u/Low_Information6998

I was diagnosed with a partially healed medial meniscus tear of the posterior horn OR mucoid degeneration - the report said it could be either but ultimately concluded it’s the former.

My question is - if it’s an old tear, could I have irritated it to the point of it becoming so painful? Could it be mucoid degeneration and that’s what causing me so much pain?

Sometimes I think that maybe I have become extra sensitive to the pain in this knee - before I knew I had a miniscus injury I was better at pushing through. Now I’m finding it a huge mental hurdle to even walk a short distance because every time I feel the pain I’m scared I’m making it worse. Anyone else feel like this after finding out about their injury? :(

I’m meeting with an ortho and a new physio this week but just feeling anxious and looking for any insight from the community.

Hi,

Hoping to get some clarity on my MRI report because i don’t feel like my doctor’s explanation of it matches my pain/symptoms.

Background:

I’ve had on and off pain in my left knee since my mid twenties, it would flare and I wouldn’t be able to run too long but it would subside by the next day. I went to physio a few times and seemingly time just kind of made things better.

I’m current 37(F) and have a toddler. My knee began bothering me during a family vacation where we did a lot of walking (and a lot of toddler carrying). It progressively got worse when we got back as I kept going on long walks, went dancing at a few weddings. I developed a pretty bad limp, and realized my knee was a bit swollen so I went to the doctor, who ordered xray and ultrasound, which showed no signs of arthritis, no cysts, no fluid build up.

After that, I went for an mri which ultimately concluded that I have a partially healed medial meniscus tear of the posterior horn. My doctor said this is an old tear when she called me to update me about the mri report.

———

So my question is - if it’s an old tear - why is it suddenly bothering me so much? Did it get worse? Am I just much weaker after pregnancy/postpartum, and the muscle loss I’ve had in the past two years has put more strain on my knees so I’m now “feeling” the tear? I’m still breastfeeding - could that be impacting my joints??

Would love any insight. Feeling very down as I’ve been using crutches lately because my other side was beginning to hurt due to a severe limp. So I’m not able to do much with my toddler and it breaks my heart.

Thanks everyone

Ps. I’ve already done some physio this last month and switching to a different physiotherapist this week (I didn’t find the previous one effective)

Edit: spelling

Stabbing pain when walking

Partially healed tear? Postpartum mom