knee front
Originally uploaded by Sophie_vf
Here's a really quite uninformative xray of my knee taken in April, so about a month after I injured in March. All it really does is confirm that there was no bone damage, and since cartilage doesn't show up in xrays, it doesn't say anything about what is torn or where. I think it looks really cool, though.
The main reason I had access to the interesting but non-useful
X rays is that I had to take them with me when I went to see the
orthopedic specialist. She has a stellar reputation here - I'd been
hearing her name for a long time, and everyone said "as soon as she
touches your knee she'll know."
The appointment was really more of a non-event. She did a bunch of draw
tests and than said, "you have a torn cartilage". (As opposed to my
doctor, who said "you probably have torn cartilage).
She then drew me a picture of probable location and type of tear, and
it's basically a medial meniscal tear on the posterior side - which is
probably why it causes pain in deep flexion with pressure to the
posterior side of the meniscus. Most of the time, the tear causes the
meniscus to distort, so that movement at the articulating site can
cause pain.
Arthroscopic surgery to remove the flap *is* an option, but she said
that most people elect to live with it - or at least, spend several
months seeing if they can live with it before deciding on surgery.
Tears in the meniscus do not repair themselves unless they're on the
periphery, where there's blood flow. In the interior portions, they
aren't supplied with blood, so they can't repair. They stay torn.
However, she says that for many people, the flap/tear area will
rearrange itself, at least for a while, and then they'll be painless.
And then it can distort again, and there'll be pain.
So.....like "most people" I will probably continue to live with it. I'm
not exactly in a hurry for surgery. I guess down the road I may decide
it will be useful, but in the meantime living with it seems like the
best option.
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