Golf After Meniscus Surgery

[rteach1]

For those of you who have had knee meniscus surgery:

 

1. Have you been able to play the same way that you did prior to your surgery?

 

2. Did you have tears on both sides of the knee or just one side?

 

3. Was only the damaged portion removed or the entire meniscus?

 

4.Did the surgery fix a bucking problem (my issue).

 

5.How long did it take after your surgery before you could play again? Did you have physical therapy?

 

6. Was the surgery on your lead or trail leg.?

 

7. if the surgery was perforned years ago, did arthritis develop in the knee that had the surgery?

 

Thank you for your feedback.

 

 

 

 

[dwboston]

For those of you who have had knee meniscus surgery:

 

1. Have you been able to play the same way that you did prior to your surgery?

 

2. Did you have tears on both sides of the knee or just one side?

 

3. Was only the damaged portion removed or the entire meniscus?

 

4.Did the surgery fix a bucking problem (my issue).

 

5.How long did it take after your surgery before you could play again? Did you have physical therapy?

 

6. Was the surgery on your lead or trail leg.?

 

7. if the surgery was perforned years ago, did arthritis develop in the knee that had the surgery?

 

Thank you for your feedback.

 

1. Yes, eventually. It took about a year until my knee felt "normal" again.

2. I had a tear on one side of the knee. I actually tore it during a golf swing.

3. Only the damaged portion was removed.

4. My knee wasn't buckling, just extremely painful when rotating it internally or externally.

5. My doctor told me it was OK to hit balls after 3-4 weeks. My PT didn't want me playing until 6 weeks or so after the surgery. It was weird playing golf at first - I was hesitant to really go after it initially after the surgery. That was pretty much a lost season for me.

6. Lead leg - right knee for LH golfer.

7. I had some arthritis in the knee that the doctor cleaned up during the procedure. It's been 9 years since the surgery and no arthritis yet. The knee is fine, other than some clicking at times, but no pain.

[Bigarch]

Had my surgery 3 years ago and wish I hadn't done it. RH player and it was on my right knee. I really never had any pain with it prior to surgery but it kept filling up with fluid. Thought it was a slight tear and they were just going to clean it up. Woke up from the surgery and the doctor informed me it was in worse shape than they originally thought and they ended up removing the whole damn thing.

 

So now it's total bone on bone in there. Arthritis began and it gets progressively worse. But the worst thing which I didn't anticipate, is that it is impossible to climb stairs or walk up any kind of slope using my right leg as the lead leg. Any time I try either task, the pain is incredible and I walk with a pronounced limp. Feel like an old fart going up and down stairs one step at a time leading with my left leg all the time.

 

As for golf,I was playing in about 6 weeks. There is really no pain associated with the swing at all. But about half of my rounds were walking rounds prior to surgery. I can hardly stand to walk 18 holes anymore and the next day will be torture if I do. The only swing side effects are shots from a fairway bunker. The knee tends to buckle every once in awhile at the top of the backswing. I've had to adjust and try to keep weight on left leg throughout the swing whenever I hit that shot now.

 

I'm really pissed at myself for jumping the gun and having the surgery. I mentioned to the doctor afterwards how it has affected my golf. His response was, "Oh you should still be able to play golf." I had to explain to him that I don't just "play golf...I'm a freaking GOLFER". There's a difference. So now his plan is put up with the pain till you cant take it anymore and eventually have knee replacement. I'll have to do it eventually but after this experience I really want to put it off as long as I possibly can.

 

I don't want to scare you off of the surgery, just sharing my experience. I played today with a guy who has put off meniscus surgery for 7 years and he is just fine and doesn't have near the issues I have had. He just gets swelling every now and then. I would make sure you discuss with your doctor how it might affect your golf before you go through with it. Best of luck! I hope it works out well for you.

[mattwood]

I've had it done twice on my right knee which is my trail leg. First time I was back hitting balls in 4-6 weeks. I started earlier on the first surgery with chip shots. I'm glad I did both because a meniscus tear doesn't get better by itself. The key for me was to really work at physical therapy. I don't have any pain in my knee now that I can attribute to the surgery. It's more because of the knee just getting old.

[Man_O_War]

i have had each knee repaired from over tennis..5 and 3 years ago. No problems playing golf. So far no arthritis but i am told by others it will happen. I continue to exercise muscles in my legs generally but cut out tennis..completely. I do want to return to tennis soon..maybe. Seems to be a very common surgery either way..as in whether the meniscus is removed or repaired but once done, almost as good as new...just keep doing the exercises and get general posture alignments resolved if an issue

[Man_O_War]

Had my surgery 3 years ago and wish I hadn't done it. RH player and it was on my right knee. I really never had any pain with it prior to surgery but it kept filling up with fluid. Thought it was a slight tear and they were just going to clean it up. Woke up from the surgery and the doctor informed me it was in worse shape than they originally thought and they ended up removing the whole damn thing.

 

So now it's total bone on bone in there. Arthritis began and it gets progressively worse. But the worst thing which I didn't anticipate, is that it is impossible to climb stairs or walk up any kind of slope using my right leg as the lead leg. Any time I try either task, the pain is incredible and I walk with a pronounced limp. Feel like an old fart going up and down stairs one step at a time leading with my left leg all the time.

 

As for golf,I was playing in about 6 weeks. There is really no pain associated with the swing at all. But about half of my rounds were walking rounds prior to surgery. I can hardly stand to walk 18 holes anymore and the next day will be torture if I do. The only swing side effects are shots from a fairway bunker. The knee tends to buckle every once in awhile at the top of the backswing. I've had to adjust and try to keep weight on left leg throughout the swing whenever I hit that shot now.

 

I'm really pissed at myself for jumping the gun and having the surgery. I mentioned to the doctor afterwards how it has affected my golf. His response was, "Oh you should still be able to play golf." I had to explain to him that I don't just "play golf...I'm a freaking GOLFER". There's a difference. So now his plan is put up with the pain till you cant take it anymore and eventually have knee replacement. I'll have to do it eventually but after this experience I really want to put it off as long as I possibly can.

 

I don't want to scare you off of the surgery, just sharing my experience. I played today with a guy who has put off meniscus surgery for 7 years and he is just fine and doesn't have near the issues I have had. He just gets swelling every now and then. I would make sure you discuss with your doctor how it might affect your golf before you go through with it. Best of luck! I hope it works out well for you.

 

wow. totally different experience for someone who had both knees done at different times. It's been zero pain...and i was in excruciating pain because of how the tear was in my each knee. The left one, i was in so much pain it was just crazy bad to now zero pain. Both were done by two different Kaiser Surgeons

[MountainGoat]

For those of you who have had knee meniscus surgery:

 

1. Have you been able to play the same way that you did prior to your surgery?

 

2. Did you have tears on both sides of the knee or just one side?

 

3. Was only the damaged portion removed or the entire meniscus?

 

4.Did the surgery fix a bucking problem (my issue).

 

5.How long did it take after your surgery before you could play again? Did you have physical therapy?

 

6. Was the surgery on your lead or trail leg.?

 

7. if the surgery was perforned years ago, did arthritis develop in the knee that had the surgery?

 

Thank you for your feedback.

 

I've had both knees done twice, once about 20 years ago and the once about 2 years ago.

 

1. Yes, I've been able to play the same way after surgery as before.

2. Tears were on the medial side.

3. Only the damaged portion was removed.

4. I don't know what a "bucking problem" is. My issue was pain, which was relieved by surgery.

5. The first time (20 years ago), it took 6 weeks until they would let me play, and they gave a list of exercises to do. The second time (2 years ago), they told me I could play as soon as I wanted to and didn't give me any exercises other than some leg lifts. I played 3 days after surgery. I asked what the difference was, and the doctor said that they've learned some stuff over the years. Years ago, they were very careful. Now, they want you up and around as soon as possible.

6. I've had both the lead leg and trail leg done.

7. No, arthritis did not develop as as result of surgery. I have some minor calcification under the knee cap, but it's unrelated to the surgery.

[BC33]

Had my first scope done at 19, developed arthritis by 25. Second scope at 31, worse arthritis developed. Repair of my ACL at 38 and a total knee replacement last September. I'm 44 and everything was done on my left knee, right handed golfer.

 

I flared my left foot out slightly, think open stance to help alleviate pain and discomfort as much as possible.

 

Now at 8 months post surgery I'm swinging the club pretty well as I'm getting through the ball like never before. Weight transfer is great, pain is non existent although I occasionally get some swelling.

 

Anytime surgery is performed whether via scope or they open you up I was told to expect arthritis to develop. Just depends on how long. It's a certainty you'll have to deal with it at some point. Did they suggest physical therapy at all? If you strengthen the quad and hamstring to take some stress off the knee, you might be able to go without.

 

Good luck.

[rteach1]

Thank you all for the replies so far. To correct my typo, my main issue has been “buckling” of my lead knee.

[argee1977]

I've had a couple on my left (right handed golfer), i used to have the buckling pretty bad, especially after doing things that put pressure on the knee for extended times, but after the second op i haven't had anything like that happen. I also used to have something 'pop' out of the knee, but again, the second op fixed that, this caused buckling and intense pain when this feeling happened, it would feel like something popping out of position, then going straight back in with a searing pain.

 

As the above comments say, i flare my left foot out a bit to counter rotating too much, and let my left foot lift up slightly on the backswing, both of these seem to reduce the stresses going into my left knee.

[Atrayn]

15 years ago I had a meniscus tear, (age 40) they totally cleaned it up and I still had pain. I did all the PT recommended. I managed it with pain killers, then steroid shots then shots of Hyalgan

In 2016 the arthritis got so bad that nothing really worked. I had 2 bone spurs that were really bad. I decided to get the knee replacement last Xmas. I WISH I WOULD HAVE DONE IT 8 YEARS AGO!

 

Don't suffer with pain for years when you don't have to.

[jimb6golf]

I've had both knees scoped with the damaged parts removed. Neither knee has come back fully to normal but they are better than they were. Both knees have also developed arthritis as well which adds discomfort on cold, wet days (like today) and also when kneeling down. I've worked hard to build up my skinny legs better but haven't noticed much of a difference. I play golf every week and walk all the time without any difficulty but feel it in my knees later. Surgery cures the worst of the problem and pain but it leaves some unfortunate side effects. Good luck with the surgery.

[rteach1]

Thank you all for sharing your experiences.

[Mike_C]

For those of you who have had knee meniscus surgery:

 

1. Have you been able to play the same way that you did prior to your surgery?

 

2. Did you have tears on both sides of the knee or just one side?

 

3. Was only the damaged portion removed or the entire meniscus?

 

4.Did the surgery fix a bucking problem (my issue).

 

5.How long did it take after your surgery before you could play again? Did you have physical therapy?

 

6. Was the surgery on your lead or trail leg.?

 

7. if the surgery was perforned years ago, did arthritis develop in the knee that had the surgery?

 

Thank you for your feedback.

 

 

I tore my right lateral meniscus (trailing leg for golf) my freshman year of high school playing backyard football. I didn't go out for the football team in HS mostly to play golf, but to also avoid injuries like this.... I came home and showed my Dad and said I hurt my knee, he was a Dr., he looked at it and said "you sure did", and went back to reading the newspaper, no crutches, no PT, nothing. I couldn't bend it for a week, missed one golf match, tried to play in the next one, and shot my worst 9 holes of my career. But it seemed to get better fast right after that, and then at regionals the next week, I was medallist and we got to the state meet for the first time in school history.

 

This was in 1975, I didn't have anything done to it, no surgery then (which given the time, was probably a good thing), it never really healed 100% IMO. Over the next many years, it was sore much of the time, stiff and I couldn't bend it much past 90 degrees. But over the next several years things slowly got a bit better, then in 2003 while coaching my son's soccer team, I went to kick a ball with that leg and somebody else kicked it at the same time, I felt something in my knee, not pain, but something happened. The next day at work I sat down, and couldn't get up and straighten my leg, had to shake it, it would pop, a bit of pain, then it seemed normal until I sat down again. I knew then I had to get it scoped.

 

I had it done in the fall, I had the lateral section removed. I was on crutched for about 2 days, then physical therpy for a couple of weeks. I think I was hitting balls within a month and could have done it sooner. I think I had a swollen knee for 30 years, because after the surgery it was much better. I had better range of motion and the soreness that would come and go was gone. The only time I had/have any real pain was when I would bend it, and then also try to twist it out, I think the bone would then hit bone on the outside. But 99% of the time I would say I have normal function of my knee. I have never felt like I have arthritis in that knee and its been 15 years since the surgery, but I have avoided sports like tennis, basketball, or soccer where I would have to move side to side or make sharp cuts.

 

But I will add this. Last summer I was out walking 9 after work, and I slipped just a bit on a muddy patch on the side of a hill on the 5th hole, and I had all my weight at the time on my right leg. I didn't think I did anything to my knee, kept playing and finished the 9. The next day, I started getting very sore on the medial side of the same knee, and if I put my weight on it just wrong, it was sort of painful. After about a week, I decided to go see a knee specialist. By the time I got in to see him, it was feeling better, he took some x-rays and couldn't see I had done any damage to that side of my knee. but he did ask me about the lateral side and if I had pain on it where I had the surgery. I said no, but he said the x-ray shows some arthritis on that side, and I should watch for it. So far since then no issues on that side, but I still get a bit of soreness now and then on the inside where I felt the pain after my slip. I do walk a lot, I walk my dogs usually 2 times a day, walk playing golf as much as I can as long as the temperatures are not too high, so I do think I have kept the strength in my legs over the years which probably helps.

[SkiSchoolPro]

Had acl surgery twice on lead leg. First surgery late in 2008 had meniscus trim, second in mid 2011 had meniscus repair in two places. ACL and meniscus repairs take longer to heal than meniscus trim (but trim leaves you with less going forward).

 

Started ok summer of 2009, but felt some instability on a hilly course and finished round and much of that summer on the other side of ball as it felt ok as the trail leg.

 

Summer of 2011 was write off, but started playing more regularly in 2012 and I won my first Club Championship summer of 2013. Knee has been solid and not affected my golf since.

[doublehans]

Had surgery on lead leg (tore meniscus during golf swing when heel was in a deep divot, making for an awkward turn). Its fine now, feel like unless i try to jump or sthg, its like 95percent pre-tear, but it really took about 2years post-surgery to get to that point. Swings on flat ground were ok fairly early on, its the odd stances and walking on slopes that took longer.

[mcs4]

1. Have you been able to play the same way that you did prior to your surgery? I had meniscus surgery on both knees in high school and am now in my 30s, so it is hard to compare directly. Generally extensive walking is more problematic than the golf swing itself, but I do get flare ups in my lead leg sometimes. The warm weather in Florida seems to help... I might be more limited in colder states.

 

2. Did you have tears on both sides of the knee or just one side? I had tears on the inside of both knees.

 

3. Was only the damaged portion removed or the entire meniscus? Just the damaged portion, both knees.

 

4.Did the surgery fix a bucking problem (my issue). No. My main issue was pain.

 

5.How long did it take after your surgery before you could play again? I returned to practicing high school football in some capacity within a few weeks of the surgery on the second knee (they were both done back to back during a summer). Can't remember specifically as to golf. Did you have physical therapy? Yes, extensively.

 

6. Was the surgery on your lead or trail leg.? Both.

 

7. if the surgery was perforned years ago, did arthritis develop in the knee that had the surgery?I'm now bone-on-bone on the inside part of both knees.

[rteach1]

I saw my surgeon today for my pre-op appointment (Surgery is Tuesday). I felt good when I left his office because I told him that I want to be left with some cushioning and he said that that is exactly his mind set. He said that accepted practice now is to take out the least amount possible to get the job done. That was not the case 30 years ago. I just hope there aren't any surprises when he gets in there. Right now I'm actually looking forward to getting this over with.

[Bigarch]

Good luck! I hope it goes well for you.

[rteach1]

I’m home from the surgery and right now I feel fine. The surgeon said that he was able to leave a substantial amount of meniscus, so that ia particularly gratifying. Of course, It still remains to be seen whether or not the surgery will greatly reduce the buckling that I was experiecing and the pain, but right now I’m feeling optimistic.

 

Thank you all once again for your input.

 

A particular shout - out to Bigarch for pointing out the importance of leaving some meniscus in place. I really appreciate this, as it led me to emphasize this with the surgeon.

[Bigarch]

That's great news! I'm happy to hear you are home and well. Hopefully you are back to playing again soon and pain free!

[Mike_C]

Good news. Even when I had mine done 15 years ago, they told me they would only take out the torn section, which was on the lateral side of the knee. I would guess maybe 15-20% of mine is gone (but I could be wrong), but where I still have it, it is over most of the weight bearing parts of the knee, maybe that is why I haven't had much of an issue since the surgery.

[BeerPerHole]

Lots of questions! My short answer is that if you had this surgery done on either knee you should be fine for golf. I had it done, along with a bunch of other work, on my back (trail) knee. I suffer from arthritis in multiple places, including both knees. But, my rebuilt knee is better than the untouched one. I am glad that I didn't have major damage in my lead leg because I do think that would be harder to cope with. I remember Tiger's bone fracture in his left knee...bad. I have a torn lateral collateral in my trail leg, which could be a problem for most in the swing. It's been ok for me. But, I take leg strength very serious in my fitness habits.

[Liptakalex]

I had meniscus surgery on both knees. Took me like 4-5 months to be back to normal. Don't worry u will be fine just do what Dr says to do

[Bigarch]

Any updates? How is the recovering going???

[MonteScheinblum]

For those of you who have had knee meniscus surgery:

 

1. Have you been able to play the same way that you did prior to your surgery? Hitting it even farther.

 

2. Did you have tears on both sides of the knee or just one side? Right only

 

3. Was only the damaged portion removed or the entire meniscus?

I had repair

4.Did the surgery fix a bucking problem (my issue). Yes

 

5.How long did it take after your surgery before you could play again? Did you have physical therapy?

4-6 months and yes.

6. Was the surgery on your lead or trail leg.? Trail

 

7. if the surgery was perforned years ago, did arthritis develop in the knee that had the surgery?

Last year 2017

Thank you for your feedback.

 

Answers above

[drakey]

Just home from meniscus surgery, had both lateral and medial trimmed. Lateral was only a small bit of wear, main reason for surgery was medial. The surgeon managed to save approximately 50% of the meniscus which was good news. Its on my lead leg, left as I'm a right handed player.

 

Following your surgery what exercises did you do and how long until you could hit balls again?

 

Any other advice or helpful tips?

 

Thanks

[golfarb1]

Occasionally I have pain ,but only when I bend down and place one knee on the ground.Otherwise asymptomatic.No pain skiing ,golf or working out.

My understanding is that the medial meniscus has poor blood supply and will not heal on its own.

I was told that doctors will try to repair the meniscus for younger patients,especially when it is caused by an acute injury, but the surgical outcome is poor for those older patients whose meniscus problem is degenerative and accompanied by evidence of arthritis .Instead they will be do a debridement or surgically remove the dead tissue.This may relieve the pain but probably speeds up further cartilage deterioration .

[rteach1]

I had my surgery on June 12th. I hit balls at the range after about 8 weeks and played 9 holes after about 12 weeks. I have much less pain than I had prior to surgery and had no buckling while playing or practicing. Ironically, I still get some lesser buckling (I'll call it "slipping") when doing some household things, such as side-stepping a chair leg or bending into my bad knee when picking a newspaper off my couch.

I have had p.T. for 3 months and am somewhat disappointed that my knee will apparently never be quite right again. So far. so good for golf though.

 

It should be noted that I had more than a meniscus tear (medial tear of left knee). I also apparently have had a completely torn ACL for about 30 years. The ACL was not reconstructed, as I was told that this is not done in people my age (baby boomer). I also had a good deal of arthritis scraped away, but some still remains.

[drakey]

Thanks guys. Glad you're back golfing. I'm only on day 2 so long way to go but hoping to be hitting balls in a month. Ironically I had no pain when playing but doing activities like running and jumping caused lots of pain. I also shot my best round of the year the day before my surgery so that just adds to the frustration of not being able to play!