You’ve been sidelined long enough by a torn meniscus in your knee, and you’re more than a little anxious to get back on your feet and moving freely. Before that can happen, you’ve got to get through your meniscus repair surgery and recovery, which will require just a little more patience on your end.
Each year in the United States, there are about 1 million meniscus tears, making it one of the more common causes of knee pain. While not everyone turns to surgery after this injury, many do, which means we’ve got a good idea about recovery and healing timelines.
Here at our practice, Dr. William Schell is a board-certified orthopedic surgeon who has performed many meniscus repairs over the course of his decades-long career. And we’ve gathered some good information about meniscus surgery recovery along the way, which we share here.
Of course, every patient heals in their own time, but the following can give you a better idea about what to expect.
Dr. Schell typically performs meniscus repair surgeries on an outpatient basis, which means you’re free to go home after the procedure. It’s a good idea to have someone accompany you, even if you take a cab, as you might be a little groggy afterward.
For the first week after your meniscus repair surgery, it’s important that you follow our instructions. In most cases, we want you to take it easy for the first few days and elevate your knee. You can use ice to address the swelling that you’ll likely develop after the surgery.
Because Dr. Schell only makes tiny incisions to perform the repairs in your knee, these small incisions should heal quite quickly. Still, while they’re fresh, we don’t want you to shower for the first 24-48 hours.
Once we’re satisfied that everything is going in the right direction, we greenlight you for moving around, sometimes with a brace and sometimes with crutches, depending on the extent of the repair.
During this first week, we often recommend to patients that they take off of work so they can channel their efforts toward recovery.
As soon as you’re mobile in the first week, you can engage fully in your physical therapy (PT). The PT piece of the recovery puzzle is perhaps the most important and can have the biggest impact on your recovery timeline.
In short, if you participate fully in your PT sessions and do all of the exercises your physical therapist recommends at home, you can get to the other side more quickly.
Through PT, our goal is to bring your knee back to its original strength while encouraging range of motion, balance, and stability.
The other role of your physical therapist is to rein you in and stop you from overdoing it. There’s no extra credit when it comes to PT — quite the opposite. It’s a good idea to stick to the program and not push too hard, as you can overstress your newly repaired knee, which can be a quick road back to square one.
If you follow our instructions and engage fully in your physical therapy, you should be moving comfortably on your knee within 3-6 weeks. When it comes to becoming active, this may take longer — 4-6 months, or more. Hard-core sports in which you’re really relying on your knee may take a year or more before you feel fully confident on your knee.
Please note that we hesitate to provide numbers here as your recovery depends upon a host of factors, but these are good guidelines.
Common sense can also be your guide. Getting back to a walk or run in the park will happen sooner than taking to the courts to play pickleball or jumping in on a game of soccer or basketball.
Whether it’s three months, six months, or a year, your patience will be rewarded as your meniscus tear heals and your knee is back to 100%.
If you have more questions about your recovery after a meniscus repair, please contact our New York City office, which is located on Columbus Circle on the Upper West Side.
