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@opiumia
I had an arthroscopy in mid May this year (knee cartilage/meniscus damage after being knocked off the bike at the end of March 2009). I took ages to convince my GP to refer me to a consultant though once that was done an MRI scan was arranged within a few weeks. Follow-up appointment about 3 weeks after and pre-op appointment for arthroscopy about a month after that. Actually knee op would have been end of March (first consultant appointment just before Christmas) but high BP problems delayed it until May. Actual op very straightforward (day surgery at KCH in Denmark Hill) and I was sent home with crutch and sheet of exercises. Consultant said full recovery in 6 months.
It's been nearly 4 months since op - movement is good though if I do a lot of walking or standing around (i.e. several hours) the knee does ache a bit the following day. I was back on the bike after about 3 weeks, doing very gentle, easy spinning (and initially on a turbo). Occasionally I commute on the singlespeed but I'm still at the point where my knee aches if I use it more than a couple of days in a row. The gear is fine for my commute but the initial effort of pushing off from the lights is still a bit much. Longest geared ride I've done so far since the op is 75km in hilly Kent the day after a hillyish 50km. Did make the knee ache in the evening and the following day though much less than I expected.
All in all I've had a good experience with the NHS. I didn't have any physio lined up for (I've arranged a few private sessions) and my consultant seemed happy enough for me to move from doing the exercises into gentle riding about 2 weeks or so after the operation.
I think the consultant would have suggested a course of physio initally though, but because I'd just started racing and was keen to get back to race fitness we agreed to go straight to the arthroscopy and get it sorted out.