Meniscus tear in knee

I've finally come to the conclusion that I have a small tear in my inner meniscus on my right knee. I hurt my knee Christmas eve this last year playing football with my kids. It's gotten a lot better, but any time I do anything very demanding to my right knee it feels tender and sore. Plus there's the dreaded (barely felt) popping if I try to stand from a squatting position on just my right leg. I haven't seen a doctor for this but one of the guys I work with has had 3 knee surgeries, plus every online self-diagnosis site points to this being the problem.

Has anyone else had this problem? Most of the time I don't notice it. I can even jog on the thing. I aggrivated it yesterday when my daughter insisted that I race her down the street. I won, but it's feeling stiff today. What's bad is that I forget it's injured and overdo it only to pay for it later. I guess I should be thankful it's not that bad of an injury, but I would honestly like it to just get better all together. Is this thing ever going to completely heal?

orthopedics.about.com...

[edit on 17-4-2008 by dbates]

The problem with healing in any joint especially your knee is two fold. #1 it is joint that is constantly used in our daily life so when it is inflammed you are providing constant mechanical irritation to it everytime you move. #2 and most important is the fact that the blood supply to these tissues is very minimal. Some surgeries simply go in there and drill tiny holes in the end of your femur to stimulate bleeding to facilitate healing. Sounds kind of counter-intuitive but it works.

The symptoms you described sound alot like a meniscus tear. i.e. the location and the popping sound. probably not a bad idea to go get a consult with an orthopedist just to see what treatments are available to you. Surgery may or may not be in your future. There are conservative treatments aimed at reducing your inflammation and rehab, but again all this could be determined with a simple consult.

Diagnostics...

A consult with an orthopaedic surgeon and and MRI would be the prudent approach. There are some steps you can take to relieve the symptoms (NSAID's, icing after activity, elevating at night, glucosamine/chondroitin).

There is no real blood flow to the meniscus, so it is difficult for a tear to heal on it's own. A minor injury is easier to treat than one that is allowed to progress and degenerate into a chronic condition that may involve the condyles.

Good luck.