Word of advice. At 73 you might not want to be too patient. If it starts to affect how active you are, address it. At your age, once mobility is gone it doesn’t like coming back.
The saying I’ve heard from the ortho I work with is, “if they roll in(in a wheelchair or walker), they’ll be rolling forever.”
It’s not just strength that goes, it’s the will, balance, and neuromuscular function.
Preface: the American healthcare system is a broken racist, inefficient, and profit driven mess of ineffective care.
Take: Meniscus injuries are very difficult to identify in some cases anyway. Even if you were in a healthcare system that works well, it might not have been identified. The special tests for meniscus tears are not very reliable. The best ones rely on a patient’s own subjective assessment of stability. So as a clinician, I have to rely on subjective information in the special tests and my own subjective opinion on the signs and symptoms a patient provides. The gold standard for diagnosis is MRI and due to limited resolution I’ve had multiple patients with torn menisci not have anything show up in MRI results.
Now, if you correctly identify a torn meniscus, surgical interventions aren’t great either depending on location, extent of damage, and type of tear. Sometimes the best thing the surgeon can do is remove damaged tissue and clean up the area. The lack of blood flow means that reparability of tears isn’t great. Sometimes you’re fucked if you do and fucked if you don’t. Fortunately, there have been advances in outcomes lately and hopefully that continues. But for now, sometimes the best option if you’re not overly active is delaying surgical intervention until a knee replacement is a viable option.
Check your local appliance provider. Ooni and Gozney make excellent forges.
Dont know what that is in Celcius off the top of my head, BUT if its a wood fired Napolitano style pizza they may be fine at that temp. 800-900°F for like 2-3 minutes is 🤌
You sound like awesome! I hope to be as active as you at 73 and beyond. Already a pretty tough road for me going forward though. 30 years old and 2 knee surgeries in, but thankfully I’m in the health field and can manage my own rehabilitation. Keep on rocking!