Dancing with a Torn Meniscus

[danceamandadance]

I have not torn a meniscus nor have actually damaged a knee (amazingly, sometimes despite my best efforts), but I have a lovely rod in one leg that was inserted by way of drilling a hole through my knee cap. As I approached the final stages of the healing process from that fracture and surgery, my ortho warned me that my knee is the weak link now and to be mindful of that. His biggest recommendation? Strong quads. That's pretty easy for me, even before dancing, between my horseback riding and cycling, but I do work to maintain those strong quads, am extremely careful and aware of form while doing things like squats and yoga poses.

As for the foot and toe issues...I have some of that, too. Good shoes are a must. I've gotten really picky about shoes the last couple of years. I have also found that rolling a tennis ball under my feet and/or a good foot massage help a lot, both with day to day pain, OMG I danced for HOURS pain, and pain left over from my injury. Also, a frozen water bottle rolled under the feet helps and feels great.

 

[Daphna]

A good podiatrist! Top of the foot doesn't sound like arthritis, however. I have arthritis in one of my big toes and the podiatrist gives me a series of shots periodically that is a local anesthetic (series of three, one week apart). The idea is that even though the local wears off it cuts the inflammation and pain cycle. Cortisone shots also help (a lot), but you can only have so many of them before the cortisone causes damage.

I found a good podiatrist by asking other dancers--much better than the one I had been using before.

Unfortunately, it really is arthritis on the top of my foot, had any number of doctors tell me it is, including from the Harkness Clinic for Dancers at NYU. They all have said that there is really nothing they can do other than bone fusion and I'm just not there yet. When I said that bone fusion wasn't something I was really interested in, they looked at me and basically said, "I'm sorry, I guess you will just have to suffer" Have tried cortisone shots, was painfree for an entire day and went skipping down the street. After that day, pain came right back, not a happy camper.

I like the massage idea, and will see about getting my wife to increase the number of times she is willing to do this.

 

[RiseNFall]

Ouch. If cortisone only worked for one day, I doubt the series of local anesthesia would do any good, though what the doctor said before doing it the first time was "no harm in trying". I've had some relief from other arthritis pain (thumb) with acupuncture, but never tried it on my feet. Have you tried that?

 

[Joe]

Even orthotics wouldn't do anything for you?

 

[scullystwin42]

My knee (and the whole leg, actually) had massive swelling. There wasn't a lot of pain, but dang...my left leg was twice the size of my right. Come to find out, I had significant tears to my meniscus, confirmed by an MRI. I saw a surgeon about it, and of course, he recommended he go in and remove the shredded areas of my meniscus. The surgery went smoothly, and I was walking without support in about 4 days. This was well over a year ago. The knee has not been the same since. .

A friend of mine is getting stem cell therapy to regenerate/repair the meniscus instead of surgery. I did a cursory amount of research on it, and it doesn't appear to be quackery - despite the expense. It might be something to look into for pain easement. It takes a while, so i don't know what her results will be...

 

[TurnsAre4Girls]

Hello Everyone,

I just logged in today after not being around in quite a few months. I was surprised to see this thread active.

Anyways, here is an update on my torn meniscus. As I think I previously mentioned I got it during a cycling race not from dancing. However, it did make me stop dancing for around 5 months. I started back at it with mixed results. Some days it was good while other days it felt like it was loose and I didn't really have good control over it. I decided to stop dancing again. (Which pissed my partner off a lot!)

Now 14 months since the original injury my knee is feeling very solid and I'm now confident I can do any of movements required on the dance floor. I'm starting back at it in a few weeks. I'll be looking for a new partner as well since the old one didn't want to wait.

I'm booking my next comp for Nov. ---- Time for some serious practice.

T4Gs

 

[cornutt]

Good to have you back!

 

[sbrnsmith]

No ortho surgeon I've talked with here will guarantee a return to 100% functionality. A PT I know said getting back to 90-95% is golden, depending on the injury. Seems the takeaway is that you will be better after surgery, but you will never be quite as good as you were prior to the injury/surgery. One needs to weigh the trade-offs: continued pain with possibility of further injury (possibly necessitating surgery anyway) or taking the sleepy juice and rehabbing as best as possible. YMMV.

Couldn't agree more- surgery is not always the answer and certainly not an easy fix- one must weigh the risks and benefits- as with any invasive procedure, there are small but real risks of infection, bleeding, tissue damage etc. I think the future lies in newer innovative therapies such as platelet rich plasma or stem cells etc....note these are not yet FDA approved, but many of the more progressive docs are using them with optimistic results.

 

[RiseNFall]

That's interesting to know about. Thank you for the information!

 

[dancelvr]

Ouch. If cortisone only worked for one day, I doubt the series of local anesthesia would do any good, though what the doctor said before doing it the first time was "no harm in trying". I've had some relief from other arthritis pain (thumb) with acupuncture, but never tried it on my feet. Have you tried that?

I've found that acupuncture is extremely effective for pain relief and speeding up healing. I'd highly recommend it. However, not all insurance will cover this treatment, and it can be expensive. I upgraded mine to cover this, but still can only receive 24 treatments a year. Acupuncture requires a series of treatments for whatever problem one might have, and it often requires more than what my insurance will cover.

 

[dancelvr]

Since this seems to be the 'pain' thread for right now, any suggestions for arthritis of the top of the foot & toe area? Advil doesn't seem to do much for this pain, though it does help with the knee pain

Acupuncture. I have arthritis in both knees, and the treatment I got a few years ago for other knee issues cleared up my arthritis symptoms completely.

 

[Joe]

Acupuncture did little for my sciatica.

 

[dancelvr]

Acupuncture did little for my sciatica.

I've had sciatica. (Years before I discovered acupuncture.) It was a six week nightmare. I think there is only so much ANY medical genre can do for a major pinched nerve, unfortunately. Time is the 'doctor' in this case.

 

[Mons]

Hi , I have had torn meniscus particularly in the left knee. It is about 8090% better and my doctors recommended a lot of rest. Which I have done for the last 4 months. This is what I would recommend to you and not to push yourself with walking or anything else that aggravates the condition. I am a drive dancer cyclist and gym goer (light lady circuit training) I just come back from my first dance lessons and dancing in over six months. My knees have held up but I have taken it very easy not pushing it when they have given me pain. I guess I will see what's what tomorrow. Just keep resting up as far as you are able to.

 

[Braders]

Hi , I have had torn meniscus particularly in the left knee. It is about 8090% better and my doctors recommended a lot of rest. Which I have done for the last 4 months. This is what I would recommend to you and not to push yourself with walking or anything else that aggravates the condition. I am a drive dancer cyclist and gym goer (light lady circuit training) I just come back from my first dance lessons and dancing in over six months. My knees have held up but I have taken it very easy not pushing it when they have given me pain. I guess I will see what's what tomorrow. Just keep resting up as far as you are able to.

Hi
New member from Scotland and only a casual dancer but like. It
Had 2 tears and a year later still have discomfort particularly when walking downstairs or hills!!
Had an MRI and discussed with specialist sports surgeon who advised to leave I vas keyhole would make minor difference.
Not taking any meds and continue a physio programme 3 times a week with stretching and weights as instructed From your experiences is this similar to everyone else and any tips to assist recovery and can you be confident about having a wee dance without worrying of reoccurrence?
Appreciate any thoughts