Can a person have a meniscus tear and not know it?

YES: Indeed it is not only possible, it is a frequent finding that patients have meniscus tears without any recollection of a major knee injury. As people age, the cartilage does tend to become more prone to injury, and even minor "injury" can lead to a tear. Some of these tears are relatively asymptomatic, while others cause patients to have sudden severe pain.

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In 1984 I was in a softball tournement and they were using the bases with the steel peg. I did a late slide to take out the double play and jammed my knee up real good. My knee swelled to about twice its normal size. I went to the ER and they did X-rays and told me I just jammed it up real bad. They Put me on crutches and wrapped it up in ace bandage and told me to keep it iced down and to return to my family doctor if it continued to bother me. After about 2'5 weeks it didn't bother me anymore. The only other injury was when I slid head first into a base and dislocated my shoulder then the knee impacted the ground. By the time they got me to the hospital my knee looked like it had taken a line drive shot of a softball being all purplish in color. The ground at the fields were like rock. Then in 2005 I was at a Special Olympics softball game and was the designated hitter and the knee gave out trying to swing the bat. After a few hours a thumb size knot formed close to the knee cap. I was seen by an ortho doctor and had a MRI done but it just showed some questionable areas and he thinks I tore the meniscus. He did surgery and found a torn meniscus and lateral colateral ligament was shredded up and had to be cleaned. The reason I am asking these questions and giving you this information is because right before thanksgiving I went to step over the lower part of the counter and put all my weight on this knee and it gave out on me. But when it gave out it was to the side and not the normal front and back way the knee bends. Now I have more pain in the knee then I did prioir to the surgery and the knee is always clicking popping and giving out and I have the feeling as to something is grinding in the knee. Now my doctor seems puzzled as to what to do and am thinking of changing ortho doctors

Based on this additional history, I do believe that you may have reinjured the meniscus - and you may have another tear. If you were my patient, I would send you for an MRI to re-evaluate the joint.

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He did and I talked to the radiologist after the MRI and He said he didn't see anything that really jumped out at him but he did note that in the knee it was starting to retain a lot of fluid. But the radiologist also told me that MRI's aren't 100% and I may have torn the meniscus again and it could be in an area the MRI doesn't show. Without the knee brace as soon as I put pressure on it its like someone sticking a knife into the joint and there is no stability with the knee. With the Brace I may get 3 to 4 steps before it wants to give out. But if I turn the knee the pain is really bad and my knee buckles and this is with or without the brace. He did say that the ACL looked good. do you think I need a second opinion on my knee?

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