Seeking advice and tips: How are you all handling similar situations?

First off, I’d like to extend my greetings to everyone. It has been about two years since I last visited this health corner of the forum, though my background and former profession have always been in the medical field 😁.

More importantly, I am reaching out because I find myself in need of your collective experiences, advice, and suggestions regarding my current situation, as the title suggests.

To give you some context—I suppose I was a bit reckless and ended up injuring my knee quite badly. I have a torn meniscus, and my medial collateral ligament is apparently severely strained, though not fully ruptured; meanwhile, my ACL is supposedly fine.
The diagnosis is somewhat tentative, as I haven't had an ultrasound or an MRI performed yet. My doctor reached this conclusion based solely on physical palpation and that specific test where they rotate a relaxed leg in various directions. This assessment was made immediately following the injury while the knee was still significantly swollen, and he even mentioned arthroscopy as a potential solution for my little issue.

What I am truly interested in learning is whether anyone here has dealt with a similar predicament. Specifically, what is the standard procedure for a meniscus during surgery—do they typically remove it, stitch it back together, or perhaps do a combination of both? Additionally, I would appreciate any insight into recovery timelines (as I have heard many conflicting accounts), how much absolute rest is required to avoid putting weight on the leg, and anything else you might deem worth mentioning.

Thank you.

Look, I’m no doctor...
but I’ve been through something similar, so here’s my two cents:

- If you’ve actually trashed both ligaments, you’re in bad shape. There's a pretty high chance it's a progressive injury, too.
- For a knee exam, they inject some saline into the joint before taking images. That’s when they can actually see all the ligaments clearly.
- They might perform a meniscectomy—basically removing part or all of the meniscus depending on how much damage there is. It’s usually a quick thirty-minute procedure (you'll be on crutches afterward, though, depending on what they did).
- It’s done arthroscopically, so it's minimally invasive. You could be back on your feet within 24 hours. Back in the day, they used to make huge incisions along the whole knee, which was just brutal.

Anyway...
until that med student or Casey Palmer5 gets back to us...
you really need to baby that knee and focus on rehab.

But listen, there are certain exercises you absolutely cannot do, even in your wildest dreams—things like squats, running, basketball, soccer, or even breaststroke swimming.

And don't go lifting anything heavy or awkward.
What the doctor was checking was the stability of the ligament attachments, whereas what you're feeling is the pain...
They also likely checked your range of motion—how much your leg moves side to side—and that "drawer sign" (which happens when the ligaments are stretched out).

I might be getting some of this wrong, honestly...
but until they chime in (or someone who actually knows what they're talking about)...
you have to be incredibly careful. In my opinion, these injuries tend to get worse. If you lose both ligaments, eventually even something as simple as sitting down on a toilet could become a risky move.

Honestly, Kyle Nelson2 didn't mess up nearly as much as I thought he would; I was actually kind of surprised by how much he knows 🙂

Anyway, nobody on this forum can tell you exactly what your best move is. You really need to sit down with a solid orthopedic surgeon—someone who’ll go over your ultrasound, an MRI, and do a full clinical exam first. At the end of the day, the big question is whether surgery is even the right call for you.

If they do decide to go through with arthroscopy, they’ll likely just perform a partial meniscectomy. It's not some massive, life-altering operation, and the recovery isn't super long either. If you really put in the work during rehab, you can get back to 100%. It’s a huge relief that your ligaments are still intact...

Kyle Nelson2, thanks Casey Palmer5

I went in for my follow-up exam today
Update 😁

The meniscus is definitely trashed
The ACL is fine—thank goodness for that
And the worst part—it looks like the MCL is actually messed up too 🙄 I was given a diagnosis of knee arthrosis, meaning the joint can basically only handle flexion and extension, rather than rotation. They scheduled me to come back in two weeks to see what's going on with the ligament.

I think I might go see another orthopedic surgeon next week just to get a second opinion

I am also wondering if anyone knows:
- What is the typical recovery time for an arthroscopy?
- How long do people usually need to use crutches?
- How long should I avoid putting weight on the leg? Like, when can I start walking on it or, heaven forbid, doing some light jogging?
- If they remove the meniscus, what takes its place to handle its function? 😕 Or do they just put a little bit of WD-40 in there after the removal so the femur and tibia stay lubricated and don't rub against each other? 😁

Look, I’m not trying to act like a know-it-all here, but I’ve dealt with something similar, so I'll just lay out what I know so maybe I can see where I'm tripping up:

- Once there's basically zero space left between your tibia and femur, nothing new gets put in there. Every single impact just transfers straight to your hip—and honestly, I think that's the tricky part for the long term.
- You’re looking at crutches for maybe two months max after a meniscectomy. Usually, you use both for a bit before switching to just one.
The thing about crutches is that you aren't supposed to put more than 20 pounds of weight on that operated leg, which is tiny. That’s usually where people mess up; they don't follow the rules and end up using the crutches more like an accessory than actual support.

In my opinion, the whole point of your recovery isn't actually the arthroscopic surgery itself... that's just a side note, I guess.
You really have to be careful moving forward and work on those knee exercises, because if you build up your quad, it can pretty much take over the job of the ligament. Plus, you need to strengthen that stretched-out ligament through exercise and by being careful not to let the knee buckle again.

That’s the part where most people just expect the doctor to fix everything with one surgery, and then they just go right back to living exactly how they did before.🙂