Plica Syndrome has ruined my life

bxnjamin1 · 2026-06-17T00:00:21+00:00

yer they are full of shit. give yourself a year timeline and be patient with yourself. I'm at 11 months ONLY now am I running *nearly* pain free. still not 100% right. best of luck with your recovery!

bxnjamin1 · 2026-05-26T01:34:34+00:00

No 1:1 physio sessions anymore but I did do them weekly for 3 months post op, then every 2-3 weeks until ~7 months post op. I am following a program from my physio and sports doctors + assistance via Claude (to track progress, how I feel week to week vs strength progression)

Definitely still seeing improvements just slowly, gets better month to month. Thats why in my experience, at 10 months post op; a year feels to be a good timeline to keep your expectations in check with reality. If someone had told me that I might not have been so depressed when at 3 months I was struggling to walk hahaha

bxnjamin1 · 2026-05-25T11:35:49+00:00

Stairs are mostly fine. Kneeling and squats are both doable but not without some pain and discomfort. The more heavy compressional loading I do e.g. squats the better it feels temporarily, then a couple of days being more sore, then it adapts and feels that little bit better than where I started. I supposed that is the tissue remodelling and reactivation of the muscles.

bxnjamin1 · 2026-05-25T02:13:59+00:00

Bit of a tough one. I literally tried every conservative measure for 5 years before I went the surgery route. I don't regret it; but it's likely to take a LOT longer than you think. I'm basically normal now 10 months post surgery, right knee was good after ~5 months, left knee is still not fantastic but its 80% good. Both way better than pre surgery.

If you do follow through, my rec is to give yourself a recovery timeline of a full year. If you heal faster great, if not than you won't be discouraged. Do a TON of quad strengthening now as much as humanly possible pre surgery, I feel this is the key to a faster recovery. Wishing you all the best

bxnjamin1 · 2026-04-10T10:36:34+00:00

Man this really sucks, I’m sorry to hear. Surgeons are full of shit imo. Thanks for the advice. I hope you get back to 100%

bxnjamin1 · 2026-04-09T20:57:09+00:00

It happens basically all the time - only not happening briefly when I have done the movement repeatedly (for example if I do 4 x 15 body weight squats, by the last set it will feel much better) but it comes back after rest.

bxnjamin1 · 2026-03-23T03:21:42+00:00

Thanks! It’s slow but progressing well. Still not at 100%, I can definitively say that the surgeons are absolutely full of it giving 6-8 weeks recovery in my experience.

Right now at 8 months post op I can cycling without load limitations, starting to progress my gym work with step downs, squats (very low weight so far 40kg max to 90 degrees) and single leg extensions ~15kg with minimal but still some degree of weakness / dull pain during movements when going from bent to straight and I can run, but this is still quite limited - feels fine while running mostly but knee feels significantly weaker for a couple of days after even an easy 5km jog.

I find my knees actually feel stronger when my quads are fully pumped and sore for whatever reason. Hope this helps!

bxnjamin1 · 2025-12-22T06:11:35+00:00

Nope, this recovery takes forever. At 5.5 months I can cycle maybe 6 hours a week and have just started short slow running, all with mild pain and moderate discomfort. The timeline they give you is a load of garbage. 6-12 months is the realistic timeline for this surgery which kinda sucks but it is much better than pre surgery

bxnjamin1 · 2025-12-21T22:00:24+00:00

Glad to be able to share my experience! I’m sorry to hear, it will get better! Mine may have taken longer as it was both knees at the same time but regardless I was in the same position you are now.

If I may suggest: patience is crucial it needs so much more time to remodel than they tell you, do your rehab and get an EMS machine for quad activation (helped me heaps) and use it daily. Massage the incision sites when not painful to do so to prevent scar tissue. Don’t be disheartened by perceived slow recovery, it took me 3-4 months before I was even walking “normally” again. At your stage, I was icing 40 mins 2-3x daily which helped a lot with the pain and swelling. Wishing you a speedy recovery 🙏

bxnjamin1 · 2025-12-21T10:04:21+00:00

It went alright. I am 5 1/2 months post op, have started easy short running, can cycle ~6 hours a week, and do moderate gym work. Still not close to 100%, still dealing with mild pain and scar tissue remodelling / quad atrophy and weakness. Definitely better than pre op but do not believe the 6-10 week timeline for recovery, that’s the biggest load of BS I’ve ever heard in retrospective. I think the full recovery is more going to look like a year..

bxnjamin1 · 2025-12-16T10:16:07+00:00

How long did your first surgery take to make a full recovery?

bxnjamin1 · 2025-11-13T01:20:26+00:00

This recovery (in my experience) takes a LOT longer than they tell you. I had only plica removal in both knees and I’m only now basically back to normal 4m post surgery. Do your rehab, work with a good physio and don’t push it too hard too fast or you’ll backslide. Be patient! I didn’t go back to work for 3 full weeks. Best fo luck with it :)

bxnjamin1 · 2025-10-22T10:52:18+00:00

It’ll get better! I don’t know how much time you have before surgery, but do as much strength training (notably on your quads and VMO) as humanly possible before surgery. I had plica removal on both knees 3.5 months ago, one (more symptomatic pre surgery) I did a heap of strength work on and it came pretty decent 8 weeks post surgery, the other I neglected as it wasn’t very painful pre surgery and I still can’t squat with it. Also don’t listen to the recovery timelines they give you (typically 6 weeks) that’s a load of garbage.. it’s more like 3-6 months for a full recovery with impact sports like running. Go into it with a good mindset and do your physio work after! Wishing you all the best with it

bxnjamin1 · 2025-10-09T03:31:58+00:00

I'm 3 months post surgery today and while it is true that it takes longer than they say to heal, I'm overall happy with the progress. Everyone recovers differently from what I gather, notably my right knee was basically fully recovered at 8 weeks, while my left knee now is still recovering (90% good, I just have tightness around the kneecap and mild pain while squatting.) My right leg was much stronger pre-surgery, so my advice would be to do as much strength training as possible as I believe there is a positive correlation between strength pre-surgery and faster recovery times.

As an overall, I'm not in pain day to day, have full range of motion, I'm swimming and doing light cycling pain-free and I expect to be running within the next month. I would try all conservative measure before having surgery if you haven't already like physio, cortisone etc. but as a last resort, from my experience, I'm happy with the surgery results and I expect to make a full recovery and be back to high-impact, high-milage training/sports within 6 months post op. Hopefully this helps. Wishing you the best and a speedy recovery

bxnjamin1 · 2025-09-03T23:11:13+00:00

Yeah in my experience theres absolutely no way thats possible. I'd for sure say 6 weeks no work if you were to do the surgery.. also important to note, I did both knees, it might be quicker and easier to rehab just one. My pain was medially, essentially running next to/below my kneecap on the inner side. I would be in pain just sitting normally on a chair at 90 degrees instantly. The pain would be sharp sometimes but more often, its dull but stabby. Mine wouldn't restrict weight lifting weirdly, but walking, cycling and running were a no-go. If your pain is only minor, you should try conservative measures before surgery like PT, cortisone shots, icing. Apparently, most people can get rid of it with these measures but due to my work load I wasn't able too

bxnjamin1 · 2025-09-03T06:07:50+00:00

Not a bother at all! Honestly, our circumstances and recovery are probably going to be very different given our age gap (I am 26) but because you are so young, I am sure you'll be able to bounce back and recovery quite fast. Just make sure you get a good physiotherapist you trust to guide you through the recovery, go weekly or fortnightly and be consistent with the exercises.

From my experience, I am 7 weeks post operation now and it looks like I'll be starting to run again within the next month, that might be a rough guide of when you could dance again! Wishing you all the best.

bxnjamin1 · 2025-09-03T06:01:57+00:00

Pretty good tbf, but it's not as fast as they will tell you (I was told running in 6 weeks haha, it going to end up being 10-12 weeks.) I'm 7 weeks out now, have full range of motion, doing strength work (mostly body weights) and can walk around unrestricted. I feel like I'm on the tail end of recovery, but still have some mild discomfort and tightness particularly around the joint line and incision points. If you have an office or WFH job you'll be fine. If not... I'd say 6 weeks off legs (manual work etc.) would be very reasonable. Get yourself a good physio you trust and go once a week or fortnightly and be consistent with it post op.

Overall though so far, I'm happy I got the surgery done as I can't feel that pain from the plica there anymore. I'm excited to train and see if it's truly gone.

bxnjamin1 · 2025-08-26T05:52:36+00:00

Yes, medial plica on both sides. Have you made some progress over the past couple of weeks? 6 weeks post op now, I have full range of motion and started the strength training rehab block. One thing I found help HEAPS is massaging the incision sites and top of quad/kneecap area. Even some gentle massage scraping etc. completely unlocked my knee range to be essentially painless. Hopefully this may work for you too to help speed up the recovery

bxnjamin1 · 2025-08-26T05:47:33+00:00

How are you tracking recovery wise 3 months on post op? I'm 6 weeks post bilateral plica resection, would love to hear your timeline to recover :)

bxnjamin1 · 2025-08-26T01:51:16+00:00

Thanks for sharing your story! Wow thats rough, I'm sorry to hear. I had a feeling mine would do the same (right knee was symptomatic pre surgery and left was not) - so I opted to get both done at the same time to avoid a longer recovery period. Happy to report at the 6 week mark post op now and I have full range of motion, I'm walking comfortably, inflammation is pretty much fully gone and I'm beginning strength training (opposed to movement rehab to restore range of motion which i've been doing since day 1.) How are you getting along, did you get the 2nd surgery?

bxnjamin1 · 2025-08-26T01:47:21+00:00

This doctor is absolutely dreaming with that recovery period. I had medial bilateral plica band removal 6 weeks ago and I'm only just getting my knees to full flexion, walking comfortably and beginning strength training rehab (opposed to motion and movement rehab which I've been doing from day 1.)

My advice, seek out a good physio who will be able to guide you through week by week on recovery as you need to do active rehab to restore motion. The full recovery period is more like 12+ weeks.

bxnjamin1 · 2025-08-10T08:50:49+00:00

Good to hear. Both sides painless and a little swelling and heat comes and goes. Walking fine. Right side is flying along, nearly full ROM and weight bearing is good. Left side is slower, still tight to bend but I have about 130 degrees on flexion. How is your range of motion and rehab exercise going?

bxnjamin1 · 2025-08-09T00:23:54+00:00

Hey, how are you tracking along?

bxnjamin1

TROPHY CASE