Just learned that I have a torn meniscus - now what?

[eckilson]

I have had a sore knee since December that has made it impossible to kneel in my canoes. Doctors initially told me it was arthritis and recommended physical therapy and NSAIDS. Physical therapy has gotten me to the point that I no longer take the NSAIDS and has pretty much eliminated the pain for anything other than kneeling in the canoe. I just had a MRI, and it turns out that I have a torn meniscus in addition to arthritis. Not necessarily looking for medical advice, just wondering if anyone else here has had torn meniscus and how it effected their paddling.

I missed this year's entire whitewater season - I haven't been in my WW solo boats with pedestals since November. I can kneel for short periods, but I pretty quickly need to sit again, or at least extend my sore knee. If I can't knee again it won't be the end of the world. There are plenty of trips that I can do while sitting (including my sea kayak), but I really would like to get back into my whitewater boats.

Anyone else dealing with this issue?

 

[M Clemens]

I had a torn meniscus a few years ago that was 'trimmed off' and prevented conventional kneeling. A friend of Dave Yost who had been in a bad wreck shared a technique for kneeling that involves crossing one's ankles, which places the pressure on a different place on the knee. It felt awkward at first, but I can now stay in the kneeling position for nearly an hour before switching to a seated position.

 

[eckilson]

Thanks - I'll give that a try.

 

[bartcanoed]

Everybody is different, but I tore my meniscus (football) way back in the 80's. After partial removal, I returned to normal activities including kneeling in a canoe. It did contribute to osteoarthritis, but what ended my kneeling was a torn ACL and reconstruction in the 90's. Not only because of the discomfort of pressure on the knee, but a loss of some of my range of motion prevented comfortable kneeling. To continue to enjoy whitewater I started paddling a kayak. Never really enjoyed it like the canoe primarily because it was limited to day paddling and was often on crowded rivers taking away much of what I enjoy about paddling. Almost two years ago, I had a total knee replacement, alas despite it being a great decision for hiking, biking and other activities I still can't kneel comfortably for any length of time. I guess I need a raft.

Sorry, that probably wasn't the most encouraging just sharing my experience.

 

[snapper]

Had my first knee reconstruction at 16, way back in 1969. I had meniscus damage and a torn ACL, PCL and MCL; lots of damage. After that surgery I could only kneel on one knee. As time, and other surgeries caught up with me, I couldn't kneel at all. For many years now I've been a "sitter" and not a kneeler.
Hopefully your situation will turn out better than mine.

That's all for now. Take care and until next time...be well.

snapper

 

[ABT]

I had a torn meniscus repaired about 2.5-3 years ago. Kneeling is still uncomfortable with that knee but I am able to do it for 30 minutes or so, sometimes up to an hour. In whitewater I just have to take breaks in eddies and loosen my thigh straps and stretch it out or take the pressure off of it. I installed a traditional seat in my Caption (set up solo) with thigh straps and knee pads with the thought I could switch to sitting in an eddy for a couple of minutes if needed, and still be strapped in kneeling for the rapids like I see the Canadian or UK trad boaters doing (like Evan Levebre or Ken Hughes on YouTube in a Prospecteur Sport, etc). Haven’t had a chance to really try it out yet as I’ve been pretty good with scooting up onto the high part of the back of the pedestal in my Outrage. While I can’t put my leg out in front of me, it still takes enough pressure off of that knee that I’m able to recover in just few minutes and keep going. Usually don’t even slow the group down, I just peel out last if I need the extra time.

 

[Glenn MacGrady]

I was diagnosed with a torn meniscus in my knee—or some fragments that had torn away—in 2017. It was apparently just from old age degeneration and not from any particular trauma. It caused some instability and pain in my knee. I don't recall whether I was canoeing much that year; I may not have been at all.

Anyway, the first orthopedic surgeon I saw was aggressively advocating arthroscopic meniscectomy outpatient surgery. He couldn't guarantee anything, but said the surgery would very likely to resolve the problem. I was reluctant to have surgery. So, I got a second opinion from a different orthopedic surgeon. He said that although an arthroscopic meniscectomy "wasn't rocket science", sometimes the pain would just resolve on its own if one did nothing.

I didn't have the surgery and the pain did go away by itself after several months and has never returned. However, i did not have arthritis in the knee.

I know you do a lot of different types of paddling, Erik, so you don't need me to tell you these things, but I'll mention them.

- Some whitewater can be run sitting with the right techniques and canoes.

- There is abundant canoeing life other than whitewater. I was a whitewater addict for 20 years, but have only paddled whitewater once in the past 25 years and not at all in the last 15 years. Some of that has been due to the disappearance of whitewater companions and to old age, both of which make the kind of whitewater paddling I used to do much too risky.

- Some of the physical and mental boat control and maneuverability challenges I enjoyed facing in whitewater have been replaced by the boat control challenges of freestyle canoeing and paddling on move-a-minute streams such as those in the New Jersey Pinelands. Of course, I can still kneel, but not for long—due not to knee pain, but to circulatory and now neurological issues in my legs.

- Different strokes can keep afloat even older folks.

 

[eckilson]

- Different strokes can keep afloat even older folks.

Thanks everyone - sorry hear that there are other with the same affliction, but good to see that I am not alone and that you guys are continuing to paddle. I know eventually age (and probably arthritis) will end my whitewater paddling, but I would rather it be a few years away.

While I haven't been out in my whitewater solo since last November, I have done a couple of trips in my tandem boat - kneeling in the rapids and sitting on the seat in the flats. That has worked OK, but I am not really thrilled about using bench seats in whitewater. I'd be happy if I got to the point like ABT that I could scoot up onto the high part of the back of the pedestal in my Outrage (I actually have two - RX MR and composite Millbrook) to give my knee a break. I'm not there yet.

I have another doctor's appointment on Tuesday. Because of the arthritis, they seem reluctant to repair the torn meniscus surgically for fear that it would aggravate the arthritis. I obviously don't want to do that.

You are right Glenn - there are lots of ways to paddle that doesn't involve kneeling. Hate to say it, but living in Rhode Island, some of the best paddling around is on the ocean in a sea kayak.

https://flic.kr/p/2srExRV