After repairing the meniscus root, it is imperative that the patient remain 100% non-weight bearing for 6 weeks. By using our website, you consent to our use of cookies. The menisci in the knee are two c-shaped pieces of fibrocartilage that act as shock absorbers. He has repaired both of my shoulders and he is awesome to the max. W;5$u4Yxa_V_bm}q8=^_qbY,H(+",X'{|oMs"&A;3.E s&L=Z`)!]$],b }zb& Y@dy.Lif1:4@"Fz"U2`/h0|6^T&}56+Q:Dn{d:rqW@3 7 U. Medication may be needed for 2-3 weeks. This allows the meniscus to heal back to the bone. They moved my knee a bit, and I had decent ROM, better than expected. He answered all of my concerns about my knee. When the tear is examined during arthroscopy, Dr. Hess will decide if the tear is able to be repaired . The protocol is divided into phases. He and his staff could not have been more helpful and professional. But you need to still continue doing a few things to make sure that you get that remaining 20% healed so that you can truly get back to normal so let me give you some practical advice here three things that i want you to take away from this video number one set your expectations. A patient who has a Meniscus (cartilage) repair cannot twist, pivot, squat, deep knee bends, or engage in any impact activities for four months. And the good news is that it can be helped without another surgery. To accomplish this goal, Dr. Nwachukwu drills a small hole from the outside of the tibia (shin bone) into the knee joint next to the natural attachment of the meniscus root. Strength is one of the most important aspects of our lives. When I went in arthroscopically and thoroughly released the meniscus, pulling it back into an anatomic position and revising the repair; all of these patients seemed to have much improved pain relief. Heel lift in opposite shoe to normalize gait. In between the big lifts and the accessory work, I did some of my PT exercises: leg lifts, quad sets (quad squeezes), heel pumps. Range of motion exercises occur more slowly than a standard meniscus repair and will continue for the first 4 weeks. Dr. La Prade had just moved to Vail and I was his 2nd patient @ The Steadman Clinic. Usually, pain is minimal after this type of surgery. Arner, J.W., Herbst, E.. Meniscal Root Repair Article. Realize that, as discussed above, the torn part of your meniscus was removed. Each patient was randomly selected to have knee meniscus surgery followed by rehab or to simply attend physical therapy without having surgery. It hurt like hell. I was hit by a car on my bicycle near Horsetooth Reservoir in CO. My 14 year old son originally went in to see Dr. Burnham very scared (he hadn't had an injury before) and he was instantly made to feel at ease. We had a wonderful experience and I highly recommend him. Wednesday: 8:00 am 5:00 pm Healing kind of goes fast the beginning and then it tapers off. 4010 W. 65th St. There are many factors that go into this, including a patients weight, with overweight patients putting more stress on the meniscus root tear, ones alignment, where one being bowlegged with a medial meniscus root repair putting extra stress on the repair, and also the amount of underlying arthritis present prior to the root repair. Often the best medicine to take is NSAIDs like naproxen and ibuprofen. Oftentimes, after having a meniscus surgery, people are told that they'll be fine. I rate him 5stars. Thus, these patients can often have early onset arthritis, the development of bony edema, insufficiency fractures, and the failure of concurrent cruciate ligament reconstruction grafts. Your subscription could not be saved. The best surgeon is Baton Rouge that actually care about his patients!!! He is walking without a limb and is on schedule with his progress. My day is pretty much elevate the leg, ice the leg, do the exercises permitted twice a day. In general, in our practice, most patients who do have pain after a meniscus root repair fit into this category. I was very pleased seeing Dr. Burnham, however I was not pleased to learn I was expected to pay an additional co- pay within the same week to receive the results of my MRI. Ill def refer friends and family! Takes his time with you and doesn't hurry to rush out of the room if you have questions. Currently, there are mini First-Pass devices that curve to the right and the left, which allows increased access to a root tear, especially since most root tears tend to squirt to the back part of the joint and can be more difficult to access with a straight biter. The second tip i need you to take home today is you need to listen to your knee because after youre on your own and youre youre supposed to be 80% better theres things that youll be able to do and go ahead and do those as long as they dont hurt or bother you or cause some effects later on that day or the next day then theyre generally going to be okay things for you to do you can probably do some walking but walking you know a few miles maybe not very comfortable for you that may set off the swelling that may hurt you more. Some patients may experience catching, clicking, or locking of their knee. There are 2 main variants of the transtibial root repair technique. And people are often disappointed to find out that as they begin to get back to normal, as theyve been told that they probably could and should they start to get swelling in the knee, they start to get a pain, of course. If patients put weight on the knee immediately after the repair, the forces on . Squatting, lifting from a squat and sitting cross-legged should be avoided for 3-4 months. Meniscus root repair surgery recovery Most patients can return to full activity 4-6 months after a meniscus root repair. Super knowledgeable. Oftentimes, after having a meniscus surgery, people are told that theyll be fine. The recovery time for meniscus surgery depends on the type of surgery you had. Non-anatomic root repairs do not restore normal joint biomechanics . That night, I drove myself to the gym. I consulted with SSC and DPT Darin Deaton prior to my surgery and then afterwards, when I discovered it had been a meniscus root repair. We validated that the 2 simple suture technique had the least amount of loosening over time, but the other techniques were stronger. The next day, my left knee blew up to the size of a grapefruit. This technique is fast and effective. Identifying and properly treating meniscus tears (with or without surgery) will lead to the most rapid reduction in your symptoms and is crucial to optimize the long term health of your knee. And theres things that you can do, which Ill allude to here in the middle. I never met a doctor and his team that showed some much compassion about their patient. The meniscus is a cushion of the knee joint. The sutures are anchored to the tibia in order to stabilize the meniscus root attachment. Previous attempts to make it better provided only temporary relief. No swelling. The technique of a meniscus root repair involves isolating the root, placing a minimum of 2 sutures in the remaining meniscal attachment, and trying to reposition it back to a more anatomic position. If not even worse. So its important at the very beginning its appropriate at the very beginning to make sure that all your emotions back and that you can do some simple walking to and from the house even though hurts so that youre not you know having accidents and better so youre not having emergencies happening you need the function of your leg back. (including injections and arthroscopic surgery), I heard Dr. La Prade was going to practice in the Twin Cities - where I live, & waited for him, based on his renown reputation. Early weightbearing has been found to be the cause of meniscus root repair failure, and this has been validated by our colleagues. They are also important to the stability and function of the knee, keeping the meniscus in place. Thank you Dr. Burnham for being so amazing! Meniscus root repair rehab will usually start 1-2 days after surgery. What could you eat or do for a meniscus tear to heal faster after surgery? There was a large grade 4 chondral defect involving the central aspect of the trochlea, approximately 30mm in width by 25mm in length. PHONE: (952) 442-2163 | WEB: TCOMN.COM/PHYSICIANS/KYLE- MORGENSTERN/ . This results in premature arthritis and cartilage damage in the knee. By far the best orthopedic team I have ever met. I think my clients thought I had lost my mind, but what else was I going to do? Historically, most root tears were treated with meniscectomies because the importance of the meniscus root as a shock absorber was not well known. Then I trained. My daughter recovered fully from a total knee reconstruction and now she able to return to sports. I was adding 10 pounds a week for deadlifts but have now switched to pause deadlifts on Tuesday and add only 5 pounds a week to the heavy deadlift. And this channel is dedicated to helping people stay healthy, active and mobile. Physical therapy exercises can help to improve muscle strength, knee range of motion, and decrease sensitivity to the pain. 1-2 Days After Surgery: Hospitalization for meniscus surgery is typically short. The most common root repair technique is called a transtibial technique. These two steps are considered to be the two main preparation steps, where the release of adhesions to be able to allow the meniscus to be pulled back in the joint and also decortication of bone to prepare a bony bed to repair the meniscus back to the tibia. Content on HealthTap (including answers) should not be used for medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment, and interactions on HealthTap do not create a doctor-patient relationship. After meniscal surgery, rehabilitation with a physical therapist or athletic trainer is needed to restore range of motion, strength, movement control and guide the athlete's return to sport. Sutures are passed through the meniscus, and then pulled down into a bone tunnel located at the same site as the root attachment before it tore. Meniscus Root Repair; Meniscus Transplantation; Partial Meniscectomy; Patellofemoral Joint Repair. In general, one can follow the small tunnels from the transtibial technique up to where the root attachment should be. He spent a great amount of time explaining everything to me in a way that I understood everything. Meniscus repair is usually done with arthroscopic surgery. Knee popping after meniscus surgery can occur due to fluid accumulation, scar tissue, swelling and stretching of the tendon and ligaments, weakened leg muscles, changes in patellar tracking, underlying knee arthritis, unstable meniscus, and inflamed plica. He is amazing and a blessing to have in the medical industry. Therefore, we found that non-anatomic meniscus root tear repairs were not successful. This is because the signs of arthritis are usually pain and swelling with activities. xYIoH8(Jr@fI)/_U}|xW&JDIraqm His MA Michelle was very professional and kind. Swelling and stiffness. Now, the focus when you go into a surgeons office, theyre looking at your MRI, theyre looking at your meniscus on the MRI, theyre telling you the tear in the way that its torn and how theyre going to repair it. Thank you. The roots of the meniscus are responsible for transmitting weight evenly across the surface of the tibia. In fact 2 years ago I finished climbing the top 100 peaks in CO. Often, a patient will be placed into an unloader brace if they are bowlegged to take some of the stress off the healing repair. At the beginning of April, I was dancing at a friends wedding when I suddenly heard and felt a loud pop in my left knee. In January of this year, I finally decided to go back to my doctor to get that MRI. In addition, because of studies from our biomechanical studies showing significant stress on the meniscus with deep flexion, as well as the fact that many meniscus root tears occur with deep flexion, we have patients avoid squatting, squatting and lifting and sitting cross-legged (which puts extra stress on a root repair) for a minimum of 4 months postoperatively to maximize the healing potential. If the patient is not comfortable walking without an aid, then they are usually provided with axillary crutches. MRI is used to look more closely at the meniscus and determine if it is something that needs surgical treatment, although not all meniscus root tears show up on MRI. Everyone made us feel comfortable, and they were all polite and professional. The therapists were a little surprised to see me so soon after my surgery, but I really wanted to know how much range of motion I had post-surgery. Contact Dr. Nwachukwus team today! Darin helped me understand that it was going to be a very slow recovery due to the nature of the surgery, and to be patient. (E) Horizontalized FlipCutter drill ready to drill 10-mm-deep tibial tunnel. EDINA- CROSSTOWN OFFICE The goal of a meniscus root tear repair is to locate the torn root and tack it back down to the bone using strong sutures. dressing in 48 hrs and may let them drive Bottom line, it was pretty clear from the MRI that if I wanted to be out of pain, surgery was my only option. Get prescriptions or refills through a video chat, if the doctor feels the prescriptions are medically appropriate. I would have relied strictly on physical therapy. A meniscus root tear occurs when one or both of these roots tear away from the bone. After hours 763-520-7870 Address Maple Grove 9630 Grove Circle N., Suite 200 Maple Grove, MN 55369 Minnetonka 15450 Highway 7, Suite 100 Minnetonka, MN 55345 Robbinsdale 3366 Oakdale Ave. N Suite 103 Robbinsdale, MN 55422 Knee Meniscus Root . These radial root tears are equivalent to a meniscus root tear. If you think you may have a meniscus tear, it is recommended that you see a sports medicine physician as soon as possible. Does a extruded medial meniscus towards the posterior root need surgery? And unless you have been following my Instagram page and know about my rehab, you would never even know that I had knee surgery. They walked me through the process from beginning to end. Most root tears involve either a direct tear of the meniscus off bone or a split of the meniscus within 1 cm of the root attachment. Kyle D. Morgenstern, MD . A meniscus root tear usually will not heal on its own. Ibuprofen (Advil, Motrin) Naproxen (Aleve) Many surgeons will tie the meniscus root repair with the knee bent, so that one can start motion right after surgery and not have to worry about the meniscus root repair being stretched out. The meniscus is a piece of cartilage in the knee, often injured in sports. At my third visit to PT, I was told that I had completely broken my PT protocol, and was better for it. He provided a thorough explanation without wasting time. His interaction with me around my surgery calmed me, and his excellent work in the operating room speaks for itself. He answered all my questions satisfactorily and his entire staff were polite and professional. Figure 5:: Cortical fixation of transtibial meniscal root repair. At the end of March, my doctor told me I could take my brace off completely, and use crutches for another week if I needed to. In some instances, the meniscus posterior horn may need to be released from scar tissue to allow it to be repositioned. Arrange for someone to drive you home as you will not be able to drive yourself after surgery. And slowly, I started bending the knee more, and eventually took the box away from my bench. It has been found that one suture alone for the repair does not work well, so a minimum of 2 sutures is required to maximize meniscal healing.