Meniscus surgery
I observe that it is a situation that is underestimated by patients because it is a day-to-day operation and is usually performed in a short time like 30-35 minutes. But the truth is not so. The answers to the questions vary from doctor to doctor and according to the surgery performed. Now I will try to explain to you what I mean with a few different scenarios.
What I will tell you is valid only for patients who have had meniscus surgery. It certainly does not apply to people who have extra different knee disorders treated in the same surgery.
First, let’s divide the patients into two groups:
Those whose meniscus is cleared
We have to clean the type of meniscus lesion that cannot be sutured in patients whose torn size is large, fragmented or has passed for a long time. In this case, the patient can bear weight on his foot the next day. However, we recommend rest because there will be swelling and pain for 3 days. As a matter of fact, there is no harm in driving, as he experiences a serious relief within 1 week-10 days. However, there is an important distinction here.
If you are using an automatic transmission and have had surgery on the left knee, you can drive after 1 week if everything is fine with the injury. Since the left leg will be idle anyway, it will not cause much difficulty. If you have a right knee, I recommend not using it for 4 weeks. I’ll explain why in a moment.
If the vehicle is a manual transmission, serious problems may occur regardless of the right or left knee. The important thing here is that you may not be able to give sudden reactions while driving, rather than not being able to use the vehicle. In case of an obstacle (such as a living / inanimate object) you may not be able to show a reflex suddenly. After all, you had an operation and the recovery is still ongoing, so you may have muscle and reflex weakness. Therefore, I recommend not using it for 4 weeks. Of course, it is best to talk about these issues with your surgeon, because he or she will know best the extent of the damage to the knee.
Meniscus repaired
Those who have sutured meniscus surgery will experience a period of incapacity for a few weeks, and they will use crutches during this process. We even use steel-supported knee pads in the postoperative period.
If we are using automatic transmission, the vehicle can be used 20-25 days after the left knee surgery. We avoid bending the knee for a certain period of time in repair operations, so I do not recommend using a vehicle before 3 weeks. You will have difficulty bending your knee anyway. If we had surgery on the right knee, we do not drive for at least 2 months.
In the same way, we do not drive for at least 2 months in manual transmission vehicles, regardless of right or left knee. This period may take up to 4 months, depending on the size of the repair. At this point, it is very important to be conscious because if you say that I feel good, I can use it, maybe it will not be a problem, but in a possible sudden situation, you may not show a reflex and cause vital harm to both yourself and others.
As always, talk to your surgeon about these issues, I just wanted to give general information in this article.
I wish you healthy days…
