Years ago I was injured while bicycling. I landed hard on my knee and it swelled up to a large size. It was difficult to walk. I was very upset and concerned that I might have permanent damage to my knee.
I was extremely fortuitous – if such can be said about an accident – that there was a policeman right there when it happened who witnessed my being clipped by a car which tried to pass me unsafely.
This was my welcome back to the United States from having spent a year in Germany where I bicycled all the time. I had an old, clunker bicycle and it seemed like I was in the Fahrradwerkstatt three times a week repairing the thing.
The difference between how bicyclists are treated in Germany and here in the US is very stark. Its very sad also. Its another lost war with many, many martyrs and victims including myself. In addition to physical scars, there are the psychologic ones. I’ve been brutally harassed by motorists simply because I was a bicycle on the road, exercising my equal right to use the roadway for transit.
I have experienced motorists who used their vehicles as weapons to physically intimidate and threaten me on my bicycle. And of course there is the honking, the cursing, the insult, and often also the lecherous leering from perverts to top it all off.
Anyhow, I had a meniscal tear in my left knee. Because I was “lucky” and had a police witness and legal help I was able to see a good osteopathic physician. I think that’s the right term. Anyhow, he continually suggested to me that I have arthroscopic surgery yet I resisted and resisted him. My possible financial reward from the case would also be larger if I had the surgery he said.
But no, I did not want to have surgery until I absolutely knew that it would be necessary and that there was no other route to my knee healing. I waited and waited to see how it would heal. The doctor kept pushing me to have surgery. The lawyers kept pushing me because they wanted to settle the case and collect their wad of cash. But I held out as long as possible.
Finally, I noticed that there were days when I had no problems at all with my knee. I knew then that it was definitely in a process of healing. It took about 1 1/2 years to reach that point but it did occur. I ended up having two MRI’s of the knee I think: One early on, to see what was going on with it. And then one over a year later to see if/how it was progressing. I had to insist to get the second MRI. The system is not intended to really do the best treatment as it is to make various people money.
That knee does still trouble me sometimes when running but usually not seriously. But I believe that the body can heal and perhaps it will just take a long time for my body to fully repair itself. I also know that when the body heals from an injury it is stronger than it was before.
Anyhow I just wanted to write about the study that was recently released in which 351 patients with meniscal tears were tracked for outcomes after either physical therapy alone or physical therapy and surgery. The finding was that the outcome for both groups was identical.
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