Will Walking on a Torn Meniscus Make It Worse?

Many people with a torn meniscus are able to sit, walk, and sleep without pain unless the injury has locked the knee. But, is it wise to walk around or will walking on a torn meniscus make it worse? This may depend on the severity of your injury and how soon you start walking.

If the knee is painful, it helps when you limit certain activities, including walking, to avoid more pain and also speed up the recovery. Use crutches to help relieve pain and avoid putting too much pressure on an already unstable knee. You can also use a knee brace in the first few days or weeks for more stabilization.

Tips to Heal Your Meniscus Tear Faster

Besides resting the knee, the other things you can do to speed the recovery and ensure you feel better with time include:

Icing your knee

This helps in reducing the pain and swelling. Ice your knee for about 15 minutes every 3-4 hours. Do it for 2-3 days or until the pain and swelling are gone.

Keep your knee elevated

When sitting or lying down, place a pillow under your heel so that the knee stays in an elevated position.

Compress the knee

This helps control the swelling. Use an elastic bandage or a neoprene type sleeve to compress your knee.

Avoiding some activities

Impact activities like running and jumping can make the pain worse and take your longer to recover.

Using anti-inflammatory medication

Anti-inflammatory drugs help with the pain and swelling. These should be only used occasionally unless your doctor says otherwise.

Stretching and Strengthening exercises for Torn Meniscus

Stretching and physical therapy are other ways to speed meniscus tear recovery. There are several exercises you can do to help reduce stress to your knee. With your doctor’s approval to exercise, you can try some of these meniscus tear exercises to enhance your strength and stability:

1. Mini-squats

These can strengthen the quadriceps.

For this exercise, follow these steps:

• Stand with your back a wall, with your head and shoulders against the wall. Place your feel 1 foot from the wall and they should be shoulder-width apart.
• Slightly bend your knees to bring your buttocks towards the ground.
• At about 15 degrees of bed, stop and feel your thigh muscles working. Do not squat so deep that your thighs are parallel to the floor as this puts too much pressure on your knees.
• Hold this position for about 10 seconds, and then slide your body slowly back to your starting position.
• Repeat 8-10 times. Rest for about a minute, and then repeat the steps again.

2. Quadriceps setting

This exercise is for strengthening the front thing muscles.

Follow these steps:

• Sit on the ground with your legs extended. If you prefer, you can lie flat.
• Imagine you’re pushing the back of your knee against the floor to tighten or contract the quadriceps.
• Hold the muscle contraction for 10-20 seconds.
• Repeat 10 times. Rest for about a minute, and then repeat the steps.

3. Leg extensions

You can do this exercise while seated. Try to do a set 2-3 times a day.

Steps to follow:

• Sit on a sturdy bench with your feet flat on the floor.
• Flex your left foot and lift it off the floor, straightening your left leg. You should feel your front thigh muscles working.
• Slowly lower the foot to your starting position.
• Repeat 10 times on the left side, then on the right leg. You can try the exercise with a pointed foot as well.

Other exercises you can try include hamstring curls, clams, standing heel raises, straight leg raise, and hamstring digs. If any exercise makes your knee feel unstable or causes you pain, stop doing it right away.

If these treatment options do not seem to repair your torn knee ligaments and your situation appears to get worse then you should consider surgery. Talk to your doctor for other available options