Mensicus tear after partial removal? Torn ACL graft?
Essay incoming. So I'm a bit stumped and in limbo with this one, I'm waiting for an MRI now but can't deny it's messing with my head quite a lot.
Almost exactly a year ago I got my ACL Reconstructed, partial Meniscus Removal and an LET. Rehab and recovery went well, I was the strongest I'd ever been in the gym, back to running, minimal pain and felt very stable. Got the return to sport all clear from my PT at 10 months and decided to go Skiing (Knowing & accepting the risks to do that at that stage).
I wore a brace, had no real issues with the skiing, lot's of muscle soreness from not being used to it. Very slight knee pain towards the end of the trip, never while skiing but was a little sore in the evening after. On the last day my legs felt really cooked, so I called it a half day, went for lunch on the mountain. Walking into the resturant I stand on a wet bit of wooden decking, feet fly out from under me, in all the chaos I think I tried to catch myself and twisted my knee. All while wearing a knee brace (not a heavy duty metal one but a velcro one.
So I don't remember a "pop" (all happened quite quickly). Instant pain in the knee, hard to pin point where exactly. No where near as painful as my first ACL tear. It didn't really feel like it gave out either, maybe because of the brace. I managed to get myself up and walk away from it, I could instantly put weight on the knee, it did hurt when I did. Swelling didn't really kick in until 8 hours or so later. Then was fairly swollen for a couple of days. The whole time following I could put weight on it, but it would hurt. Stairs were the worst, up & down.
Never felt any proper instability the whole time following, just a lof of pain behind the knee cap and on the sides of my knee when putting any pressing motion (like stairs). Normal walking became not painful very quickly. I could weight bare the whole time. My quad felt like it completely shut off. Leg went from the strongest it's ever been to very very weak.
Over the last 6 weeks I've been in the gym getting my strength back. I'd say it's maybe 70-80% of my other leg now. I felt real progress for the first 3-4 weeks, and now a real plateau of the last few. Some sessions after the gym it feels great, like the gym is really helping. But then after a day with a lot of walking it feels like it regresses.
I'd say currently it just feels off. I don't have the confidence again, It aches and stabs fairly often. It makes so much crunching and clicking when I extend or flex my knee. I get a very slight catch & release feel when moving around sometimes, never true locking, but a small release with the clicks.
I was convinced I'd torn some of the remaining Meniscus, but saw my surgeon today and he was concered about the lax in my knee now. I have always had a bit of lax in both knees, and expecially that one after the surgery. Maybe a partial tear or stretch? So hard to say.
I'm in the UK so at the mercy of NHS wait times, MRI in 6 weeks apparently. I will get the answers then. I think I just posted this to vent as it really does consume you these things, espeically after the long road to get the surgery and rehab (yes I know I pushed my luck skiing)
Any opinions of what it could be welcome!