Post Knee Scope- Anyone else have a long recovery?
Hi,
I’m 2 months post knee arthroscopy/chondroplasty + meniscus trim and cartilage biopsy, and I’m wondering if others had a slower-than-expected recovery. I may have been too optimistic...
I’ve been in PT twice a week since surgery (and did 2 months before surgery as well). My surgical PA said everyone heals differently, but he expected I’d be closer to normal by now, which honestly worried me a bit. He put me on steroids as he thought maybe inflammation kind of settled within the knee (it's not visibly swollen).
Right now I can usually only walk about 20 minutes before my knee starts feeling stiff/uncomfortable around the kneecap. I actually got up to 40 minutes when I took a short break from PT, so I’m wondering if PT may be inflaming it.
A week ago, as I thought I was feeling god, I tried a very easy 0.3 mile hike that was groomed with a very gentle slope in places and it took about 4 days for the pain to calm down afterward. The pain was around and under the kneecap and along the side of the knee (not all at once, at various times after).
One thing that still hasn’t improved much is being able to sit with my legs extended straight out in front of me. I also have very tight hamstrings/calves, which my doctor thinks may be contributing.
Has anyone else had a recovery timeline like this and eventually improved? Did anything specific help, or did you end up needing injections/surgery later on?
Thanks in advance!