Meniscus Root Repair Rehab & Recovery

by Emily Socolinsky, SSC | SEPTEMBER 11, 2019

On Wednesday, February 20, 2019, I had a meniscus root repair surgery on my left knee. My
MRI showed an extensive radial tear adjacent to the medial meniscus root insertion, as well
as evidence of  high-grade chondral loss involving the central trochlea. Bottom line, it was
pretty clear from the MRI that if I wanted to be out of pain, surgery was my only option.

Once my doctor started the procedure, it was obvious that this would not be a simple surgery.
There was a large grade 4 chondral defect involving the central aspect of the trochlea,
approximately 30mm in width by 25mm in length. Multiple large loose bodies were removed
from my knee joint, the largest of which measured approximately 20mm. There was also
proliferative synovitis present throughout the patellofemoral joint, including the medial and
lateral gutters. Examination of the medial compartment revealed a complete radial tear
proximally 1cm medial to the posterior root insertion. In layman terms, I had completely torn
my medial meniscus from the bone, and it had to be sewn back on. This was going to be a
complete root repair surgery: toe-touch weightbearing for four weeks, six weeks in a brace
and crutches. 

The Injury: What came first, the Brazilian Jiu Jitsu or my awesome dancing
at a wedding?

I don’t remember how or when I tore my meniscus. I started Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu about four
years ago. The left knee was feeling great up until about a year and a half ago, when I started
noticing some pain. Then, in January of 2018, while warming up in class one morning, a
sharp, nauseating pain shot through my left knee, which made me start limping. I put a knee
brace on and made it through class, but by the time I drove home I could barely bend my
knee. I finally decided to make an appointment with a knee specialist. Upon examination, the
doctor told me that I most likely had a meniscus tear, and that I should get an MRI. I hung on
to this MRI referral for a good month or so, because the knee was starting to feel better, and I
was still able to train and attend my BJJ classes. 

At the beginning of April, I was dancing at a friend’s wedding when I suddenly heard and felt
a loud pop in my left knee. The knee buckled and I thought, “Shit. There goes my knee
again.”

It hurt like hell. I limped from the wedding venue to the car, and then from the car to my
house. But the next day, I woke up and literally ran down my stairs. There was absolutely no
knee pain. No swelling. Nothing. I decided right then and there I would not get the MRI. Why
would I? My pain was gone.

Later that summer, the left knee began to bother me...again. I was training one afternoon, and
I noticed some swelling, not too much, but enough for me to start keeping an eye on it. Then,
in September, at the Charm City Strongwoman Contest, I sprinted into the gym from the
outside looking for one of my volunteers. The next day, my left knee blew up to the size of a
grapefruit. My calf swelled up into my ankles. It took almost a week and a half for the
swelling to go down, but there was still considerable swelling in my knee. I kept training,
modifying my squatting as needed until I could get back to proper depth. The swelling started
to go down, but there was now a lump behind my knee that felt like fluid. I did a little internet
searching, and diagnosed myself with a Baker’s Cyst, which I discovered was pretty common
with meniscus tears.

 In January of this year, I finally decided to go back to my doctor to get that MRI. I could no
longer deadlift from the floor, and was having trouble squatting below parallel. BJJ was also
becoming more and more of an issue, and the warm-ups were now next to impossible.
“Definitely a Baker’s Cyst,” my doctor said when I saw him. “And most likely, a meniscus
tear.”

A week later, I got my MRI results and I was told that this was going to be a very long
recovery, but I had other plans.

My Rehab

I opened my gym shortly after taking up strength training in earnest to help address my back
pain, and have been working for the past eight years to help others embrace their true
potential and strength. Had I not been training all these years, I would not have had the
slightest idea of how to rehab my knee after surgery. Prior to Starting Strength, I would have
simply gone to physical therapy, done my exercises like the therapist told me to do, and that
would have been it. But now I know more  about the body, about rehab, and about what being
stronger really means. What was going to help my knee? Continuing to train, moving it as
much as I could, bearing weight as much as I could tolerate, not sitting around, and NOT just
doing PT exercises 1-2x times a week. I was going to rehab myself, and keep training as
normally as I could.

My surgery was at 8:30am Wednesday, February 20. When I returned home around 1pm that
day, I sat in my living room for a bit, emailing and texting people to let them know I was
alive and well. After about two hours, I got up, crutched into the kitchen, brewed a pot of
coffee and made myself some pancakes. That was day one. On Thursday, February 21, the
day after my surgery, I went to work, in my brace and on crutches. A friend of mine picked
me up, and took me to the gym, where I coached my clients, sometimes sitting, sometimes
standing. Then I trained. It was press/bench day, so I set up for some seated presses and
dragged a stool over to prop my left leg up while I benched. I did a few jungle gym rows, and
finished with planks. I got a lift home, and returned to the gym later that evening for more
coaching. I think my clients thought I had lost my mind, but what else was I going to do? Sit
at home on the couch and watch T.V.? I have two good arms, and a good leg. I wasn’t taking
any pain medication either, so I was alert.
Two days after my surgery, Diego took me to my first PT session. The therapists were a little
surprised to see me so soon after my surgery, but I really wanted to know how much range of
motion I had post-surgery. They moved my knee a bit, and I had decent ROM, better than
expected. Later that day, I trained. Single leg deadlifts on the good leg, reverse hypers, and
dumbbell bench. The following Tuesday, I saw my doctor. I asked when I could start driving,
and he said when I was off my pain medication. When I said I was not on any medication, he
said when I could bend my leg 90 degrees. Diego has an automatic and it was my left knee
that was incapaciated, not my right,  so the next day, I hobbled into his car and practiced
driving around the block. It was glorious. That night, I drove myself to the gym.

I consulted with SSC and DPT Darin Deaton prior to my surgery and then afterwards, when I
discovered it had been a meniscus root repair. Darin helped me understand that it was going
to be a very slow recovery due to the nature of the surgery, and to be patient. I asked him
about biking, and he told me that he allowed his patients to start biking two weeks after
surgery. Two weeks to the day, I got on my spin bike at the gym and did what I could do. It
was tough, and it hurt like hell, but I took it slowly. After about five minutes, the wheels were
spinning. I have now biked five to six days each week since my surgery. As a result, two
weeks after surgery I was able to start driving my car, which is a manual.

I sat down and put together a training program with exercises I could do, and trained four
days a week as normal. I decided to continue with my usual four day split with two upper
body days and two lower body days, although I did also incorporate a few extra upper body
exercises as my lower body work was not that intense.

Here is what my training program looked like from 2/21/19 (day after
surgery) to 3/21/19:
Mon Tues Wed Thurs Fri
SL Deadlifts on good SL Deadlifts on good
Bench-one leg PT stuff Seated Press
leg leg
Seated press Reverse hypers Bench Reverse hypers
Push ups- one
Tricep work Seated DB press DB bench - one leg
leg
Curls SL hip thrusts DB row Step ups - good leg
Seated Sled
Ring rows Seated Sled pulls Chin ups
pulls
Bike Bike Bike Bike

In between the big lifts and the accessory work, I did some of my PT exercises: leg lifts, quad
sets (quad squeezes), heel pumps. I was still taking aspirin to prevent clotting after surgery,
and  I also tried to put as much weight on the left leg as I was allowed, and then more. I
walked around the gym with the crutches, and without the crutches. At my third visit to PT, I
was told that I had completely broken my PT protocol, and was better for it. “It helps to be
strong,” my PT remarked.

Towards the middle of March, I was finally given wall slides (mini squats) and step ups for
the left leg by my physical therapist. Instead of wall slides, I opted for high box squats. I
switched out the single leg deadlifts for trap bar deadlifts on mats, and added low step ups on
the left leg. I was also allowed to bear weight on my leg while in the brace, which meant no
more seated presses. Unfortunately, I was still not allowed to bend my knee completely, so I
was still doing all benching on one leg. At the end of March, my doctor told me I could take
my brace off completely, and use crutches for another week if I needed to. I chose not to use
my crutches anymore.
My training program between 3/22/19 and 4/21/19 looked like this:

Mon Tues Wed Thurs Fri

Bench - one leg Trap bar DL PT stuff Press Trap bar DL
Strict Press Reverse hypers Bench - one leg Reverse hypers
Triceps work Strict press Push ups DB bench - one leg
Curls Step ups DB row Step ups
Step ups (R/L) BW box squat BW box squat Chin ups
Bike Bike Bike Bike

I switched from trap bar deadlifts to barbell rack pulls, continued to lower the box for squats
and switched from single leg deadlifts to RDLs. From April 22 until May 1, my program
changed again, slowly becoming more like my regular training. I continued to lower the box
for squats, and started to add weight. And slowly, I started bending the knee more, and
eventually took the box away from my bench.

From 5/2/19 - 6/15/19, my program looked like this:

Mon Tues Wed Thurs Fri

Heavy Bench Squat Bike - Steady state Heavy Press Squat
Volume Press Deadlift  Volume Bench Deadlift
Tricep work Back ext.  Push ups Reverse hypers
Curls Strict press DB rows Pause bench
Bike Bike Bike Bike
And from 7/1/19 - Present, my program now looks like this:

Mon Tues Wed Thurs Fri

Heavy Bench Squat Bike - Steady state Heavy Press Squat
Volume Press Pause Deadlift    Tempo Bench Heavy Deadlift
Tris/Curls Strict press/Rows   DB rows Pause bench/Rows
Bike Boxing drills   Boxing drills Bike

I am now adding 10 pounds a week to the bar for squats. Eventually, as I get into the mid
100s again, I will start adding five pounds a week. I was adding 10 pounds a week for
deadlifts but have now switched to pause deadlifts on Tuesday and add only 5 pounds a week
to the heavy deadlift. I press and bench with no modifications. I got rid of the box for squats
the end of July. I was cleared from physical therapy on May 16, 2019, about three months
after my surgery, and after only six PT sessions. I have no issues taking the stairs, just a little
knee discomfort here and there. I also started boxing sessions once a week with one of my
coaches as I am not allowed to start back to BJJ until September.  Most importantly, I have
not missed a single coaching or training session since my surgery. 

Wrap Up

As of August 20, 2019, it will be six months post-op. I plan to squat 135 pounds for three sets
of five on this day and am scheduled to deadlift 200 pounds on August 23.  And unless you
have been following my Instagram page and know about my rehab,  you would never even 
know that I had knee surgery. I have been walking and training normally for the past four and
a half months. What made my recovery so fast? Strength. If I had not spent the last several
years of my life squatting, benching, pressing and deadlifting, I would not have had the
strength to continue to be as active as I was after my surgery, and I most certainly would not
have known how to rehab my knee on my own. I would have relied strictly on physical
therapy. I definitely know that I would not have been able to do all that I can do now, if I had
not gone into the surgery strong. Strength is one of the most important aspects of our lives.
Being stronger is always better than being weak. Life happens and our bodies will sometimes
let us down. But if we are stronger, we are harder to break, and we most certainly recover
faster and better.