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!