I have shared a few snippets of this on social media, but I wanted to update everyone on my meniscus surgery recovery 5 months in!

The surgery was March 1st, so August 1st will be exactly 5 months.

You can read the story of what happened in this post.

Meniscus Surgery Recovery 5 Month Update

Things were going pretty well in April. I was slowly increasing the exercises from PT, walking more, and the knee seemed to be doing okay. I met with the surgeon April 16th, and they added in an ant-inflammatory to help with some inflammation I was having.

In May, I took a little step backwards in recovery. There wasn’t anything in particular that happened, but I went to do some simple leg raises and couldn’t lift my leg at all.

It was very weird!

I was still able to bend my knee okay, but I couldn’t do any exercise where my quad had to activate.

Not only was it really painful, but my muscle just wouldn’t work at all.

They told me in PT to rest my leg for a few days, then see how it was.

It wasn’t any better, so I went into the office for an evaluation.

June – 3 months out

In June, they evaluated me in PT  to try to determine what was happening with my quad muscle. The inner quad was not functioning at all, but the outside quad was still activating. The pain under the knee cap was also increasing anytime I tried to just lift my leg up.

If my knee was bent, I was able to raise my leg though without pain.

They ordered an MRI to make sure the meniscus was still good.

The MRI showed an incredible amount of inflammation in the pockets under the knee cap, as well as the surrounding tissues. They weren’t able to see anything mechanical, so that was good news.

I met with the surgeon June 15th, and he believed the inflammation was so impacted under the knee cap, it was keeping the quad from activating.

I was also dealing with my knee locking up and giving out on me when I tried to walk.

He decided to do a steroid injection under the knee cap to get the inflammation down. He also changed up my PT to a more gentle approach with some dry needling, massage, and working on the quad directly.

Let me tell you, the injection was so painful!!! I had no idea that area was so inflamed. I have had dozens of injections in the knee, but none have hurt like that. He said it was probably also rheumatoid arthritis inflammation.

July – 4 months out

I started on some gentle PT a little over a week after the steroid injection. I was pretty weak, and my knee was not bending past about 100 degrees. I also couldn’t lift my quad at all!

My knee cap was stuck and not moving much.

When they did dry needling, my inner quad was barely activating while the outside quad was really moving.

In PT, they started on some gentle movement and massaging the area. It was almost like going back to square one with exercises, but they really didn’t want to aggravate the knee more.

After two weeks of gentle PT, the surgeon also encouraged me to start back on the reformer. Pilates is so great for rehabilitation from surgery AND great for joints. I am so thankful to have The Fit Lounge nearby. The owner, Taylor, is working with me to take it very slow and steady before going back to a full class.

As of July 21st, I am still having some issues with quad activation and pain, but it is improving each session. The first picture in this post was my very first time back to the Pilates studio a few weeks ago. It was so awesome to get back and at least do some core work!

Complications

I want to let you know about some of the complications I have experienced because if you or anyone you know has to go through this, it is nice to know you aren’t alone. I was told by numerous people they were back to almost normal activities at 12 weeks.

Everyone is different for sure, but also having an autoimmune disease, not to mention in the same joint you have surgery, can really slow things down.

The surgeon really believed the issues I was having was inflammation blocking my knee cap from moving. After the steroid shot kicked in, it didn’t help quad activation or movement at all, so it seems the inflammation wasn’t the main reason.

The inside quad doesn’t activate, and the motion from bending to straightening will not happen without holding my leg. Everything else is doing better. Walking is okay, sitting, standing up, and simple things like this are good.

Another possibility is some nerve damage which my surgeon said is also very common with this type of surgery.

Feel free to join along on instagram with more updates! I will update everyone again soon, and I pray it continues to improve!

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