I tore my meniscus in March 2012, had it operated on and things were going fine until I tore it again in September 2013
I had it operated on on December 17 2013 and think I have retorn it only 5 days later
The specialist doesn't want to see my for three months but I will probably go back to my GP before that
Does anyone know if strapping the knee would help?
cheers
c4e
No amount of strapping will help a miniscus tear.
The only way to eleviate the swelling associated with it, is to keep weight off that leg.
If you tore it within days of your surgery, that indicates more of a failed surgery than anything else, and perhaps you should advise that this might be the case.
It may speed up your 3 month waiting period, as they might be assessing you as a "new" patient rather than one they failed to operate on properly. I think you may have missed your waiting period for that by delaying this long, but you probably could have been seen earlier had you approached the relevant medico-legal people in January.
Hope that helps. Sorry to hear about your pain. I have torn my meniscus. Its not pleasant, and took 6 weeks to begin straight line running. I was lucky, I didnt need an operation, but I didnt fully rupture.
Start icing your knee. A lt. That way the swelling will go down.
I managed for a couple of months with a meniscus tear, but I was stupid and should have had it operated on much sooner.
The op worked very well for me: probably the most successful of the 5 knee ops I've had.
Orthopaedics is not really my thing, I did some short bursts during country rotations where I was mainly assisting in surgery, not a lot of assessment and the like. Having said that, from my limited knowledge, miniscal tears are are treated by basically cutting away the affected area of cartlidge and trying to smooth out the area using a "shaving" device. So I would think you have an underlying problem with the cartlidge, which may require having it removed completely and having a prosthesis put in, like a teflon cartlidge.
You should ring the surgeons rooms and get a new appointment. No surgeon worth his salt will refuse to see you. If he did, I would be seeing another surgeon for another opinion.
Cheers Deags
The first op was basically a trim & shave of the meniscus around April 2011. The second op was December 17 where they did the same but also removed some of the cartlidge but it feels like it retore 5 days later
The specialist did ask how old I am (51) and said come back when you are 60 for a new knee
He didn't want to send me for an MRI for 3 months
Some days it swells up by 10 - 20%, the pain comes and goes with various degrees of pain
A second opinion seems like the trick
ALWAYS get a second opinion.
I tore my ACL, went to the GP who had done his knee, twice, and had a better than average idea of knees. Did the scans. All came back negative.
3 times later, went back to the same GP and told him that this is BS and i want to see a specialist. Within 2 minutes of talking to him and poking and prodding he had me diagnosed. Not only that he said i had done it the first time.
Granted, the first guy was just a GP, but he was adamant it was nothing major and had all the scans as 'proof'.
Specialists should know better than your GP, but i'm sure there are equally inept specialists out there.
Another story, my uncle had one of his many injuries (hypocondriac mostly) but saw 2 specialists and got nothing back. 12 months went on and still had issues. Got word to see this specialist that everybody raves about, treated some of the Carlton boys in fact, and she had him diagnosed based on him walking in and sitting down on the chair having never met him before. Some are just that good.
So yeah, try someone else. ;)
Krud is spot on though. A GP compared to a specialist is like comparing a butcher to a dentist for work on your teeth. Especially when it comes to rehab. A specialist with a good track record will bring your recovery down by miles in terms of time you may be wasting. Especially physiotherapists. I have had great experiences with them in the past.
Krud is spot on though. A GP compared to a specialist is like comparing a butcher to a dentist for work on your teeth. Especially when it comes to rehab. A specialist with a good track record will bring your recovery down by miles in terms of time you may be wasting. Especially physiotherapists. I have had great experiences with them in the past.
Have to agree with Kruddler and you Mants. GPs are basically 1st level support and from my experience have little idea reading injuries to feet, ankles, knees etc. Best thing is to get a referral asap to the appropriate specialist - don't waste too much of your time with the GP. Goes for a lot of other medical issues too. I had a heart problem a few years back and my then GP failed to pick it up despite visiting several times in short order complaining of the symptoms. Ended up being an emergency in a MICA truck! Close call, but all OK now.
If you have damaged it multiple times does that suggest some underlying problem like an arthritis?
Is Orthokine or PRP an option for accelerated repair of a meniscus?
Wasn't it meniscus problems that Adam Cooney had?
Krud is spot on though. A GP compared to a specialist is like comparing a butcher to a dentist for work on your teeth. Especially when it comes to rehab. A specialist with a good track record will bring your recovery down by miles in terms of time you may be wasting. Especially physiotherapists. I have had great experiences with them in the past.
Have to agree with Kruddler and you Mants. GPs are basically 1st level support and from my experience have little idea reading injuries to feet, ankles, knees etc. Best thing is to get a referral asap to the appropriate specialist - don't waste too much of your time with the GP. Goes for a lot of other medical issues too. I had a heart problem a few years back and my then GP failed to pick it up despite visiting several times in short order complaining of the symptoms. Ended up being an emergency in a MICA truck! Close call, but all OK now.
Need to be careful with generalisations about GPs. There are a lot of very good and very capable GPs out there, some of whom I would put right up there with some surgeons and physicians for diagnostic ability. Obviously this is not always the case, but tarring them all with the one brush is perilous as well.Similarly there are a lot of so called specialists around who leave you rubbing your head at some of the decisions they make.
Also, this is nothing at all like comparing a butcher to a dentist, a GPs job in this respect is to identify a list of possible diagnoses and then to order some tests and refer on as appropriate. Think of him as the NRMA (RACV for you southerners). He is the first line bloke you call, he will fix the minor things and refer you on for the more major ones.
Yep, good call Deags !!
@Deags
That's what I said - 1st level support.
Deags its not tarring all GP's with the same brush. I have seen 15 different GP's in my life. It was always a specialist that worked out what I needed treatment for. A severe burn that couldn't heal after 4 months and spread like a rash had me force a referral to a dermatologist that saw I had an allergic reaction to the silver content in silverzine treatment cream a GP prescribed for me. When I was convinced I had asthma for 4 months and 5 visits to 3 different GP's, I had 4 lots of anti-biotic treating me for lung infections that resulted in nothing. It was a specialist at an ER ward in a hospital visit, that resulted in what needed to be done next. He immediately saw that the medical treatment wasn't working. and tested me for asthma.
Then there are numerous heart conditions that I have seen missed by GP's. One by a GP I saw in the past. He missed a heart condition his 17 year old son had who was a footy player. He ended up dying of a heart attack on the training track a couple of years ago. It was in the paper here in Berwick. I could go on with a dozen other cases and some of them with my family members. Always ask for a specialist referral no matter what. Especially with items that GP's don't normally treat. GP's don't do physiotherapy, surgical procedures etc. They issue scripts for medical treatment or move you to someone specialising in the related field.
Ask questions and asked to be referred to a specialist to treat the effected area. Deags, I agree not all specialists are great, and some GP's are trained to see things many others would miss. Either way, see a practitioner that suits the required field of speciality. The dentist and butcher comment may have been out of order. Just don't be scared to ask a practitioners opinion. If they take a nasty tone to your questions, then see someone else. If they understand your sceptic opinion, then they are probably the best person to advise you on the next steps to take. ;)
@Mantis
Without going into the gory details of my own case Mants your story is very familiar to me mate and much in line with my experiences of GPs over that past few years..
@Mantis
Without going into the gory details of my own case Mants your story is very familiar to me mate and much in line with my experiences of GPs over that past few years..
I don't want to paint ugly details either. Just stating you should always question something that doesn't sound right, and ask for more specialised advice. You can never have too many specialised opinions. Not trying to sound like an expert either. Just trying to give another option to all my loved blues supporters here based on my previous experiences. Love you all and wish you all the best in life and with the best of health too. ;)
In my opinion, they all are flawed, yet understandably so.
No matter how many people you treat, every body is different. Some people respond well, others do not. Some people have underlying conditions that have been ignored for years, others do not.
The first thing you should be thinking before seeking advice, is that people are fallible, and this is especially true of the medical industry. They will make mistakes. Often the reason for that, is that people are creatures of habit, and therefore repeat their approach to diagnosing anything. So, you go see a new doctor, and will get frustrated by the same questions, and the same answers, and the same process. This is just them doing what they do. Getting all the information possible.
At the end of the day, no two injuries are quite the same also. In this own thread, you will have multiple people who have had multiple injuries to the meniscus. Mine was a hairline tear, which didnt require surgery, but ten years on, probably does due to a build up in scar tissue and randomized swelling (so random, its not a frequent occurrence). You wont find anyone send me in for an operation, they will start with physio, but realistically speaking, I know my body, and I know where I am at.
I keep doing damage to my shoulders. Yet, on scans, no problems show, and my issue can be resolved by physio and strengthening. That is inaccurate. The strengthening exercises cause excessive pain, yet are manageable, but as soon as I hurt myself again (be it within 6 months or 2 years) I am forced to begin rehab again. Given AW's issues and what finally solved them and he has been relatively good since, I am of the opinion that his surgery might be required in my case. Im not an athlete, so the medics will only get there when all other options have been exhausted, but I have been battling with these issues for 6-7 years now, and had I been a proffesional, I would have gone in for an operation already. Nup, amateur league player, amateur league treatments.
Realistically speaking, you can get advice from as many different people as possible regarding your injuries, but no one will know your body as well as you do. They will look at a scan, and see a bone, or a cartilidge tear, or something, but they will not know how that feels, and you are the only one who knows that. I would persist with my treatments, but I dont have the time or the energy so I just go to the gym, and avoid activities that are going to really hurt me.
@Thry
So, in summary, make sure the diagnosis is accurate before treatments are started. This reflects my own experiences with doctors - some are too quick to jump into a treatment IMO.
My own professional background (non medical) placed great emphasis on gaining a thorough understanding of what the problem was before expending resources on solutions that may not fix it, or in some cases even make it worse.
Thats basically what I am getting at. In IT, you can reset something or restore something, if you get it wrong. With people's well being unfortunately things are not that simple.
From someone who works in a medical allied industry I have found that asking the right questions, even to the annoyance of the client is the first and most important step. And to remember that not all clients tell you exactly what is going on... or even how to tell you what is going on. So the information gathering process must be exhaustive before a diagnosis can even be entertained. Sure, you get a 'gut' feeling or indication from presenting symptoms but man, you gotta keep delving and even after that, be prepared for something to throw you. Even if the client responds well to the diagnosis and treatment you really must remain 'on the alert' until everyone is satisfied you're absolutely on the right track.
Enter ego. Medical practitioners, medically aligned, any industry really are also only human and in the unique, pressure cooker expectation of a footy club, some will leap to solutions before all the facts are known... just too appear as if they know what they're doing. Whereas I reckon a real pro is never afraid to say, "Not sure, yet."
From someone who works in a medical allied industry I have found that asking the right questions, even to the annoyance of the client is the first and most important step. And to remember that not all clients tell you exactly what is going on... or even how to tell you what is going on. ..............
Like;
"Seriously Doc, I just woke up with the Coke bottle there, you have to believe me!"
or
"It all started out as a joke, then next thing you know my bits are encased in a solid block of clear polycarbonate!"
Update, and scary one at that :o
Seems I am heading for an osteotomy
Anybody had one done?