Meniscus Tear - how long til I can ride?

I cycled, ran & skied for over a year (not non stop) without knowing I had a meniscal tear. Only problem was when the loose bit of cartilage folded over and the extra "cushioning" caused pain. When it flapped back into place, there was no problem.

When it was finally diagnosed, had the option to leave as is (risk ranged from gets no worse to tear extends and more cartilage gets damaged) or get the torn bit snipped off, which I did. My tear was on the edge of the extended "arm" part of the meniscus.

I found I could do short easy rides within a couple of weeks, and in fact doing so helped control the general pain. It was a few moths before I could ride "hard" for any length of time, and about 9 months until I was back to being totally ache free.

I tore mine doing a squat during a tai chi warm up (how embarrassing 🙂 ). I went for MRI etc, can't remember exactly how long I was off the bike. Not long as far as I remember, 3-4 weeks ish

I still have a tear in my left meniscus, was advised to wait on surgery as it might be fine as long as I don't do anything stupid like run, play tennis etc.

What I did do was go from clips on the MTB (still have them on the Gravel Bike) to flats and it made my knee significantly less painful.  If I rode twice a week, it was sore pretty much constantly, now it's generally OK.

The twisting out of the SPD pedal was causing the pain it turns out.

Brilliant, cheers all.
I've been off the bike for a week now. Think I'll give it another 2 weeks until I try on the turbo.
Billoddie I ride flats anyway so that's a plus, my physio said they don't recommend surgery anymore as reslcent research shows only short term benefits.
Cheers again, exactly what I wanted to hear as always.

jree

when out running

It might be a case of priorities.
I tore mine decades ago... I still can't run but I can ride (mostly)
Mostly means I back off/stop the ride when it twinges ... and up till last year when I had issues for months on and off usually taking a week off riding seems to keep it working.

Billoddie I ride flats anyway so that’s a plus,

I found the opposite. If I ride clipped in and I'm willing to sacrifice power I can get the knee past the point that riding tends to nag at by pulling.

my physio said they don’t recommend surgery anymore as reslcent research shows only short term benefits.

Private or NHS... the reason the NHS don't do most stuff is ££££ my mate waiting several weeks with his collar bone before he actually got to see the surgical consultant. By the time he did he got told "no benefit" - private consultant told him though technically it was almost true that's because they just put him off until it was too late.

I had one last year, again through running. It still hurts sometimes, but the specialist said that cycling was one of the best things for it! I've just started doing the odd run again after 9 months, along with some long walks. They wouldn't do any surgery because it would 'cause arthritis at my age'.

No surgery for me either, consultant more or less said they don't do "preventative" surgery so come back when I can't walk 🙂 , the pain gradually receded. I think the brain eventually goes, "well if you're not going to listen..."

Cycling doesn't cause me problems but I do get occasional post exercise knee pain (treadmill or elliptical trainer) however I also have no ACL in the same knee so can't be sure of the actual cause of the pain.

NHS doesn't do meniscal arthroscopy as there is no good evidence for it. Private still do as you can bill for it. Monetisation of healthcare is an issue. Having said that where there is a need for elective healthcare private will get you done quicker. However the caveat is that it can be a lottery and I don't think they have the same level of governance and safety as the NHS (No matter what the media say)
I should disclose I am a full time NHS Doc (Not Ortho) and have never done any private work.

Best of luck with the knee. In my case I am trying to work out how long one of my hips will last!!

I did mine swimming. Couldn't really do much for about 11 months. Loads of physio sorted it eventually.

Get it moving ASAP. I did nothing for 3 months and that was probably the worst thing to do as the supporting muscles around it got weak.

NHS physio was superb. 2 sessions a week including gym work. Got it sorted in about 6 weeks once the treatment began.

I did mine running July 2021, I couldn't run a step or walk up and down the stairs but I was cycling a week or so later and did three weeks of easy MTBing in the Pyrenees that August. I decided to have surgery as it wasn't improving. I backed off prior to the surgery on the advice of the consultant which I regret as I lost a lot of fitness. I had surgery late October and was back on the Wattbike a few weeks later and easy MTBing by Christmas. I do as much as you can to keep fit and the leg strong as it will make your recovery faster.

NHS doesn’t do meniscal arthroscopy as there is no good evidence for it.

Not specific to meniscal arthroscopy but there are a lot of things the NHS "don't have the evidence for" or view as "not cost effective" that most European social medicine has different evidence for.

It's not long since the orthopaedic consultant had to prompt me to say the magic words "I can't work without use of that hand" to get referred to the occupational hand clinic.

I tore my medial meniscus just before Christmas 2021. I couldn’t walk without crutches, and even then I was I agony. I went private through works medical insurance and had surgery at the beginning of February 2022.

I had other issues in the knee that came to light during the diagnosis and MRI, quite bad arthritis in the medial joint, heavy scar tissue on the ACL, plus a large cyst growing around the injury.

I was off the bike for 3 months, clips were a no-no, although I’m back on them now, stopped single speeding, just too much pressure through the knee, still can’t run, although spinal surgery put an end to that.

I’m officially broken!

I'm sure my boss has just gone in for a meniscus repair op. Probably gone private, not NHS though... hmm

I've been living with mine for well over 10 years now. I can run/ride/swim on it... just a particular type of movement will pop it out and I can't move, absolute agony. First year or so I didn't know I could do this - but if I sit on my foot, and lean forward it pops back into place like nothing is wrong.
OP, have you tried shifting your knee into weird positions, see if yours does something similar?

Surgery generally dosn't repair the meniscus it trims away pieces, which may be useful if your knee is locking and you cant get full range of movement. Otherwise it may simply encourage OA to develop. The meniscus has a poor blood suppy so it does not heal very well in any case. If you are old then the whole structure can be tissue thin and this can lead to degenerative tears (which is what I have).Grafts can be introduced into the knee to replace badly worn meniscii but the jury is out on whether they work to protect from OA i.e., not a whole lot of convincing evidence that they work. As for time to healing mine took over 6 months and intermittently flares. I found wearing cushioned soled shoes very helpful and cycling also seems to help. Running generally leads to a lot of soreness.