Meniscus tear...

[gzhpcu]

First time in my life, I got a small miniscus tear in my left knee. Slightly swollen. Happened last Thursday. Am just using RICE and not loading it. Hurts a bit when I bend it, but can walk OK. I hope it will be OK after a two week break. Anybody else have experience with this type of injury? thanks

[stotty]

First time in my life, I got a small miniscus tear in my left knee. Slightly swollen. Happened last Thursday. Am just using RICE and not loading it. Hurts a bit when I bend it, but can walk OK. I hope it will be OK after a two week break. Anybody else have experience with this type of injury? thanks

Snap! I have a suspected tear but will have to have it scanned to be certain. Apparently the left knee, for right handers, takes more wear and tear than the right. The left knee takes more load when we serve and most righties initially push/thrust off to shots with the left leg.

Let me know how you get on...

[gzhpcu]

In fact it happened on a serve...

[stotty]

In fact it happened on a serve...

Me too. I don't leave the ground anymore so my left foot rotates on the court surface. I figure this is how it happened.

Still, I have been playing tennis pretty much every day for well over 40 years so something had to give one day....

[John Yandell]

Sending healing vibrations to you both.

[don_budge]

As we age the meniscus gets brittle and is more subject to wear and is more subject to tearing. The key is prehabilitation. Work on the muscles in the legs to take stress off of the knees. Of course this takes time and energy. Pretty hard to do if you are on the court every day for forty years.

I thought my knees were shot two years ago. Currently following through on what I started...rehabilitation in conjunction with prehabilitation. The results are very encouraging and it has resulted in a change in my life. Having the two and a half year old Chocolate Lab "Puntzie" as a training partner helps immensely. Which is very encouraging.

Afterall it was Fyodor Dostoyevsky who wrote in his EPIC novel "The Devils" or "The Possessed" however you translate from the Russian:

"The second half of a man's life is made up of nothing but the habits he has acquired during the first half."

Remember if there is one thing we can take away from Charles Darwin...

"The survival of the fittest is not the strongest or even the smartest...it is the one that adapts the best."

[gzhpcu]

Knee is getting much better after 5 days. Was a minor tear. Apart from leg strengthening exercises, are knee sleeves any good?

[don_budge]

Knee is getting much better after 5 days. Was a minor tear. Apart from leg strengthening exercises, are knee sleeves any good?

Knee sleeves and braces are real good. Unless you enjoy the pain. A good sleeve/brace will provide some support that is sorely needed. Good in the short term. Exercise for the long term. Wear the brace while exercising if it helps.

[arturohernandez]

I don't have a torn meniscus but my left leg regularly gets stiffer. I thought it was due to weakness or an old injury. Now it seems like it is common to get left leg injuries as a right handed player. I started a thread a while back about pool running. It has helped both by strengthening and loosening my muscles. I highly recommend it as a cross training method.

[bottle]

Remember if there is one thing we can take away from Charles Darwin...

"The survival of the fittest is not the strongest or even the smartest...it is the one that adapts the best."

BELIEF IN SCIENCE is another thing we can take away from Charles Darwin. And BELIEF IN THE RAINBOW NATIONS is another thing we can take away from other reasonable persons like him.

[gzhpcu]

Thanks for feedback to all...

[gzhpcu]

Any experience with using heat after a couple of days? Seems like Eastern medicine does not use ice, only heat, to promote blood circulation for healing.

[don_budge]

"What I wished I had known about my knees...". From the fake news mainstream media NYTimes...but interesting.

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/07/03/w...pgtype=article

I look to the East when it comes to medicine. Rehab. Dedicated rehabilitation. Then prehab. Prehabilitation. An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of the cure. Particularly true when discussing knees.

[stotty]

"What I wished I had known about my knees...". From the fake news mainstream media NYTimes...but interesting.

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/07/03/w...pgtype=article

I look to the East when it comes to medicine. Rehab. Dedicated rehabilitation. Then prehab. Prehabilitation. An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of the cure. Particularly true when discussing knees.

Most interesting.

I am doing exercises to strengthen my knee, which seems to be working. I have heard to many negative stories regarding keyhole surgery. I guess sometimes your own body knows best.

[klacr]

Avoid surgery (you'll never feel the same after), avoid medicines (will only break down your immunity). The human body has an amazing way to heal itself. Just give it some rest. Just live in the most natural chemically or surgically unaided state you can. The human body is the most powerful and advanced self managed machine ever built. Feel better.

Kyle LaCroix USPTA
Boca Raton