My
knee puffed up to melon size and I limped in ignominy down the Anthony Creek
(I think) Trail to Cades Cove, cutting my hike to Newfound Gap short.

I would think recovery time would depend on your age, extent of the surgery,
and degree of fitness. My suggestion would be to run it past your doctor and
be sure to tell him/her what you want to do. My doctor was against the hike
but said I probably wouldn't damage anything. Said I would be
"uncomfortable". I was. If I had the surgery again, I would wait at least 12
weeks before loading my knees and during that time, I would strengthen the
leg muscles in the gym.