I haven’t had this word associated with me in a few years, but I am now the proud owner of a degenerative meniscal tear (torn meniscus), or so says the MRI I had yesterday.
This is not the knee problem I’ve been managing for 25 years or so – that one hardly showed up on the image – but an injury that I can actually place in space and time, when I hit my knee on either the van or trailer while running a tour in Switzerland last year.
At the time, the innocuous knock resulted in a giant inflamed knee that made me into a near addict of Ibuprofen for the remainder of that tour (it happened before I even rode with my clients), then months of doctor’s visits, till I finally got the MRI prescribed. In the end, though, nothing really changes because it’s either deal with it through strengthening, etc. or get an operation that my doctor feels might be too soon to contemplate (and which has its own potential complications, like ushering in arthritis faster than you might like).
So, I’m moving over to my Osteo / Physio, who has me doing some exercises to work on my hamstrings and quads at the moment, as well as some mobility stuff. He is addressing more ‘structural’ issues that could be causing the pain I am feeling, which I really hope works. A bike guide kind of needs his knees.
From my deep-dive into AI, it seems like this type of knee problem is quite ‘normal’, and the good news is that cycling shouldn’t aggravate it. I do need to probably cut down on my break dancing, though…
I am positive that some of you have had similar issues. Do tell!
The Vicious Cycle 
well crap
I agree, but I’m evidently not alone
I am trying to deal with my joint problems through strengthening. It is getting very hard to get new knees here these days.
I have a feeling this is going to be one of the answers. I haven’t done much of this since my ‘gym rat’ days a few decades ago.
The secret, in my case at least, is not to do the exercises so vigorously that you end up giving yourself more injuries than you started with. đ
Bummer
Indeed
Gerry, I am not a strong cyclist like you, I am lot older, but I too had a meniscal tear, over ten years ago. The pain got worse and worse, until I had surgery to trim the tear. For many weeks after the surgery, I was not convinced that the surgical intervention was an improvement but eventually the pain eased off. My pilates instructor said that the knee had unbalanced muscle development on the sides, perhaps making the tear more likely. Strengthening seemed to help somewhat afterwards. The knee still gets sore with a lot of walking, and all my shoes now are impact absorbing kind or have inserts to absorb. I avoid things that risk high sideways load on the knee – no dancing!
I say consider surgery as a last resort. Keith
That’s helpful Keith, thanks. It’s always good to hear first hand about these things. I actually have a client who is going through the ‘snipping’ operation right now, but it’s too early to tell if it has worked well or not. I would consider it, no question, but my doctor said to be cautious because it could bring on arthritis more quickly. Did you get the same advice?
It sounds like it hasn’t been the case for you, but you are probably doin the right things to keep things stable and strong.
Yes, same advice.
Back then we wondered if artificial meniscus would be available one day…
Just found this: https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s12178-024-09902-1 – too early to decide about artificial meniscus replacement it seems
The summary of that study isn’t very optimistic, for sure. With so much movement in that area, it must be a tricky place to fix something.