u/DeepDiveJiuJitsu

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Hey everyone! I’m slightly over 9 months in my recovery. The injury took place in jiu jitsu practice where I was coming up to finish a sweep- and bam- my medial meniscus tore. I immediately knew it since I had torn the medial meniscus in my other knee 10 years earlier with the same bucket handle tear. I jumped on it with the x ray, mri, and was lucky enough to get the surgery 6 days later where the repair - according to my surgeon was “massive”. So yea - there’s been many ups and downs along the way and so I’d thought I’d share my biggest tips I’d wish I had known in hopes of helping others.

So the first thing like everyone says is do your PT. But what people don’t explain enough in my opinion- is to be in tune and aware of your knee as you exercise. This means your mindset shouldn’t be “oh I have to hit these exercises and these reps exactly”. No. Check in with your knee. How’s it feeling this workout on this exact day? It might sound corny but it should be like a meditation practice with your knee movements.

Now the reason why I stress this is because I did not do that during the earlier stages of my recovery. I didn’t listen enough to my knee. Instead I prioritized chasing reps, sets, and numbers. In combination with that- I had a PT who loved to converse during exercises. And while I appreciate anyone just trying to have friendly conversation- looking back- I realize how detrimental and distracting that can be to the focus needed on the recovery process.

As the early weeks post surgery progressed - so did my knee. I was making rapid improvements with everything from strength to range of motion (RoM), but by month 2, complications like bursitis and patellar tendinitis started to occur. Unfortunately they weren’t taken seriously enough. Things only became worse. As the months progressed (around month 4), despite having my knee drained twice- my knee was extremely swollen from the pre patellar bursitis along with chronic pain from my tendinitis. At this point I struggled to even put on my shoes, my RoM was at a standstill, and i felt like PT wasn’t helping since they were just baffled on how to treat my situation.

So let me stress this. Please find yourself a knowledgeable PT who knows how to treat you properly and effectively. If you get the vibe or feeling that they’re lost, please do yourself a favor and look elsewhere. Don’t feel like you have to stick with your current Pt.

Anyways it was at this point (month 5) where I decided to drop my PT. Now I don’t recommend this, but I took things into my own hands. I figured “hey, I’ve recovered from this before. In fact- I literally also had the same post surgery complications in my other knee when I had a menisectomy 10 years earlier. I have the knowledge and experience of recovering from this along with having worked out for years prior. Now I’m not a PT but let me combine my experience with ChatGPT to create a workout plan tailored to treat my situation”. And so I did! 😂

It’s now been 4 months since I made this decision (9 months total post surgery). And again I’m not recommending this. I definitely should have sought another PT- but I personally couldn’t be happier that I made the decision. While I’m still not fully recovered, my recovery has made a total 180. Not only can I easily put my shoes on again 😅 but swelling is back to normal, I can run, jump, and do most things normally. RoM is still not full but I’ve accepted that it’s not something I should rush or prioritize ahead of the complications I was experiencing like my PT had me believe.

While there’s so much more I could elaborate on- I think I’ve written enough lol. I never post on Reddit or anywhere unless it’s for my Bjj content. Anyways, although this process has been extremely difficult, i am at least happy that I’ve gained a new sense of discipline by taking my recovery into my own hands and showing up twice a week every week at the gym religiously. I’ve gained and earned a new habit that I know I will keep and will hopefully help bulletproof my sensitive knees from future injuries. Looking to make my return to the mats in a week or two! Thanks for reading and I hope this helped!