Sunday, 5 August 2018

Plica Syndrome - Day 6 - Regrets?

Day 6 after the op (counting the day of the op as Day 0) I can start to walk without a crutch but with a big limp. There's some swelling on and off, which I realised seems to happen if I remove the light compression sleeve the doctor gave. I'll ice, elevate, and put the compression sleeve back on and the swelling subsides.


Sometimes I wonder if I should have had done the surgery. When I read online of other people who also had plica syndrome and hence went for arthroscopic surgery, their symptoms always sound a lot more severe than mine.

All I had was a persistent discomfort in the knee, the feeling that something is rubbing on the inside of the knee, and the joint gets warm and painful after I deadlift / hurts when I run. Other people have constant pain, clicking in the knee, pain when going up/down stairs. I can even play basketball/sports if I wear a knee wrap!

The problem was the discomfort didn't go away, and didn't seem to be improving after 9 months. I had 2 options:

Option A: Start seeing a new physio and try out another treatment plan (After 9 months of trying many plans) and hope it reduces and eliminates the problem eventually.

Option B: Do the surgery, then see that physio and rehab to 100%.

The problem with option A is that the recovery is not guaranteed and the problem plica is still there. Well not that option B is guaranteed recovery, but at least the problem is removed and I can actively rehab and feel progress.

My only fear now is that I don't actually return to 100%, and some lingering issue remains to haunt me. Then it will remind me of this $11+k plus 3 months of suffering (the estimated recovery timeline) wasted. oh well.

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