Yup, had the same exact thing happen to me a while back. Crazy story although doesn't sound near as painful as yours! Was jet skiing about 5 or so years ago and my knee popped out and locked up just like yours, couldn't straighten it out for hours and even had to drive my car home ( a manual ). My friend who owned the jet skies is a foot doctor and told me to take a ton of ibuprofen and take a hot bath to loosen the joint. Once I got home and did this my grandma was over visiting. I gave her a side hug and all of a sudden in that exact moment my knee popped back into place! What a relief, she apparently has some seriously good energy. Got a meniscus surgery a couple months latter but to this day my knee has never been the same, swells up after playing basketball and just hurts all around periodically.
I tore my right MCL (and fractured my tibial head) in 8th grade playing football, surgery went fine and I was (mostly) back to normal, then when I was 30 I tore my right ACL on a fluky landing when I hopped a fence at a dog park, Surgery went sort of OK, but my knee definitely didn't feel like the joint was lined up the way it should. A year later I was running on Mt. Tabor and it just seized on me. Had it scanned and they told me I tore my meniscus. I opted not to get surgery at the time because I knew I'd be starting the clock on a knee replacement. With strength training and yoga-like stretching I've been able to get my leg to a point where it doesn't really bother me anymore, except that there's definitely some arthritis and I take care not to do much jumping so the meniscus stays in place. I guess that's a long way of saying, everybody's issues are unique to them and it's tough to compare injuries and prognosis even when they are generically the same; "torn meniscus." Hopefully you can find a good orthopedic surgeon and physical therapist and come up with a good plan for getting your knees back.
So your meniscus popped out of place and you did strength and conditioning to keep that from happening again? I always felt the reason why my knees popped out of place was because I have weak knees. I always figured my tendons were too weak, and that's why something was popping out. I had no idea it was a meniscus. I'm not even sure if they know it's a tear. This was something that Kaiser neglected to tell me back in 1998. Who knows if they're right. I do need to see an ortho specialist and hopefully it's something I can fix with similar methods as you.
The meniscus has a small tear in it near the edge, so occasionally it feels like it gets "snagged" on something and my knee catches. I usually just grab my ankle and pull it to my butt in a stretch and it sort of pops back into place. Keeping my quad, hamstring and calf muscles strong just means that things stay a little "tighter" and there's less strain on my joint, it doesn't keep the meniscus perfectly in place. It all depends on the way your meniscus is torn as to what the best course of action is going to be, but definitely talk to an orthopedic surgeon. I used Anthony Colorito and he was pretty good and straight forward about what the best course of action should be. Eventually I'm probably going to have to have a menisectomy (either or full or partial) but I'm putting it off for as long as I can tolerate it. So far that's been about 6 years.
Yeah, so that makes sense. I think mine snagged, and simply wouldn't un-snag. In the past it has gone back into place on its own and it's fine, but this time I couldn't straighten my knee at all. It was extremely painful. Both knees have done this though.
Sounds like it could be a congenital defect? But, really my medical training ends at an associate degree in paramedicine, I'm no doctor.
My mom has been telling me for years that it's genetics because she's had the same problem since she was a little girl. The exact same problem.
This is just pure speculation, but maybe they can "reshape" your meniscii? (or whatever structural defect they find that's causing your issues).
Nate - I know exactly what you are talking about. I tore the ACL and the meniscus in my left knee long ago. A few years later I was walking into the house from the yard when my meniscus "caught" on the joint and locked up my knee. I had to crawl into the house. I had it scoped a couple of days later and that fixed it. Then, two years ago, I tore the ACL in my other knee, but that's a different story.
BTW, I do believe genetics plays a part. My 18 year old daughter tore her ACL as well last year - dancing at a party.
