Running after two knee surgeries?

by Jenny Jones
(Framingham MA)

Surgery 1: 1/2 lower meniscus removed on inner/groin side of left knee 22 years ago

Surgery 2: ACL replacement with piece of the leg, repaired ACL on left knee and a surgeon who said "I don't know how you made it this far without pain drugs!" 5 years ago. The area of the meniscal removal was down to bone with some tissue that had to be removed. My doctor was very pessimistic about pain reduction, although the knee ACL repair went very well.


For the last 5 years, I've been doing a lot of strengthening and alignment work from PTs and DOs -- it's all made me feel much, much better over time. Chronic back/knee/neck/head/arm/hand pain has virtually disappeared from my life.

I've added to that calistenics and strength workouts that have put me in better shape than I've ever been in.

I have no pain with jumping jacks, burpees, pretty much any calistenic exercise. I have a wee bit of pain at times, but not always, with backwards running, skipping, and other running equivalents -- sideways jumping jacks down a soccer field, for example, don't hurt me at all.

But forward running hurts a bit and causes my knee to swell later.

I would love to be able to run 1-2 times a week for, say, 3-4 miles as another exercise.

What can I do to make this possible?