Knee Scope

[montstar]

Anyone ever had a knee scope, which resulted in something being removed? I hurt my knee, not even sure how. Got an MRI and 4 x-rays and the orthopedic doc said there was possible damage to the tissue behind the knee cap. He gave me some physical therapy to do for 4 weeks to see if that fixes it. I know I will lose my contract if I have the procedure and am curious about recovery time and medical waivers after that.

[snow85]

yep, that's minor.

lose your contract? why on earth would you lose your contract? if it's just cartilage removal, most often you can run the day after surgery.

[montstar]

Well I'm not very familiar with he procedure but both the NSW Program Coordinator and my recruiter where of the opinion that it would void the contract. Even the doctor said the recovery time was about a month. The doc said don't run until the spring, I told him that would be a problem. So would it then be better to just get it done?

[snow85]

montstar, i don't know that much about you, so i need some info.

how old are you? what was your timeline to ship?

what is the procedure?

what kind of doctor is doing it and how conservatively does he treat his patients/what is the demographic of his patients? if he treats the elderly, he's not going to treat you the same way an ortho specializing in sports medicine will.

tissue behind the kneecap is cartilage. so if you damaged it, they might go in and scrape off the rough spots and smooth it down. you shouldn't be completely off of it for a month though. that sounds very conservative. now, there's also a procedure where they drill holes into that cartilage to make the tissue bleed and regrow. if that's what you're having done, it takes longer.

i need some specifics, here, kiddo.

it may alter the contract, both parties may have to agree to amended terms of the contract, but you don't necessarily have to void the contract.

[montstar]

23, ship date 20080703. The orthopedic doctor is young, specializes in knees and hips. He said "scope it", see whats there and maybe shave a little off, and that he was worried that possibly a piece of bone has broken off in there. He said he could do it, but in my case he recommended a sports guy to do it, and I heard good things about the doctor he recommended.

[snow85]

before you do anything, surgery or navy-wise, have the sports guy take a look at all of your films and do a physical eval on you.

you've got a while before you ship, so leave the K (contract) alone for now. your pt should involve strengthening the quad muscles, particularly the VMO-- the quad one on the inside of your knee. yes?

[montstar]

Never been big on squats or things of that sort. What exactly can I do to strengthen the knee?

[snow85]

whatever the physical therapy is that your doc gave you. i'm assuming either a nurse or physical therapist went over it with you?

[montstar]

No he just gave me a piece of paper with a place to go and the names of a couple therapists at said place to work with. A few other things were written on the paper but I haven't gone yet.

[snow85]

go, then come back and tell me what they say.

[bud/s 184]

yep, that's minor.

lose your contract? why on earth would you lose your contract? if it's just cartilage removal, most often you can run the day after surgery.

correct.....fyi.....i had my meniscus repaired....and it didn't effect my BUD/S opportunity.....or my performance!! I walked out of surgery...and was running
in a week!!

[kiwigirl]

Hi,

I would suggest going to the therapist and work with them, they will make sure you are doing the exercises properly so you don't stuff up any muscles etc by doing the exercises wrong.

Get a second opinion, I got my knee scoped and had cartilage shaved etc and due to complications (bleeding after the op) I'm still not back to doing normal stuff/jumping/running and its been 18 weeks due to knee pain. Good luck.