Lateral Meniscus Tear Help?

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Christie88
Posts: 5
Joined: Sun Dec 16, 2018 10:08 pm

Lateral Meniscus Tear Help?

Post by Christie88 »

Greetings All,
I wanted to know if anyone had possible suggestions as to postures that might be helpful for a lateral meniscus tear? I have seen posts in regard to the inner knee , but I am looking for suggestions for the outside line of the knee. I have a torn lateral meniscus that happened via a mindless weight shift in hero pose. I was actually teaching and not being mindful of my own body. Since then the “catch, or locking has continued to get worse, however the knee is stable. Of course surgery has been recommended and I REALLY don't want to go that route. Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you�
Christie Alexander
Bernie
Posts: 1293
Joined: Sat Sep 23, 2006 2:25 am
Location: Vancouver

Post by Bernie »

Hi Christie

I am sorry to hear about your needy knees! Ouch. I know how this can feel. I tore both my medial menisci from being overly aggressive in my yoga practice. It took me a long time to heal and eventually I did do the surgery. But, I also did a lot of other work.

Even though your tear is to the lateral meniscus, I believe that an appropriate amount of stress will still be beneficial. Since the tissues are injured, it is easy to do too much, so you must constantly monitor the sensations, but to not stress the knee at all will lead to degeneration making the knee even weaker. See this article on Antifragility. May I refer also you to this article on Yin Yoga for the Knees? I think the exercise could help.

It is curious that knee surgery has been shown to work at curing the pain of a torn meniscus (it did for me!) but it has also been shown to be a placebo! Several studies have shown this, but here is one of the latest. How does the placebo work? One speculation is that the surgery forces you to stop overly stressing the knee and do rehab. It also causes an inflammation of the area which can be healing. The actual tear of the meniscus is not the problem, it turns out. Indeed many people have torn meniscus and no pain at all (as this study shows.)

Good luck! Let us know how it goes.
Bernie
Christie88
Posts: 5
Joined: Sun Dec 16, 2018 10:08 pm

Post by Christie88 »

Thank you Bernie!! I will absolutely check out the articles and studies! I greatly appreciate your insights and your contributions to the practice of yoga! I will be sure to check back in with, hopefully, positive developments😊

Thank you,
Christie
Christie Alexander
Christie88
Posts: 5
Joined: Sun Dec 16, 2018 10:08 pm

Lateral Meniscus No Tear!

Post by Christie88 »

Greetings Bernie and All!

I wanted to give an update in regard to the situation happening in my left knee. I went ahead with the MRI, under the assumption that the doctor was correct in thinking I had a lateral meniscus tear, but... when the MRI came back, there was really nothing too remarkable(I will put the findings below just for information)So, the orthopedist said no surgery was needed and referred me to PT. I rested my knee and laid off a strenuous asana practice for over a month. I used Chinese medicine lineaments and poultices. I did a very mild amount of stress to the knee. I used a blanket behind the knees and sat up on three blocks at first and then on two and then on one. All things pointed to a positive direction and then... I went to a Restorative class. As I was coming out of the first posture, legs up the wall, my knee locked up again. I could not straighten it and I was in immense pain. Ultimately, I was able to "pop" it back in, but I was not in good shape. I share all of this because, this time when I was able to "pop" it back in, a bruise formed and I was able to see exactly where the trauma occurred. It was actually not in the knee. It was under the knee. Looking straight on at the left knee it is several inches below the actual knee and about an inch or two towards the right edge of the leg.
So, at this point I am headed to PT, but the good news is that I am going to be working with a yoga teacher friend, who does PT as her career. I just wondered what insight you, or others, might have about this new development. I am always interested in what the body has to tell me!

Thank you for your time and consideration,
Christie Alexander

Findings:
The cruciate ligaments appear to be intact, the menisci are well seen without focal tears or abnormality of appearance. Cartilage is fairly well-maintained in the medial and lateral compartments.

Marrow appearance is unremarkable except for what appears to be a sharply marginated small area of increased marrow signal in the medial aspect of the distal femoral metaphysis measuring up to 7 mm in greatest dimension, an enchondroma is possible.

The patellofemoral joint is unremarkable without other focal abnormalities noted. No significant effusion is seen.

Picture of knee and bruise:
/Users/christiealexander/Desktop/IMG_0700.jpeg
Christie Alexander
Bernie
Posts: 1293
Joined: Sat Sep 23, 2006 2:25 am
Location: Vancouver

Post by Bernie »

Hi Christie

Well, that is very good news that your knee ligaments and cartilage are all intact, but still a mystery as to what is/was causing your pain. We may never know the biological cause of the pain, but your PT should help you recover pain free use of it. The bruising could be caused by a blood vessel leaking from further away from where the bruise ends up, rather than by the actual area of damage. As I say, a mystery.

I am glad your yoga teacher is a PT: she should be able to work with you to prescribe postures and strengthening exercises that allow you to gently stress the area and over time get stronger and more stable.

Good luck and thanks for the updates.
Bernie
Christie88
Posts: 5
Joined: Sun Dec 16, 2018 10:08 pm

Post by Christie88 »

Thanks Bernie :)
Side Note: I enjoyed listening to the J. Brown Yoga Talk you did recently! It sparked some good conversation between myself and one of my mentor teachers!
Thanks again,
Christie
Christie Alexander
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