The Biggest Mistake People Make After Knee Meniscus Surgery

Did you have any meniscus surgery in the past and you’re still dealing with pain, swelling and possibly even losing motion in your knee? Well, this is not normal. But you’re also not alone. This happens way more often than I like to admit. And the good news is that it can be helped without another surgery. If you’re watching this video today, and you’re considering having a meniscus surgery for your knee, then you’ll want to listen closely so that you don’t make this mistake after you have your meniscus surgery.

And if you’ve already had your meniscus surgery, then you know what to do so that you’re not getting more swelling, pain and not losing motion than that knee and you’re staying out of the surgeon’s office, so you don’t have to go back again for another knee surgery.

My name is Dr. David Middaugh. And I’m a specialist physical therapist El Paso manual physical therapy. And this channel is dedicated to helping people stay healthy, active and mobile. while avoiding unnecessary surgery, injections, and medications. Please subscribe to this channel and turn on your notifications so that you don’t miss a single video with great tips and advice that we put out every single week. So let’s get to it.

The biggest mistake that people make after having a meniscus surgery is they’re doing too much way too soon. What most people just don’t get from their medical professionals is that the meniscus is a type of cartilage. And cartilage is one of the slowest healing tissues in the body.

Oftentimes, after having a meniscus surgery, people are told that they’ll be fine. And they can get back to normal in about two or three months after having the surgery. And if we know anything about cartilage, if you want to look this up, it takes about six up to 12 months to fully heal depending on the severity of that injury on the meniscus on that cartilage.

If you break down what most healthcare provision professionals tell their patients, it could be an orthopedic surgeon, or even a physical therapist, it’s telling somebody who’s just had a meniscus surgery, they’ll say, well, 80% of healing is done in the first two to three months. So that means you’re good to go after two to three months. And that’s the 80% fact is true that does happen.

Healing kind of goes fast the beginning and then it tapers off. And it’s a lot slower for the remaining, you know, six to nine months after the first two or three months. But there’s still healing to be done and that 20% is really critical. And people are often disappointed to find out that as they begin to get back to normal, as they’ve been told that they probably could and should they start to get swelling in the knee, they start to get a pain, of course. And then they lose motion.

In some severe cases, they can’t fully extend their knee out or bend their knee all the way. And it’s really concerning and very disappointing for somebody who’s gone through the knee surgery. And now they’re kind of back to the way they were before the surgery. If not even worse. In some cases, it’s important that you take away from this video today that it takes six to 12 months to heal from a meniscus surgery.

So if you’re sitting at home right now, and you just had your meniscus surgery a month or two ago, and you’re thinking, gosh, why aren’t I much better already. So getting swelling, or if it’s been a year since you had your meniscus surgery, and you’re better overall, but you’re still getting some swelling and pain, then it’s normal. And there’s things that you can do, which I’ll allude to here in the middle.

Now my intent on this video is not to throw anybody under the bus surgeons are doing the best they can with what they know and saw our physical therapists in any health care providers that you may be seeing for your meniscus problem. But it’s just not common knowledge to take six to 12 months to heal after a meniscus surgery.

So you need to just have that expectation right now if you’re going to go get a surgery, or if you’ve already had one, if it’s been more than six months, or you’re in that you know, past six months, six to 12 months range or longer since your meniscus surgery, then it’s okay as long as you don’t have another tear or some other massive injury to it, you can probably get that swelling under control, regain your motion back as long as it hasn’t been too long. And get the pain under control and recover normally the way that you should have once you start doing the right things.

Now, the focus when you go into a surgeon’s office, they’re looking at your MRI, they’re looking at your meniscus on the MRI, they’re telling you the tear in the way that it’s torn and how they’re going to repair it. And that’s all good if you’re going to end up having the surgery. And then after the surgery, the focus is doing physical therapy, typically if he gets sent there, and you’re going to lose some motion in the surgery so your knee won’t be able to bend or straighten all the way.

So the focus of physical therapy after a knee meniscus surgery is getting your motion all the way back and then getting strong enough to stand and do some walking. No, I didn’t say pain free, or I didn’t say get back to normal, just strong enough to get back to standing and walking because nobody wants to be in a wheelchair or not be able to get to the bathroom in time because of your knee not working right or being very painful.

So it’s important at the very beginning it’s appropriate at the very beginning to make sure that all your emotions back and that you can do some simple walking to and from the house even though hurts so that you’re not you know having accidents and better so you’re not having emergencies happening you need the function of your leg back.

But typically physical therapy goes two to three months you get 80% better and a lot of times people have the expectation setting themselves that they can get back to everything that they’re doing before and that’s just not the case they can do a lot of things now that they couldn’t before the surgery typically.

But you need to still continue doing a few things to make sure that you get that remaining 20% healed so that you can truly get back to normal so let me give you some practical advice here three things that i want you to take away from this video number one set your expectations. I’ve already talked about this but I can’t drive the point home enough if you’ve gone to the doctor

If you had a knee surgery if you’ve been seen physical therapy or any other health care professionals and they’re telling you you’ll be fine in three months back to normal you’ll be dancing you’ll be exercising you’ll be playing with the grandkids again just smile and remember this video.

I’m telling you right now it’s going to take six to 12 months just erase that number that they gave you in your head and i wouldn’t go argue with them because they may not have all the knowledge and understanding behind it and truth be told surgeons oftentimes you know once they finish their surgery they’re kind of done with you. 

They might have a follow up visit or two but it’s really physical therapy that suppose take over at that point in physical therapy just has you for two to three months and once they’re done with you same thing once you’re back to walking and bending your knee all the way and straightening out your knee all the way.

They’re kind of done with you too but what if you want to go play with the grandkids do you want to kneel what do you want to exercise you’ve got to set your expectations to still take it easy still rehab or strengthen the right muscles or do the right kind of treatment for yourself so that you can continue to heal.

The second tip i need you to take home today is you need to listen to your knee because after you’re on your own and you’re you’re supposed to be 80% better there’s things that you’ll be able to do and go ahead and do those as long as they don’t hurt or bother you or cause some effects later on that day or the next day then they’re generally going to be okay things for you to do you can probably do some walking but walking you know a few miles maybe not very comfortable for you that may set off the swelling that may hurt you more.

Oftentimes healthcare providers will tell you go walk your knees operated on it’s good you’re the we took out the chunk that was you know causing your need to lock up the meniscus we did a meniscectomy or we repaired the meniscus and it’s all sewn together now so you can go ahead and walk all you want and some people take that to heart and to go walk you know three miles a day or even 10-20 miles a week and their meniscus just doesn’t heal enough and they get that swelling.

It can create another problem later on you’ve got to listen to your knee you’ve got to listen to your body and make sure that you only go with what you can tolerate without making it worse without swelling pain or definitely not losing motion and you might consider staying in physical therapy longer than they want you to or finding something to help you out.

Here’s the third practical tip if you’re if you don’t know where to go I’ve got some exercises that i put on videos here for free on YouTube it’s linked in the description below there’s one video in particular that i want you to take a look at it’s called top five glute exercises for knee problems go check out that video start doing those exercises you’ve got to exercise the heck out of your glutes if you got a meniscus injury if you’ve had a meniscus surgery in the past you need to get your glutes worked out.

And if you’ve never worked out your glutes if you went through physical therapy never really targeted your glutes ever you better start quick because chances are you’ve got a muscle imbalance that’s caused extra pressures inside your knee that’s led to that meniscus tear to begin with that’s been the root problem and glute strength is what offsets that forces inside the knee so that your meniscus can heal all the way.

So go check out that video on how to exercise your glutes there’s five exercises in there that you can start doing them i would do them every day i do them a couple times a day even more if you can i would do what you can tolerate without it being too much soreness and your glute muscles and they should all generally be okay on your knee there’s some where you got to kneel you can adjust it you can not do that exercise if you want.

But you’ve got to figure out a way to get your butt muscles stronger if you’re looking for a more comprehensive plan for making your knee better and getting your glutes stronger we also have a program called the 28 day knee health and wellness boost program you can also find that in the link and as a link in the description below.

I hope that you found hope now that if you got if you had a meniscus surgery in the past and you’re dealing with these problems of swelling the pain the loss of motion please start doing this this taking this advice that i gave you start doing the exercises and get better it is possible to get that swelling down and to get your motion back and to recover and be normal. Just it’s a big deal to take your time and let that cartilage heal at the rate that it heals you generally can go faster than what it heals

And the question that i get often is do i take any supplements glucosamine chondroitin those types of supplements and you know the answer to that is it’s not going to hurt we the research is kind of mixed on it sometimes it helps sometimes it doesn’t help what we know is that it generally doesn’t hurt it doesn’t make it worse so you’re not going to you’re not going to make things worse if you decide to take those supplements are generally safe to take but some people report no difference

So if that’s your feeling you’ve taken them and it hasn’t really made a difference for you don’t take them if you feel like to help you out please take them but don’t just take the supplements in hopes of that replacing doing the right exercises and having the right expectations you’ve got to do them both together give us a like if you thought this video was helpful and please drop a comment if you have any questions and i hope that you get better real soon have a wonderful day guys.