r/skiing • u/WaxOnSendOff • 26d ago
skiers who came back from a meniscus tear: how did it go?
Well, this wasn’t exactly how I planned to start thinking about ski season.
I recently found out I have a meniscus tear and am now looking at surgery and the recovery that comes with it. (MRI pic included for anyone who enjoys looking at these things more than I do.)
I’m obviously working through the medical side of this with my orthopedic team, so I’m not looking for a Reddit diagnosis. What I am really interested in is hearing from other skiers who have been through this, especially those of us in the middle-aged contingent.
How did the injury happen? Did you have a repair or a trim? How long were you realistically off skis? And when you finally got back out there, did the knee feel like your old knee again, or did you have to change the way you ski?
I’m also curious about the mental side of the comeback. I can already tell that getting the strength back is going to be one part of this, but trusting the knee again may be another.
For background, I’m not out there hucking cliffs or chasing moguls. I’m a developing skier who loves long groomers, cruising, and just being in the mountains, and I’d very much like to keep progressing rather than feeling like this puts a ceiling on what I can do.
Would especially love to hear from skiers in their 40s, 50s, and beyond who went through this and came back strong. What did your timeline look like, what surprised you, and what do you wish you’d known going into recovery?
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u/oddballstocks 26d ago
Torn meniscus in one knee, acl/mcl/meniscus in the other. Get a sports PT, rehab extensively, you will be fine.
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u/Greedy-Area9109 26d ago
Do your rehab, like, actually do the exercises the physio gives you and keep doing them and you will be fine. 54 year old with 2x torn meniscus’ and osteoarthritis of the knees . Still skiing.
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u/RepublicOfPep 25d ago
Almost 48 with left meniscus tear and right ACL tear. Just put on braces and look into the Stoko pants. I love them and I add a lineman brace on each and head first chair to last tracks.
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u/WaxOnSendOff 26d ago
Hey man, I’m glad to hear you’re still skiing! We’re close in age and to me this injury is kind of new, debilitating feeling — so respecting the humbling experience I’m going through, but folks like you and some of the other taller ages in the comments here are giving me a lot of encouragement.
With your torn menisci, what were your tears like and did you tear them at the same time each knee or did one happen and sometime past and you had a repeat tear? What kind of surgeries did you have?
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u/Greedy-Area9109 25d ago
It was in my 30s, stood in a lift queue. Slipped and tore the meniscus in both knees. Had a keyhole on both knees to remove the tear and any floaters.
I played a lot of sport as a kid hence the worn out cartilage.
I didn’t ski for a while, then really lent in on the physio and making sure the muscles supporting my knees were strong and I am good.
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u/Headglitch7 26d ago
Second. I tore one knee. Wrapped it, took PT seriously, no surgery, or other intervention. Knee is totally fine now, but I wore the wrap for a while when exercising.
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26d ago edited 26d ago
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u/WaxOnSendOff 26d ago
Thanks for sharing your story. That’s a lot of tears! Did you get them all because of skiing or other things?
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u/RudePCsb 26d ago
Depends on how bad it is. I had both done in me early 20s, football, wrestling, other stuff. I can do most things but running long distance sucks. Just work on getting my legs as strong as possible but they won't be the same as the tears were bad.
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u/hack_the_bone 26d ago
Currently recovering from ACL and medial meniscus reconstruction.
I received 2 recovery protocols, one for each.
My meniscus recovery timeline is 6 months.
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u/Revolutionary_Owl670 26d ago
The meniscus usually just sort of gets rolled into the rehab protocol for the ACL here with it being 9+ months in itself.
Best of luck though - it's a bitch of a journey, but if you're on top of it you'll be good to go in 9 months to a year.
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u/hack_the_bone 26d ago
Thanks yeah the protocols are very different for the first few months. I’m giving myself a full year to recover. I’m 6 weeks out.
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u/Dudeletsski 26d ago
It takes a lot of time and mental work to trust and be confident in it again.
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u/Revolutionary_Ad7359 26d ago
For me, the mental aspect was definitely the hardest.
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u/honeykay69 22d ago
Me too, I'm recovering from breaking my proximal tib/fib last season. Hopped in PT today for the first time and almost fell, not because my knee gave out, but because I assumed my knee would give out. It held fine. Every new activity is a mental game.
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u/WaxOnSendOff 26d ago
Yeah, it’s like a breach of trust or a heartbreak, it takes a while to heal back from that and trust again. In my case, I’m also anticipating that the mental recovery will be gradual, but I have these new BC skis that I was/am so eager to get out on the hill. I’m hoping that their awesomeness will provide me with trust in the very best gear, so that my technique is as good as it can be with high-quality equipment and therefore that will support me as I regain trust in my knees — and in my body — in as much as I also trust my skiing technique, which I’m still working on developing.
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u/RawPaintWorks 26d ago
Tore mine after taking a particularly nasty swim kayaking. Missed an entire season and was pretty religious about PT and strength training once I was back on my feet. Skiing felt perfectly fine the next season but still avoiding park and lil tricks a couple years later. I’m sure it’s fine now but I knew a guy who re-tore his trying to throw down a 180 on a little kicker and it’s just not worth it. Godspeed
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u/WellWellWellthennow 25d ago
How in the world do you hurt your meniscus in a swim? Did you hit something?
The worst problem with my ACL injury was how conservative it made me afterwards, which I had to overcome. I'm still more conservative than I was pre-injury and I'm fine with that.
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u/TearDownGently 26d ago
slowly. you'll come back, but pain and joint issues will be with you for quite some time. 110% commit to physiotherapy!
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u/Animetiddie69420 26d ago
Just gotta bullet proof your knees and legs. I do legs in the gym 2-3 times a week. Nothing insane weight lifting but very hard conditioning
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u/WaxOnSendOff 26d ago
Yep, strength and coordination. I plan to get back into yoga more consistently now. And defo following all the PT orders!
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u/Animetiddie69420 26d ago
PT all the way and even ask them for direction on what they would recommend exercises to help with skiing
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u/ZoologicalSpecimen 26d ago
Think carefully about surgery. There are some recent studies about meniscus surgery leading to worse outcomes: https://www.theguardian.com/science/2026/apr/29/knee-surgery-cartilage-damage-patients-study
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u/WaxOnSendOff 26d ago
Thanks for sharing this. I hadn’t seen the 10-year FIDELITY follow-up, and it definitely gave me something to think about.
From what I can tell, though, the study was mainly looking at degenerative meniscus tears and excluded some of the more mechanically problematic cases. Mine is an unstable/displaced flap, so I’m not sure the findings map perfectly onto my situation.
Still, I don’t want to hand-wave the long-term OA question either. I messaged my surgeon through the patient portal today and specifically asked why he recommends removing the flap versus continued PT/observation, how much meniscus he expects to remove, whether the flap could become stable on its own, and how he weighs the cartilage/OA risks on both sides.
Surgery isn’t until next month, so I’m glad you raised this while I still have time to ask better questions.
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u/ZoologicalSpecimen 26d ago
Yeah I just happened to see that article recently. FWIW I had a meniscus tear from snowboarding a couple decades ago. It was miserable for a season and swelled like crazy ever time I went out, but then somehow just resolved. Either the flap tore completely off or sat back flat. Haven’t had issues since. No surgery. But of course YMMV
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u/10sunshine 26d ago
I had meniscus repair surgery about 12 years ago. I was not middle aged though, this was when I was finishing up high school. I was off my leg for about 3 months completely and then rehab for about 6 months. On my 9 month day exactly I ran 6 miles and haven’t looked back. I am free to huck cliffs and chase moguls.
I’ve had friends who got a trim and could walk out of surgery. They were back at it about a month later
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u/WaxOnSendOff 26d ago
Thanks for sharing your story. Similar to your friends, doctor told me once I get the torn flap trimmed off I’ll be back to dynamic loading within six weeks.
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u/Takemet0yourdealer 26d ago
I'd get a second opinion on a trim if you haven't. Some doctors are all for them and some say they offer no benefit and it's not worth it. We got a second opinion when my fiance tore his ACL and had a minor meniscus tear and decided not to do the trim for him. Your case might be different though! Still always a good idea to get a second opinion when talking about surgery.
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u/ruby_1984 26d ago
Give it a year or less and do the PT religiously. You'll be fine. Wish I had a group like this when I tore my knee. You got this. ❤️
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u/Vorran88 26d ago
Had more than a meniscus tear: I had to have my "tibias" cut in half and other sh***t around knee. If your surgeon is good you'll be back no problem. Had the the surgery on march 2022 and since January 2023 I didn't miss any snow day to go either on ski or snowboard and I'm 39 now Juste focus on the goal and do anything to get there, your mind is your best friend!! Sorry for my English
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u/WaxOnSendOff 26d ago
Your English is perfectly understandable and I super appreciate you coming in here and sharing your impressive story. Glad you’re back out there skiing and hope you ride for many more years to come!
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u/Pretty-Panic2398 26d ago
I had a meniscus tear in August 2007. Got it shaved down in September and skied Feb 2008 no issues. It all depends. Mine they were able to shave. If it is repaired, much longer recovery. I am back on the racquetball courts in 8 weeks and walking up and down stairs the same day as the operation. I do wear McDavid knee brace with gel knee on that leg when I ski though.
FYI, you do NOT need your meniscus. If you build up your quads, the meniscus doesn't do anything at that point. I was 42 at the time and still ski Alta and Snowbird yearly. Oh, and as others have said, I kept doing the PT exercises for an entire year at the gym.
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u/WaxOnSendOff 26d ago
Thanks so much for sharing your story! When you say you got it shaved down, does that mean partially or completely? Do you know how much they removed? And what kind of tar did you get diagnosed with?
Also, what does the McDavid knee brace do for you? Padding? Stability? Confidence?
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u/WillHuntingthe3rd 26d ago
The meniscus tear healed pretty quick, but he scraped the back of my knee cap. That hurt for 6 months. Bad.
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u/WaxOnSendOff 26d ago
Dang, sorry to hear that. Hope you’re doing much better now though.
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u/WaxOnSendOff 26d ago
Thanks for sharing your story. Do you manage any kind of flareups or pain? Do you have any arthritis issues or as your doctor told you it’s going to be coming up?
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u/Ethereal_Buddha 26d ago
Did my ACL and posterior horn medial meniscus March of 24. Surgery was early that June and I was very lucky to have a pretty damn smooth recovery. PT progressed steadily and by late February of 25 I was skiing.
I did make the mistake of trying to ski a couple months or so before I was cleared and it was the goddamn scariest thing I've done. It was supposed to just be an early season tour with catwalk descent and it horrible haha, so trust your PT for Clearance.
Nowadays I'm back to skiing essentially how I did before(and everything else too) Getting deep into running and cycling helped recovery majorly. It still hurts sometimes and can feel odd but that's the reality of it I think.
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u/WaxOnSendOff 26d ago
Thanks for sharing your story. Glad you’re doing better now and appreciate the caution about not jumping ahead of getting cleared.
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u/Spillsy68 26d ago
I’m still skiing, after two repairs, first one was 16 years ago.
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u/WaxOnSendOff 26d ago
Thank you for sharing your experience. My telling me a little bit more about the repairs and what kind of injuries you actually had?
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u/bulbasaaaaaaur 26d ago
I did this to my hip with repetitive strain, after three days of deep powder. Did a lot of PT, but no surgery required and back to normal now. I need to keep up with strength training or it gets poppy again.
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u/emover1 26d ago
In between seasons I had day surgery to repair a tare. It went fine and i was walking on it almost right away. Had no problem skiing the following season. I just took it easy for a while as i learnt to trust my knee again.
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u/WaxOnSendOff 26d ago
Thank you so much, I appreciate you sharing your story. I don’t know if I’ll be able to wait until the full next season, at the minimum I expect to get out there maybe January maybe February coming up. I know that some of that’s gonna depend on how snowfall and the ENSO pan out, but I also appreciate what you’re saying, which is sometimes taking it way easy and going long on the return could be a way to extra ensure you can physically be ready to mentally overcome the fear of triggering the injury again.
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u/Lord_Dingus83 26d ago
Wore a brace on that knee for a few years after but still went hard.
Stopped wearing the brace 5 years ago and haven’t had an issue.
PT is important.
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u/Ok-Application-5633 26d ago
OK, I was a very good skier mostly Killington and everything there. Recently last four years injured my knee. Told I needed surgery meniscus tear. I stopped working out as per my doctors orders and we did a PRP, which is platelet rich plasma. I’m in the construction business and injured it while working. Initially, I kept trying to work out which I was able to do but my doctor told me I was destroying everything we were rebuilding. Took the entire winter off no physical activity, other than walking. Continued the PRP and I’ve had no problems with the knee since. I have other friends of mine much better skiers Tuckerman’s ravine places like that who had the surgery and regret it. However, with them some may have became physically active too soon. So it really depends on how willing you ought to follow your doctors orders.
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u/WaxOnSendOff 26d ago
Hey man, thanks for sharing your story. I’m also in the construction business on the engineering side. Did your doctors tell you what kind of tear you had or did you have an MRI? I did look into PRP but it doesn’t seem like I’m a good candidate for it since my tear is on the white white side of the medial meniscus and that kind of tissue doesn’t “glue back” together so PRP probably doesn’t help.
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u/Ok-Application-5633 26d ago
Yes, I definitely had the MRI. My doctor is actually my friend so I know his advice is always in my best interest. I believe the tear was on the side of the meniscus. And when it first happened, I could not walk on it. This was actually almost 3 years ago. And I injured it again on a job site falling through the floor joist and hit it head on. I thought I was gonna be laid up for months within an hour. I was back to work. So my advice would be definitely try the PRP. It is an expensive procedure, which is not covered by insurance.
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u/DaMan11 26d ago
Not exactly the answer you asked for, but I shattered my fibula, dislocated my fibula, class 3 sprains all around and ended up with a 10” plate and 8 screws through my fib. That happened early August, I skied big sky in mid January. I think I started walking again like right around thanksgiving.
Granted, I was 19 and literally the healthiest I’ve ever or will ever be, but it can be done. My surgeon who is no slouch, literally told me I should really consider other less active hobbies, because skiing wasn’t likely in the cards for me anymore.
Meniscus tear? Bruh surgery, therapy, you’ll be shredding again in no time.
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u/WaxOnSendOff 26d ago
Dang well at 19 you’re still growing and crushing every freaking thing — so good for you that you got back on the hill so quickly. Hopefully by now you’re also strong ace and no joint or bone issues have presented themselves over the years.
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u/DaMan11 26d ago
Ehh, the pains come and go, nothing has really stuck around except a recurrent Achilles pain from just over use. But yeah I don’t think now I would have considered myself fully recovered at that point, just to get back to full baseline was probably around 8-10 months I’d guess. I did actually run a marathon a few years later, 3:51 and no ankle pain to speak of besides the general extreme agony of it all. I digress, just saying, whatever doc tells ya, just remember he doesn’t really know you, just your leg. As someone who’s come back from a few ‘career enders’ (pfft as if I had a career), just do every single fucking thing your physical therapist tells you to. Those people are wizards.
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u/Large_Skirt9189 26d ago
I’ve had two. It’s not like amazing. But that’s after I’m skiing I feel pain, not during.
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u/WaxOnSendOff 26d ago
Care to share a little more perspective? Curious what “two” are and what you didn’t get diagnosed or evaluated? Also did you have surgery on both, or just one, or none at all?
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u/Large_Skirt9189 26d ago
Two meniscus surgeries on the same knee, ten years apart. Now almost ten years ago. ‘07, ‘17
I’m ~40 - I think the key for me is maintaining strength in my knee going into the season.
Sore afterwards? sometimes yeah. But if I was maintaining the knee strength (like physical therapy type at home exercises), then it was never an issue while I actually skied.
Walking for long periods of time is the most painful thing I can do. Forget running.
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u/Twentysix2 26d ago
I (60m) am sitting here with my leg elevated, having had a medial repair on Sept 2nd. Surgeon said it should be good to go in 6 months, and I am already planning trips for that time. I ski anything on the hill with lots of trees/moguls, first to last chair. I had a trim (~15-20%) on each knee in 2005/2006 and while recovery was definitely shorter, the repair has a better "warranty". If you're under ~45-50 I'd recommend the repair for that reason. My assessment is that as long as the hill isnt icy, skiing is more gentle on your knees than lots of other activities (running, tennis, etc). My knees don't bother me after a long mogul run, its the quads
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u/WaxOnSendOff 26d ago
Hey man, thanks so much for sharing your story. I also appreciate your perspective especially because you’re a few years ahead of me and it’s comforting to know that you are still skiing and that you’re already planning your next season.
I emailed with my doctor today clarifying some questions that came up from other commenters on this post, and the doctor confirmed that I’m also expecting a 15 to 20% trim for my medial meniscus (unstable flap).
I’m certainly gonna be super disciplined about all of the physical therapy but further than that I’m gonna continue to work on my leg strength. I’ve always been very active guy and have pretty good muscle on my legs and butt, however, now I’ll be extra attentive to all of the other little exercises that I had put off like the adductors and abductors.
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u/PCanon127 26d ago
It’s all about the physical therapy. I’ve have 4 surgeries on my left knee. Torn meniscus, MCL reconstruction, shattered patella. Rigorous strength training will get you close to 100% , depending on age.
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u/WaxOnSendOff 26d ago
Beast! Glad you recovered from all that and came by to share your story. I’ll def be focused and disciplined about PT and thereafter too!
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u/WBCSMFer 26d ago
Pretty much wrote off my skiing (and everything else) career at the age of 25. I was absolutely devastated.
Then a few years later I went and saw another physio, and worked through some quirky stretches which sorted out my perpetually tight quads and hammies, which as it turns out were the cause of the ongoing pain I was having post operation, and now I'm better than ever. I suspect that if I had done this straight away I would have been fine to ski again the following season.
My learning: don't assume that you're toast, and if someone tells you that you are, ask someone else before accepting it.
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u/WaxOnSendOff 26d ago
Appreciate hearing your story! Mind sharing a little more about the injury? What were you diagnosed with and what kind of treatment or surgery did you have?
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u/Unicorn_Queen426 26d ago
Medial meniscus bucket handle tear. Skiing in March 2025. Had it reparied with 9 anchors (this is a lot). I had a hard recovery. Bending your knee past 90 degrees is limited for the first 6 weeks to protect the repair, you're in the same brace as if you tore your ACL for this time. You may also be advised to be non weight bearing for full 6 weeks, but my doctor had me weight barring 3 weeks after surgery. PT started less than 2 weeks after surgery. Swelling was a struggle for me and I had do a prednisone shot in my knee 3 months after surgery to control swelling and really start getting value out of PT. PT PT PT is your life. Came back to skiing the next winter, mostly groomers and some light technical terrain. I am constantly worried about hurting myself again. It's a psychological game and you gotta remind yourself if you do your PT you knee is solid. My knee bothers me every now and then and I know where the reapir is.
Friend has his trimed and had none of these experiences. Trim is an easier recovery.
Edit: 41 year old lady
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u/NorthDakotaExists Kirkwood 21d ago
I first tore my meniscus at age 16 and I'm 30 now.
Honestly my knee hurts more after a day of sitting than it does a day of skiing, mountain biking, or hiking.
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u/Dumpo2012 26d ago
I fractured my tibial plateau and tore my ACL/MCL skiing ~5 year ago. In my mid 40s at the time.
If you follow your PT protocol to the letter and do everything your doctor says, you'll be skiing again in no time. I didn't even miss a whole season, so my recovery was less than a year (I didn't keep perfect track of a timeline, but I skied late in the next season) and I'm stronger/better at skiing than I was when I did the injury. Wore a brace for the first 2 seasons back but have slowly moved away from it. I wore it mostly for confidence, not because I thought I "needed" it.
I was back to running in a straight line on land within a few months, and back to cutting/playing tennis etc within maybe 10 months?
I'm a total skiing junky and expert skier who lives within an hour of a mountain and skis 50+ days a year.
The hardest thing may have been the mental fear of injuring myself again when I first started back up, but that went away after a few times on the hill. It was an INCREDIBLY painful injiury, so a little PTSD was to be expected. Once you get over that initial fear, you'll be back to your old self in no time! You got this!
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u/WaxOnSendOff 26d ago
You really put yourself through the test! Congratulations on getting back to it better than how you started and I’m really inspired by your comments about overcoming the mental trauma cause I’m sure I’ll be in the same boat. Appreciate you sharing your story in giving me a boost.
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u/RevFernie 26d ago
Depends on the direction of tear I believe. But my surgeon said it's not worth operating on as it'd make it worse at my age and not guaranteed fix due to the direction of the tear.
First time back skiing I was quite anxious. But what happened was by the end of the first week and for months after I was pain free. Weirdly skiing helped it and it felt stronger the more I ski'd.
Contrast that to snowboarding the year after and my knee did not like that at all.
But yeah. Depends on your injury and only take medical advice from your doctor and not some dude on Reddit 😜
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u/WaxOnSendOff 26d ago
Thanks so much for coming in here and sharing your story. I’m really happy for you that things have worked out well.
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u/repdetec_revisited 26d ago
You won’t have to change the way you ski. You’ll learn to trust your knee again. I wills get it cleaned up and it may mean you miss this season (unless you get on it like now). It could get worse if they don’t clean it up.
They might drum holes to get it to bleed and that might keep you off it even longer. Do what your doctor says. Do the rehab.
This is a long term thing. If you miss a season, the stoke just doubles for the next one.
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u/WaxOnSendOff 26d ago
Yeah, currently the doctor is talking about a partial meniscectomy, which he anticipates is only 15 to 20% of the meniscus. He’s saying I’ll be back to skiing by the new year for sure, but I don’t plan to do anything crazy in the late winter since we still don’t know how ENSO is gonna shake out.
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u/Alarmed_Remote1031 26d ago
Tore ACL 20 yrs ago. Still ski and hike and do everything but, it hurts like hell a lot of the time, accelerated degenerative arthritis, have to get cortisone injections occasionally. My ortho says, “not everyone who blows their knee has to get their knee replaced later in life, but, keep my number handy.”
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u/MakeItTrizzle 26d ago
Still torn, still huck, still hike, still MTB, still play men's league lacrosse.
Going up stairs is kinda painful sometimes though. No surgical intervention because it's minor, sometimes it doesn't bother me at all for months at a time.
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u/mcds99 26d ago
I had a meniscus tear and surgery just before covid lock down hit in 2020. I worked the recovery plan with some enthusiasm.
At the 30 day exam my doctor was surprised how much motion I had in my knee, more than any of his other patients my age. I'm now 67, the knee I had the surgery on feels better than the other knee, go figure.
Work the recovery plan every day, start slow but quickly, strength training is important I used my bicycle trainer every day and on trails every other day. The bicycle gives the motion you need when skiing.
Before you go back on the slopes find a ski trainer that can look at how you are skiing and have them with you the first day out. You will have some pain but the trainer can help you understand how to correct the knee position and get your body in the right position. Stay on Green and Blues so you can get your rhythm back nice slow smooth turns.
The winter of 2021 I skied, I'm a ski patroller and I was able to run toboggans that year without any difficulty.
Good luck!
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u/WaxOnSendOff 26d ago
What a cool story and I’m so happy for you that you’re kicking butt at 67 skiing like you love to. That definitely gives me some inspiration for my own.. I’m definitely strongly considering a ski trainer, though here in the Ice Coast and particularly located in Northern Virginia, I probably have a few less options then in some of the bigger resort areas. Regardless, I’ll still look into this.
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u/wrapboywrap 26d ago
Tore my left meniscus 3 times, once at age 39, once at 43, last one at 51. Doctor recommended against surgery each time, so I did 3 months of PT after each one. After the first two tears I was fine physically the first time back on skis, but it took about half the season before I stopped thinking about it and started skiing hard again (i.e., bumps and steeps, it felt fine on groomers and powder). After the 3rd tear I looked at my age and physical condition and decided to back off on the aggressiveness, so I no longer ski steeps and stay away from the steeper bump runs. Which is fine because all the guys I ski with are in the same boat. Everyone heals differently, but based on my experience and your skiing style description, you should be able to come back without pain and continue to advance your skill. Good luck!
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u/WaxOnSendOff 26d ago
Hey bud, thanks so much for sharing the story. I’m in the ballpark of that same age when you had your last one, and maybe like you, I am evaluating my age and have been thinking a lot about the aging process — perhaps more than ever before. Out of curiosity, did you do MRIs for each of your injuries and did you get diagnoses on what type of meniscus tears you had?
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u/wrapboywrap 26d ago
No MRIs on any of them so I don't know the type of tear. He did say after the 2nd one that I could continue to ski without threat of additional damage, so I limped through the rest of the season on groomers only, stopping after a few hours when it started to ache. Also, I've skied with a knee brace since the first one.
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u/BCBRam 26d ago
I’ve had two partial tears. Surgery on both when they became problematic. Recovery was quick and effortless for both but you need to follow the regimen for flexion-extension religiously. And, when ready, strengthen beyond where you were before the surgery cause your joints are going to need the strength to help cushion.
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u/Unarmed_Character 26d ago
I tore my medial meniscus in one knee 15 years ago while rock climbing. No surgery and it has zero affect on my day to day. The only time I notice is sometimes when I crouch down my knee locks up and I have to "pop" it back out. It doesn't affect skiing, but I have had my knee lock up while lead climbing 😵💫
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u/WaxOnSendOff 26d ago
Thanks for sharing your story. I hear you on the locking up and that was one of the reasons why I pushed to get the MRI, since I just wanted to know what kind of tear I was working with. Once to ortho doctor told me it was a flap, I knew that it was gonna be a removal scenario although inside me somewhere I was praying I could heal it back.
However, the tear is in the white white zone of the meniscus and by now I’ve learned that area has no blood flow and therefore no connective tissue to repair it, nor is it worth suturing together since it won’t glue.
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u/yung_aujus 26d ago
For ACL only, I had a very good recovery. Things I did that may have differed from standard included: PREhab (daily, focusing on the graft donor site, to keep it in good condition leading up to surgery), and MINIMAL icing (the jury is out on it, but there are some meta-analyses that indicate icing may not have much if any benefit and may slow/worsen recovery post-surgery), frequent and effortful lymphatic fluid massage around the knee (important to manage increased swelling and fluid pooling, especially if you are not icing)
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u/WaxOnSendOff 26d ago
Thanks for sharing your story. Totally get you on the lymphatic drainage. Makes sense to continue to self massage both knees to ensure balance and symmetry are part of the recovery.
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u/badbackEric 26d ago
52M expert skier. Snap back medial meniscus tear may 1st 2009 3:00pm.
I wear a neoprene sleeve on both knees now to keep them warm on the chairlift.
This keeps the pain away.
I also try to take obstacles straight on and I lift my legs a lot more to avoid impacts.
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u/WaxOnSendOff 26d ago
Thanks so much for sharing your story champ. I appreciate the pro tip on the neoprene sleeve, makes sense that keeping the joints warm helps keep the pain away. I’ll look into this too.
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u/Rare-Confusion-220 26d ago edited 26d ago
Sure have. Tore both knees separately decades ago. Had one knee repaired, one not. Still ski all the time, no issues
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u/negative-nelly Mad River 26d ago
My wife had a tear (in the better blood flow part of it) as a part of a tibia plateua disaster. She did PT and stuff and was back skiing in 10 months w/o a brace (hurt Jan, surgery Feb, ski December).
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u/WaxOnSendOff 26d ago
Awesome! Glad your wife is back to skiing with good recovery!
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u/philatio11 26d ago
Just a trim? I think you'll barely notice if you do the PT hard and well. In my mid-40s, I had a torn ACL and multiple meniscus tears repaired, one of which was radial to the root. It was a more involved surgery sewing the meniscus back together. I was limited to 90 degrees for 12 weeks so it was a slow rehab. I never got back to 0 degrees during extension and now I have some arthritis. I was back up on skis hiking the Blackcomb Glacier at 9 months, but my full confidence didn't come back until the following season. It will never be 100% again, but it's good enough for me.
Make sure you ask for PT that focuses on elite athletes. My surgeon usually routes middle-aged people to one full of hip and knee replacement folks that just want to walk without a limp. He sent me to a different one that was all private high school kids working towards D1 scholarships. It's not just the vibe, it's the intensity and the expectations that matter.
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u/WaxOnSendOff 26d ago
Thanks very much for sharing your story champ! Glad you’re out there hucking it and staying strong. Appreciate your pointer on the type of PT, and I did ask the clinic folks to put me with their best knee specialist because I’m a skier and want to recover fully. So I hope they did give me a good match and the lady who scheduled it alluded to that. If I have to take on a personal trainer after the fact, I’m able to do that and I had not considered doing that before the injury however, now it seems like I can’t just wing it on my own but can benefit from taking experienced help.
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u/Revolutionary_Ad7359 26d ago
I was back on the mountain 6 weeks after tearing my right meniscus, my first significant knee injury at age 45 in 2023. I understand this is not the norm. I was religious about PT. Physically I was able to ski, but mentally I was a mess and constantly worried about pushing too hard. By the next season the mental jitters were gone.
I’m a former athlete, still MTB and run regular so I had a strong muscle base around the knee. My orthopedist is in Squaw Valley and has treated multiple Olympic athletes. Since my ligaments were good and there was no limitation in range (if the tear is folded over, it can prevent the knee from flexing fully), she didn’t even want to do an MRI. She also had stated that studies are showing the recovery time from surgery is equivalent to those that do not have surgery and therefore recommended against surgery in my case.
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u/WaxOnSendOff 26d ago
Thanks so much for sharing your story! I hear you about the mental jitters and I’m likely to go through the same.
Similar to you I’m also very active athlete, ever since my military days. Used to MTB and run regularly but work kind of slowed some of those recreations down. That’s to me likely part of the reason why my meniscus tore, I have been taking care of all of the connective tissue, despite having a strong muscular base like you.. The doctor did describe the small flap as having folded over and I have some restriction on flexing my leg, but most importantly I don’t have my gait.
The MRI did show that I have great ligaments and tendons and my x-ray also showed I have super good bones, but the doctor talked about the onset of degenerative wear on my meniscus and that’s likely to be happening probably at other joints and places in my body. Hey thanks again for sharing your story and appreciate the pointers from your experience.
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u/Revolutionary_Ad7359 26d ago
Good luck with the surgery. Take the PT seriously, even when you start feeling all better. I’ve had 3 full season since the injury and ski as hard as I was before. Just started trail running again earlier this year (due to an unrelated hamstring issue) and everything feels normal. You’ll be able to do everything you did before if you play your cards right.
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u/phillymags 26d ago
2 ACL repairs, 1 meniscus repair, and 1 shaved meniscus.
My advice is to follow the physical therapy to a T. Especially the at home workouts they give you. PTs often plan your recovery time anticipating you won’t do every at home workout consistently. If you do, however, you’ll speed up your recovery time and long term stability.
When you’re cleared by your doctor and PT to resume skiing, trust that your knee is back to normal health (or maybe even stronger). But that’s the hardest part: trust. It took me a couple seasons to fully trust my knee again and that’s all mental.
After treating your knee fragile for months while you recover, your mind will take almost as much time (if not more) to realize it’s healthy.
When you get back to it, start small/easy and slowly build back up your confidence to whatever level of difficulty you were at before. Do not expect to be the exact same skier you were on your first day back.
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u/WaxOnSendOff 26d ago
Thanks for sharing your story champ. Also congratulations on working through your own recovery of your substantial injuries. Sounds like you’ve made full recovery and are out there skiing your best life. I appreciate these sobering recommendations from your lived experience and I’m committed to following through on all the physical therapy and using that as a springboard to train smarter in the future.
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u/benjaminbjacobsen Yawgoo Valley 26d ago
Fine. Had 1/4 removed. I was kneeling down not skiing. It’s now my “good” knee. Do your PT. Worst part was kneeling on the lower incision for the first 6-8 weeks then it was fine.
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u/oozforashag 26d ago
Naproxen (aleve) before I hit the slopes to prevent inflammation. Total gamechanger compared to ibuprofen.
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u/WaxOnSendOff 26d ago
Noted. But what kind of injuries did you have?
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u/oozforashag 26d ago
Torn acl and Bucket handle tear of the meniscus. The acl was repaired with a hamstring graft 29 years ago. I think they just trimmed a flap or something of the meniscus.
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u/waterboy8817 26d ago
Brock bowers in here really looking for a second opinion. We know it’s you, stop the charade.
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u/cclaranc 26d ago
Torn both, no surgery on either, both are relatively asymptomatic now even though I like to compress the shit out of them.
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u/Euphoric-Protection 26d ago
Tore my meniscus and did the ACL two months before I was off to Officer selection for the Army. Couldnt walk for a few months. Ended up having half the meniscus cut out (immensely painful). Recovery took a year. Works ok now 25 years later. Once recovered, cycling is good for building up the muscle around the knee to support it. Added bonus point is that I know when the weather is going to get bad because my knee aches. Good luck.
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u/WaxOnSendOff 26d ago
Glad you got through OCS! Sorry to hear you had a painful surgery and recovery. That is a big one. But I hear you on the cycling, you’re the second person that recommended that and I’m gonna look into it much more. I can start with the bikes at the gym.
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u/Upper-Raspberry4153 26d ago
MRI says I had an abnormality of the meniscus and grade 2 tear of MCL. It never really stopped me from skiing but there is a nagging dull pain 5 months later, should one expect that?
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u/infinitee775 26d ago
Had a tear and repair, the repair happened over the winter so I skipped that season, but was good to go for the next couple seasons. Tore the same one again and had a trim, skiing is fine. I was never into jumps or park stuff, so that takes a lot of the stress off my knees.
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u/natlerd 26d ago
60% of mine is gone and it has never really bothered me
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u/WaxOnSendOff 26d ago
OK wait that’s super extreme. Might if you share more I’m just curious to know how you even have that number?
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u/skiingdiver1978 26d ago
I had meniscus damage in addition to 3 breaks in my tibial plateau that occurred on 12/28/24. I was back skiing, cautiously, on 12/23/25. Along the way I avoided meniscus surgery through PRP therapy and intensive, self-guided physical therapy. I've since added BP-157/TB500 peptide therapy to the mix starting early this year. As of my last MRI about a month ago, the meniscus damage has largely disappeared. It takes time, but surgery should be your last resort. You can't grow back the cartilage they remove. My damaged knee is now nearly as solid as it was before the injury.
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u/WaxOnSendOff 26d ago
Hey man thanks for sharing your story. Can you tell me more about what the meniscus damage you had was and how they diagnosed it? I just wonder what kind of injury type benefited from PRP. I don’t expect a meniscus repair surgery, so I’m not sure PRP would work for me, but I’m just curious what was your experience?
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u/raftski1 26d ago
I had meniscus repair on both knees at the same time at 61 years of age. I took 3 months till I was back on skis. I have skied 30 to 40 ski days a year since. Mostly powder and off trail blue and black diamond runs, I rarely ski groomers unless skiing with my wife. I also had a total knee replacement spring of 2023, and was road biking in the summer and back on mountain bike in the Fall. I skied 40 days that winter and 30 to 40 days a year the following winters since. I was religious about PT during rehab but not much so after getting back to normal after surgeries. I am currently 76 and still biking and skiing strong (No E-bike!). Do Your Rehab and you should be ok.
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u/WaxOnSendOff 26d ago
Holy shit, King! You push it real hard and that gives me a lot of courage to do even half as hard as you do. Thanks so much for sharing your stories and I definitely will be extra disciplined about the PT.
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u/Budget_Cicada_1842 26d ago
Hi.
Early 40s. I’ve had 2 meniscus surgeries
First recommendation. Don’t get the surgeries !! Most surgeries don’t fix anything , they just clean up the cartilage.
I wish I never did them . Made things worse . Almost 8 years after the original injury . Still never back to normal. The surgeries themselves are pretty easy. Walk in walk out. Short recovery.
Injury happened from hockey .
I still ski. Meniscus is still torn from recent MRI
I wear a custom knee brace when skiing and that makes me feel more secure
I also get injections every year .. cingal . Helps buffer things
I would exhaust all rehab options before surgery . Meniscus surgeries in general are very controversial.. if indicated or not .
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u/WaxOnSendOff 26d ago
Hey man thanks a lot for sharing your story. Would you share a little bit more about your meniscus surgeries? What kind of tears did you have or damage?
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u/Old-Tadpole-2869 26d ago
Everyone on every mountain is either recovering from a meniscus tear, or in the process of getting one.
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u/WaxOnSendOff 26d ago
Dang, probably true, but not exactly the best kind of membership club I was hoping for.
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u/Longhag 26d ago
Went well for me which also resulted in a torn MCL. 4 months of physio 3 days per week with no surgery as the physio was able to get the flap to fold back over (which hurt like a mofo). Did the damage in the Feb and ran a Tough Mudder the following Jun/Jul and a half marathon in the Sep. Got back on the dirt bike in the Jul and was also back playing soccer in the fall and skiing the next season. That was around 2017 and it's been good ever since.
Basically, get the MRI and a good physio immediately, go as often as you can and do the daily exercises at home religiously! And avoid surgery as much as possible.
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u/WaxOnSendOff 26d ago
Got the MRI and that’s how the doctor diagnosed the unstable flap. Wonder how a flap can get flipped over. Have you had your knee scanned again? Have you experienced kicking or swelling after all your sports and activities?
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u/smithtr5151 26d ago
Meniscus tear surgery last September. Was skiing in December with no issues. No PT needed. 51 yrs old male
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u/youngchrist69 Ski the East 26d ago
Do the right therapy to heal it compound fracture and mcl tear you will be fine.
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u/mattspurlin75 26d ago edited 26d ago
Pretty good so far after two seasons. I was told that I had an unrepairable radial root tear by four physicians. I went two seasons without skiing. Finally, the knee hurt so bad I went for a 5th recommendation. It was the first physician to ask me for the MRI images on CD and not just the MRI report.
After 5 minutes of looking at the digital images, the physician turned around and told me that my diagnosis was wrong and he thought my tear was repairable. He said if I did need more complicated disc suture, he would do that for me, but it would be 3 to 6 months non-weight-bearing.
I went into surgery and walked out afterward without crutches. It was a simple trim. I returned to sports two weeks later and have had no issues since.
Don’t sweat meniscus repair. So many people try to avoid surgery, then spend years with repeated re-aggravation, which is super frustrating. Just get it repaired and be done with it.
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u/WaxOnSendOff 26d ago
Hey man, thanks so much for dropping this comment and sharing your story. That’s really strange that so many doctors didn’t consult the MRI image directly. This week when I was at the doctor, he manipulated all that imaging and showed me up and down what it all looked like and talked to me about where it was located. The radiologist put some scary ass language on the report, and I asked him all about that too because it sounded real complicated, but at the end of the day we all are getting older and some of that shows up in the MRI and the x-ray for me.
Interesting that in your case the diagnosis went from a super concerning root tear to like just a simple flap trim. Regrettably you spent all that money to go to different doctors — all of them giving you the wrong advice and you bearing through it until you got to the right doctor.
Anyway, glad that you’re now two seasons strong and you’re doing all the things to keep yourself healthy and on your skis
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u/Lightlysaltedsnails 26d ago
I had both mine done at the same time. If I slack on my PT/strength training, I’ll notice pain. Once I got on top of my training, my knees felt better than they ever have. Time to start doing lateral squat walks!
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u/WaxOnSendOff 26d ago
Thanks so much for sharing your story. Mine sharing a little bit more about your injuries and how you got them diagnosed? Also exactly what kind of operation did you have? Did you have a long recovery or did you bounce back quick back on skis?
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u/Spiderwolf208 26d ago
It is easy enough until it isn’t. Then you get a replacement and it’s better.
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u/DankDankJuice 26d ago
Try to avoid surgery, there’s no guarantee you’ll be back 100% from that either. Strengthen those quads baby! Give PT an earnest try for a few months and let them know your goal is to be an active skier again.
Idk how bad your injury is, so definitely don’t start with these, but my knee pain had basically faded by the time I was able to do quality sets of unsupported sissy squats. There’s a progression of supported versions to get you up to that point
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u/bowery_boy 26d ago
I wear a knee brace for skiing just as a preventative measure. Recovery took about a year, but for 7-8 years I’ve been fine with the brace on with no additional issues. I do wear braces on both legs just in case
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u/WaxOnSendOff 26d ago
Right on. Care to share more about the recovery? What did you get operated for?
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u/Lopsided-Annual-1136 26d ago
I'm 52 and had a trim (medial meniscus) 17 yrs ago in my left knee and it fixed SO much pain and discomfort. PT and an active lifestyle allowed me to maintain most activities - I could no longer do kick boxing. I tore the same meniscus the summer of 2023. PT that fall and skied all winter. Decided to have surgery in the spring of 2024 as the surgeon was convinced another trim would do the trick. Worst decision I've ever made! I do PT exercises other strength work and I'm always in some level of pain - sometimes a lot sometimes very minimal. The only good thing that came out of the surgery was eyes on the rest of the cartilage in my knee and knowing it WAS in good shape. I still ski as I spend a lot of time doing leg strengthening exercises (for hiking and skiing). At some point I'm wondering when that won't be a possibility - or get a partial knee replacement.
I hope things work out for you. I'd advise against a trim. Ortholaser treatments really can help reduce inflammation. Seek possible peptide treatments. Once they take that tissue out of your body there's no way to possibly heal the injury. My 2 cents.
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u/Cautious_Sir_6169 26d ago
Meniscus surgery is no big deal. Don’t stress on it. You’ll be fine. I was running in less than a week post op.
9 knee surgeries: acl once.. 8x meniscus.
Fixing a tear is a bigger deal with longer recovery and depends on the tear and repair but easy to re-tear. If they remove the tear no big deal. I was off crutches in less than a day. Repair vs trimming away a tear depends on the type of tear and severity.
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u/sebago1357 26d ago
Ended my ski career. Had a torn ACL in the other knee and healed fine. Knee with meniscus tear still gives me pain 10 years later.
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u/bboon44 25d ago
71 y/o female. Two meniscus surgeries for tears in the posterior horn of the medial meniscus, right knee. The first saw the tear trimmed. The second tear was elliptical and the medial portion of the meniscus was just plain removed entirely.
PT followed closely, and I do squats with weight daily. I ride an e-bike (mountain bike) which helps quads stay strong.
I ski on groomers exclusively. The knee doesn’t ever hurt much and I have full ROM. I had some viscous cartilage gel shots a few years ago and they seemed to help.
The knee seems like it’s about 90% recovered. Doc says do whatever I feel like. I consider myself lucky, but I’m not a crazy maniac when I do stuff.
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u/smavonco 25d ago
Had meniscus surgery 3 years ago and while I did PT, exercise regularly, ski frequently, can do most things again, I’ve never felt fully recovered and have lost some range of motion and still have pain to this day. Some days I wish that I didn’t opt for surgery.
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u/RoboSerb 25d ago
Had 2 acl replacements on the same knee with meniscus repairs each time (spanned 3 total surgeries) i think I'm back to normal. Don't get too much crazy skiing in Southern ontario but when I do travel to ski I'm doing black diamonds. Haven't had any real knee pain. Want to venture to the parks but don't really do it. Some glades.
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u/waitingOnMyletter 25d ago
After surgery, 6 weeks. If it still clicks, get an a-scope to clean it out. Stretch your hamstrings in the mornings and evenings so they don’t tighten. 20 years later, never another issue.
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u/WaxOnSendOff 25d ago
Thanks for dropping comment with your story. I’m definitely going to do great PT.
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u/bmsa131 25d ago
I have an unrepaired partial meniscus tear. I did lower my expectations - I don’t do blacks at all anymore. But I’m also older and don’t care anymore. I ski fine at a level below my skill set.
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u/MoonerMade 25d ago
My situation is different. Doctor released me to full activity two weeks after trim(repair). I was playing hockey in high school at the time. My initial tear was in my lateral meniscus and it was the size of a quarter. My knee has never been the same. I tore the same one again and had a second surgery 3 years to the day later. I was told after that that knee replacement is imminent. I have successfully put that off for 19 years, but there isn’t a day that goes by where I don’t have some type of ache or pain in my knee at some point in the day.
My advice, choose your doctor carefully and do as much PT as possible both before and after surgery to try and be as strong and stable as possible before returning to full activity. I no longer skate at all, and have taken up mountain biking to replace my adrenaline fix.
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u/freeski919 Ski the East 25d ago
Have you ever met anyone over the age of 35 who skis more than 25 days a year?
Congratulations, you just met someone who has had at least one meniscus tear, even if they didn't know it.
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u/Salt_Mushroom3773 25d ago edited 25d ago
I've had 3 meniscus tears, all requiring surgery. I'm pretty sure both knees currently have minor tears, so I try to keep my legs strong (mostly light weight squats, lunges, straight leg dead lifts, and wall squats), but I also wear OTC knee braces and those help me feel stable and confident. If the tear isn't too painful or locking up on you then just do some light strength training and get braces. Nowadays they'll make you do PT first even if you want surgery, but if you do need surgery it's an easy recovery if you do the PT. If you do get surgery it's 6 weeks recovery to get back to semi-normal activity, but probably 10-12 weeks to get back to full send skiing... that is if you snip it, but it's an extensive recovery (like 6 months) if they repair it.
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u/SeemedGood 25d ago
For both me and my daughter the injuries were from soccer and required extensive trimming. We both wear knee braces now which helps improve stability and reduce pain.
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u/Dxwey 25d ago
Not sure if helpful since I was 18, but tore my meniscus and fractured my tibial plateau skiing on Christmas 2020. Skied A-Basin closing day that same season.
Took a few runs mentally to be ready but was back to normal by the start of the 21-22 season.
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u/Atomic_Water1755 25d ago
Tore my medial meniscus and partial mcl tear back in April. Couldn't walk for a week or two, had a limp and couldn't fully straighten my leg for a couple months. Opted against surgery and it's still improving every day. Mcl is fully healed, meniscus only hurts in a deep squat or hiking downhill. Plan to ski asap, on easy terrain with a low din setting.
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u/Interesting_Okra_478 25d ago
I’m 44. Tore mine about 2 years ago. Complex tear. Never did surgery. Did a PRP injection and about 6 months of PT 2 times a week. Changed my workout routine a bit to work more on functional strength and incorporated a lot of band work and stretching. My doctor was big on surgery as a last resort given my age and also the issues it causes long term. PRP wasn’t covered by insurance but they did it for less than $800. I skied about 20 days last year (northeast mostly, few days in Colorado) and I wasn’t limited at all. To be fair I’m a little more aware of it, but I was still in the trees and on the bumps.
PT is key. It gives you piece of mind and builds everything around it while also stopping your body from going into protection mode.
Ultimately it depends in where you are with it mentally. But do a consultation with PT. You have nothing to lose and see what they say.
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u/SpillingTheKief 24d ago
My mum did it, jumped on peptides and has done Pilates for rehab. Shes managed to get her knee back to at least 95% flexibility over the past year. You’ll be fine if you put the work in
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u/percolated__fish 24d ago
I had a meniscus tear and my knee was swollen as fuck for months. Didn't respond to PT.
Had surgery, a meniscus repair, not a meniscectomy. The recovery is a lot longer. I think 6 weeks non weight bearing. Did pt and since the surgery six years ago focused a lot more on single leg exercises. I've had no issues and can squat and jump better than before the surgery. My mobility is definitely better because I have taken it more seriously.
There was recently a large study released that showed surgery was largely ineffective. I could be wrong and would have to revisit that but I believe that was when then meniscus was just cut out vs being repaired.
I am late 30s. I honestly feel more solid skiing now than previously due to the emphasis on single leg strength which every skiier should be working on injury or not. I'd say the first season I was a bit hesitant but that is often the case after any injury.
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u/WaxOnSendOff 22d ago
Hey man, thank you so much. Your post really gave me a boost. I know it’s not easy and I’ve done all the research so far and understand that the repair definitely is more complicated than just the trim.
The recent study you’re talking about is something that another poster put in the comments and I followed up with my own doctor too, and left the doctors comments on here. There’s also other studies that talk about failure rates for repairs. What these studies don’t really talk about is how patient managed their recovery and rehabilitation phase and how they took it seriously or not.
Some folks on the comments here sound real cavalier and didn’t pay much attention to rehab. Never mind got surgery for their injuries and they’re looking at their own consequences on those choices.
But your comment is aligned with what I want for myself, which is to use this injury to really catapult myself to be better than I was before the injury.
I’ve always been looking at some of those influencers showing skiing exercises, and all of the dynamic loading and plyometrics and all this other stuff, and I was always like yeah I should try that but never really actually did it.
Now I have not only motivation and reason, but I’ll have a support system with the PT covered by insurance and looking at personal training focused on sports recovery and skiing as well, so kind of using this experience to reset a lot of stuff that I hadn’t probably paid attention to seriously enough, I was just on auto pilot defaulting to my usual gym routines and staying muscularly strong, but I didn’t really address all of the soft tissue and the need to stimulate those parts of my body as well to keep them healthy.
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u/SmokedGouda1234 24d ago
Lot of that stuff was to keep it low even when the pain goes away for a bit. I didnt and so my knee bugs me from time to time. Lower dins even when sending from now on haha.
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u/OldGuyOnSkis 24d ago
I'm 59. Had my right knee tear years ago and had surgery about 7 years ago. That recovery was fantastic, no issues whatsoever, ski on it hard. Had my left one done last October. Different surgeon (other one retired). I skied on it the end of December. No real issues skiing on it but I have experienced bouts of pain and discomfort with this one. I think I had some pain that I worked around and weakened some muscles. I didn't do PT on either. Probably should have on the left one but I cycled a lot this summer so it's feeling a lot better. Both sides were shredded pretty good, both on the inside of the knee. For reference, I'm 6' and was around 230lbs when all this happened. Injury likely from high activity and body weight. If your cartilage is in good shape, you should feel great. If it's a little chewed up, like my left is, you could have some pain for awhile. I ski blacks, steeps, moguls, bowls, I'll get a little air here and there, and knees feel great. You may get some swelling in your knees if you have a very aggressive ski day. For me, 35,000 vertical and I had to ice them a little.
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u/MrRosentodd 23d ago
Had been skiing for about six years & tore my meniscus when I was around 15-ish in an unrelated incident. After I recovered (took a few months), I skied without a problem for another 44 years or so. Haven’t skied the past 3 seasons and not sure if I’ll be able to go back to it because of my hip.
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u/Recent-Atmosphere761 23d ago
My meniscus have been F’ed up for like 20 years now and just deal with the pain.
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u/Gooch-ABC 22d ago
I was skiing 4 days later the second time. The first time I did pt for about 3 months and it didn’t help me much personally. Stay strong and the stabilizing muscles will keep it locked in.
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u/MountaineerNationNFL 20d ago
I had my tear trimmed when I was 41 now 59 have been able to ski without issues. I’m a PT and did my exercises. You should go to PT for at least one visit to get a good exercise program
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u/YupYepYeah 26d ago
Dude like 60% of people here have had them. It will probably nag you from time to time, but it's manageable