Diagnostic knee scope

Me and a couple other 50+ women I know had scopes and had things get worse for quite a long time...a good friend took almost a year to get back to okay to run and train again. Me I had rapid deteriation of my cartilage so I had a major surgery 17 months later...basically went from normal cartilage for my age to bone on bone in a year.

I know how frustrating it can be but scope can make things worse.

My biggest advice is to take time getting back to things don't push to fast to get back to what you love.

Could be plica pain. kneecap pain. Those are hard to get over and removing the plica usually helps but you have to be very diligent with PT after surgery.  MRI scans will miss 20% of meniscus tears so its possible you could have a meniscal injury that was not caught on MRI.  A meniscus injury in the face of arthritis si hard to get over.  If there is no arthritis its usually a 6-12 week recovery.  My best guess with the limited info here is you have kneecap/plica issues but it shard tot ell without laying my hands on you.  Krishna Malik is a very goos ortho in AZ but I am unsure if she is in TUcson or phoenix

Thanks for the replies, ladies.  This is kinda what I feared.  People having this procedure and not getting things resolved and maybe even making things worse.  If I could at least cycle, I might be ok to just wait things out.  I could sign up for some cycling events and train for those.  Swimming for me just sucks unless it is a part of triathlon.  I am never gonna be good enough at it to compete in swim only events. 

@Nicole  I did  the ART back in April/ May.  The PT who was doing it said that I had a lot of scar tissue on my IT band on the same side as my bad knee.  She thought maybe I had a knee cap tracking issue.  Initially I felt it was helping but as I ramped up my training things just went down hill.  Lately I have been foam rolling the snot out of my IT band and feel that may be helping.  Hard to say as things change from day to day.  The doc I saw yesterday did not feel that it was a knee cap tracking issue as my knee caps are pretty stable.  What ever that means.

@Kathy  Sounds like the scope really messed things up for you.  I am sorry you had to go through all that.  Not fun.  At this point,  I know I can walk 1/2 a mile or ride my bike on the trainer super easy for 15 minutes without causing my knee too much trouble.  It will be irritated for the day but will be fine the next morning.  Anything more than that and things go downhill. 

Thanks again for the replies.  I have some thinking to do.  Stupid knee!

Thanks, Socks.  I was hoping you would chime in.   Do you know the statistics of how often complications occur after a diagnostic scope?  I hate to keep sitting on this waiting for it to get better.  Maybe it never will. On the other hand, I sure don't want to make things worse with having the scope done.  My doc said that it is pretty safe surgery and that she wouldn't hesitate to have it done herself.  I will look up that ortho that you mentioned.

The scope didn't mess me up but I had an underlying issue that is unusual. I had Lyme and other tick illnesses that love joints. The bacteria hide in cartilage and did a number on my synovium. It is hard to diagnosis and treat.

I don't think the scope made my knee go down hill but the condition that caused the issue in the first place.

Ever situation is different.

I hope things go smoothly for you. Do your PT and don't push to soon to do to much.

PRobably much less than one percent. In a healthy person the risk of infection is near 0, risk of a blood clot very low.  In my pt population the people who have trouble getting over a scope are the ones with other underlying issues.  Like I said a menicus tear in the face of arthritis is a tough one.  YOu can take care of the meniscal injury but you can't make arhtritis go away with a scope and some how the meniscus injury seems to turn on the arthritis pain which is very difficult to get over.   No athritis and excision of plica would probably take 6-12 weeks to get over. Evena partial menisectomy is a quickie.  I have pts all over the map.  For instance I did 2 knee scopes teh same day once and did the same procedure on both people. One guy played 36 holes of golf the day after his surgery and the other guy was incapacitated for 6 weeks but both are outlyers just in opposite ends of teh bell curve so to speak.  There are just so many factors and pain is very subjective.  After strugggling for as long as you have I think its a reasonable course of action.

Just wanted to update that I had my scope done on the 16th.  Doc didn't really find anything wrong.  She said that fat pad was a bit enlarged and she trimmed it.   It sounds like that is standard during a scope so they can see though.  She didn't really think that was the issue causing my pain.  I am optimistic though.  Recovery has been going well but I feel like such a bum.  I can't wait to get my heart rate up!  All I have been doing are my PT exercises.  I had my first follow up appointment this morning.  Got the stiches out.  The doc said that I could go to the pool as long as I cover my incisions with tegaderm.  I am going this afternoon.  I will pool walk  and swim a bit with a pull buoy.

Thanks again for the advice.