It looks like I will have to have surgery for a torn meniscus cartilage in my knee. I am not sure just how I did this, but it might have been done while loading my van late last summer. It did not get really painful til a couple of weeks after, so I can’t be really sure. I did well with physical therapy, and thought I could avoid surgery, but something about that then caused problems further up which are much more painful than the initial injury.
I have decided that since I can’t do the knee exercises without causing worse problems, I might as well bite the bullet and have the knee surgery.
What I am wondering is: if anyone has had this type of surgery, how long did it take to recover from before you are able to do shows? I normally start my season in mid-May. I do NOT have help setting up. It’s all me, all the time.
As you all well know, artists have to put demands on their bodies that are beyond the normal range of activity. So even if the surgeon says, “you’ll be fine in 2 months,” I will assume that people with sedentary office jobs will be fine in 2 months, but not necessarily folks who routinely carry 30 to 85 pound weights hour after hour.
This is show application season, and I need to know when I can reasonably start, and how much will be too much. I already plan to avoid shows that require dollying to the booth, as that was bothering my knee after the injury last year.
I have only one friend who has had a torn meniscus, and she reports that her knee was well within a few months.
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Thanks, all! You are really helping to relieve my mind.
Now I just have to arrange to see the surgeon my doctor recommended. She said this orthopedic surgeon specializes in exactly this kind of meniscus tear. But his office wants me to see some other guy: said if I have any arthritis, I should see someone else. My MRI showed a touch of arthritic changes behind the knee cap. I have never had any arthritis pain, anywhere: probably because I am physically active year round.
I want to hold out for the specialist!
I had some arthritis behind the knee which was news to me at the time. While they were repairing the meniscus, the doctor went underneath the kneecap and scraped the arthritic buildup off. It's not a big deal.
I had a torn meniscus in my right knee repaired about six years ago. I was off work a couple of weeks. If I had a desk job, I could have gone back after a week, but I was a teacher so I would have been standing and walking all day with a lot of bending and kneeling. I was back at work after two or three weeks, as best as I recall, with no problems. I started the art fair season about two months later with no problems at all.
My husband had both of his knees done about 8 yrs ago. His down time was not long he went back to work just sitting at a desk 2 days later and was back walking without a cane within a week. He is very active I'm not telling you he doesn't still have discomfort but we totally belive you can do anything you put your mind to. He completed his 1st " ironman " triathlon 6 months after surgery and did it again 2 years ago he's 57. Good luck
Linnea there isn't anything I can't do because of that surgery. I didn't want to push my knees that first month after the surgery. But I am able to run up the steps and I do that all day long here in the house. Comig down is a different story. People who have meniscus tears tend to have pain going down the stairs but not up. So I can run up but not down. I ride my bike from the end of March to the beginning of December every year. I walk a couple miles at a time a couple times a week when the weather is too cold to bike. I can crawl around on my knees and I garden when I can. You wouldn't know I had surgery. My knee joints are tender but that isn't from the meniscus. I think I have some arthritis in there.
I had my surgery in 2007. I used to be very athletic so maybe that helped in my recovery. The surgery is 2 tiny holes, one on each side of your knee. You really should be fine relatively soon afterwards.
Sorry about your knee Linnea. I have had that surgery. I had it on both knees at the same time. I was coaching track at the time and standing at track meets was killing me. As soon as the season was over, I had both knees done at the same time. It never was bad for me after the surgery. I laid around for a while. I ride a bike everywhere and the doc told me I could ride a bike about a few weeks after the surgery. It didn't hurt but it did not feel right. So, I didn't ride my bike for a few weeks more. But, I felt like I was not limited about a month after the surgery. There will be times when your knee will just say no to something. It may not hurt, you will just know it. That may be bending it too much or kneeling on your knees or maybe twisting too much. If your have your knee fixed soon you should be fine in May. I am pretty active and it was nice to be able to do things again without pain.
Good luck.
Thanks, Jacki!
A friend told me his wife couldn't garden anymore after her surgery, and that that scares me almost as much as not being able to do art fairs! My injury happened right after I was done with most gardening, so I couldn't tell how much the tear would impact that.