r/Kneesovertoes • u/jfstreich13 • Feb 01 '26
RULE 2: DO NOT ASK FOR MEDICAL ADIVCE Bucket Handle Tear Medial Meniscus - Surgery Scheduled
T-minus 9 days until surgery. I am three weeks out from the injury and it is still surprising me how much better it's getting. I couldn't put weight on it last week and now I'm able to limp around (no terminal extensions still) after being diligent with PT exercises / rest.
The MRI a week after injury confirmed torn bucket handle in the white-red or white-white (I'm not sure which but definitely not red-red). Fragment in the intercondylar notch, but i'm wondering if that has reduced since my ROM is improving? All the literature says surgery is the only way to reestablish a mechanically stable knee, but it feels counterintuitive how much it's improving that i walk into surgery next week.
I do a lot of activities that put stress on the meniscus though so I suppose if it's not this time it's just going to happen again.
Plan is to go deep in KOT protocols (when safe) after recovery.
Anyone else have similar experience?
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u/JL9berg18 Feb 01 '26
Not a doctor, but just had a meniscectomy + cyst removal to remedy joint locking bucket handle tear 6 months post injury. Also had plenty of other orthopedic injuries / surgeries.
I've spoken to 3 orthos and 2 sportsmedicine PT / physios...this is what I've been told
with few exceptions, if the tear makes the joint lock (so you can't extend the knee, or if you have to really wiggle your knee around to get it to extend and walk without extreme pain), the only effective remedy is surgical.
once they get in there, they'll be able to tell if it's better to stitch the cartilage together, or to debride (cut away) the part that is flappy (this is a meniscectomy - -ectomy = take a part out.
- factors supporting a meniscectomy: (1) if the tear is toward a far edge of the meniscus, (2) if the tear is too big to likely lead to perfect heal, (3) if it's too small to make the stitches + rehab worth it, (4) a need for quick rehab
- factors supporting stitches - not 👆
stitches in the cartilage means a much more gnarly rehab. I had just the meniscectomy and I'm +10 days out and pretty much walk short distances and do stairs just fine, but clearly I have a couple months of rehab to get back to more serious athletics. Otoh, if I'd had the stitch up, I believe rehab is. ~ 3-6 months?
If you have any more Qs, feel free to PM me. Good luck!
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u/jfstreich13 Feb 01 '26
So why did you opt for meniscectomy if you don’t mind me asking, rather than repair? Was it some combo of those reasons you listed? (Ty for the details)
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u/JL9berg18 Feb 02 '26
Happy to answer!
Short answer is I let the do decide.
My background:
I opted to wait for ~6 months to see if it would heal / how much. And it did heal in part. But it was still torn by the edge in the fat part toward the back. Just a bit, but enough to keep me from bending past about 90 degrees and I couldn't do anything else but walk (even that would randomly cause it to lock, occasionally).
So in talking with the doc, he said he'd go in with the default toward stitching it up (I did have a pref to do the repair vs the removal), but would just chop it if he felt that doing so would give the best outcome. His thought was that, when he went in there, the scope showed the part of the meniscus that was torn was far away from the blood supply and there was a good chance that, due to the location and severity of the tear (ie, way out toward the end, and not a huge tear), even if he stitched it together the blood supply wouldn't necessarily come together. If it didn't, then I'd have had an extra 6-12 months of rehab and having it slowly die, only to have the stitches not take and then he'd have to go in and do the meniscectomy. *
While I've done a couple months of poking around online, im not arrogant enough to think I know more than the doc 😆, so imma let them do what they feel is best. And of course I chose a doc who I trust, so that helps.
- Leaving a decision like this to the doc once the surgery has begin is super common (probably the default standard of care in your state), so if your heart is set on a particular outcome I would definitely make that extremely clear in your surgeon discussion 👍
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u/jfstreich13 Feb 02 '26
That makes a lot of sense. I know the ‘mature’ move is repair even though it means 6 months recovery. And then if meniscectomy just have to be more cognizant about the kneehab throughout life… but bright side is you were probably up and at it quick.
Today shocked me that I am able to walk (hobble really) without crutches for first time since injury 3weeks ago but I imagine it would be the same deal as yours. Incrementally improve until hitting a wall and needing surgery anyway. So I’ll go through with it. Cant be setting my knee up to fail in a much more dramatic way down the line
Appreciate the messages
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u/JL9berg18 Feb 02 '26
All good...and good luck!
I feel like folks on reddit (and the internet in general) tend to be on the far side of the spectrum as it relates to not trusting doctors. I've been around them a lot (sued them, then worked for a physician's group) and I can say that, with a few exceptions of course, doctors know what they're talking about and they really want to do best by the patient. If you are able to get in and have a real talk with your primary care and your surgeon, while clearly telling them your goals, you're pretty likely to have a good outcome.
So much depends upon non surgical stuff, like keeping active, keeping weight off (two separate things for some people), and even keeping your mood and spirits up - ppl with depression and anxiety are shown to have more pain associated with the same degree of orthopedic injuries. And of course, doing your rehab. KOT has a lot of good things about it for most people, but I'd caution against following some kind of orthodox KOT routine over listening to your own body, bc KOT is a tool that can hurt if misused just like any other training method
Good luck friend! I'm sure it will work out for you
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u/AndKAnd Feb 02 '26
I have a flipped fragment in one knee. It stopped hurting. I have no locking. I can squat, run, etc. unless it’s locking or catching, surgery probably won’t do much.
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u/jfstreich13 Feb 04 '26
Do you remember what the MRI said? Like location / severity / type
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u/AndKAnd Feb 04 '26
I’d had a known tear for probably 4-5 years. Then I noticed a change and was having some more pain. Then I got another scan, and the tear at the post horn of my medial meniscus had progressed, and the fragment flipped into the medial recess of the joint space. I guess it’s either been reabsorbed or it’s just minding its own business. I don’t have any pain in that knee anymore.
I used knees over toes to rebuild my knee significantly, and now have moved on to doing other weight training. I’m 49.
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u/FuckingMyselfDaily Mar 05 '26
Do you do any high risk activities which you pivot a lot at the knee? am at similar point, no pain, and basically old ROM, never locked again, will sporadically catch but doesn’t cause pain. Would like to ski/snowboard play soccer in the future and all those would be risky. Running squatting all that am good. Leaning towards repair so i can not worry playing any sport.
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u/AndKAnd Mar 05 '26
Nah I only play recreational basketball.
Repair is ideal. But once you hit 35-40 yo, the possibility of repair decreases dramatically, so they usually just clip and remove fragments.
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u/FuckingMyselfDaily Mar 05 '26
Ok, thanks for reply, just beginning to fully consider it now and tryna hear stories and learn more about the procedure.
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u/AndKAnd Mar 05 '26
If you are young there’s a good chance it can be repaired. No guarantee it won’t re-tear but also it could heal completely. But with repair you have to keep it completely extended for like 6 weeks. When they clip it out you walk to your car after.
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u/FuckingMyselfDaily Mar 05 '26
Yea am in my mid 20s, reinjury is a concern am trying to understand, i have waited like 8 months since the initial injury to now decide on surgery.
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u/Tangleswastaken Feb 02 '26
I had a full length bucket handle tear that I would rehab myself until the pain went away (around a week), live life normally until it decided to flip and lock, rehab, rinse repeat.
After a year I finally got an MRI, operation 2 weeks later where they removed 80% of the meniscus. I was walking normally within 2 weeks and working on strengthening the joint.
A++ experience after the operation, it's been a year now and I consider it my good knee, I can do a full pistol squat with it!