Practice Point #95 - Meniscus Tear

I received a question from Arlene Nesbitt from Canada. Their question is...

You mentioned that you had a torn meniscus… did you have it repaired? If not, how did you get around the pain? I have a torn meniscus so I’m hoping not to have surgery again. Thank you

Yes I torn my meniscus twice actually and both times had is surgically repaired.

It is a very uncomfortable pain from memory and while the pain can vary depending in the degree of the tear in my case and for my profession I decided it was necessary to have the surgery.

However after the first surgery, I never felt the recovery was 100% so the second time I took a much more proactive approach to my rehabilitation and to this day have a fully functioning knee and returned to be able to practice padmasana and virasana.

I do not have an answer for how to get around the pain. The pain is there is send an important message to my brain to be careful and that more harm is about to occur if you proceed into the pain.

I am not suggesting that surgery is the only answer, rather from my experience I do not have any solutions to practice without the pain, except to back off. You will need to adjust your expectations of your ability to do certain poses and letting go of this attachment can often be more challenging than the injury itself.

Good luck.