Meniscus Blues

Like others, I had a meniscus tear while playing sports. When the tear happened it caught me by complete surprise. The tear happened in such a benign way that I'm taken aback by its severity. I was playing in a muddy rugby match and I slid into the try zone, baseball style. I thought nothing of it but when I got up and began my jog to the 50 meter line, I didn't make it that far. As I ran my knee gave out and I fell to the ground with blinding pain radiating from my right knee. When I finally got to the critical care center, they put me in a leg immobilizer and scheduled me for an MRI. When the news came in I was very shocked. I was diagnosed with two severe radial tears in my lateral meniscus and some chondral fissures. This comes as very sad news to a woman who enjoys being physically active. I have been presented with two choices, I could have surgery, a partial meniscus removal, or I could try to rehabilitate myself. I've tried the latter in order to minimize the early onset of arthritis in my knee, so far it hasn't succeeded like I hoped. I've made some serious progress in the last four weeks, but my range of motion while is 90% of normal but I can't achieve the same range of motion while trying to bear a load on my knee.
I'm still plagued with the question, 'To operate or not to operate?'. I was hoping for a better solution that cutting out my precious cartilage. I think that technology and the FDA have finally delivered that solution. There exists a meniscus implant that acts as a biological scaffolding which allows it to become permanently integrated into my existing red meniscus (the part of the meniscus with a vascular system). The company which started marketing this technology as of December of 2008 is Menaflex(www.menaflex.com). My hope is that my insurance provider Blue Cross and Blue Shield, will cover this implant technology. If the implant is covered by insurance then I will truly have a useful surgical alternative. Assuming I have this alternative the question becomes, "At what phase in life is getting the meniscus implant optimal?". I'm no longer afraid of the question, 'To operate or not to operate?', because now there is the possibility of a real knee repair as opposed to just a symptomatic treatment.
I would prefer to rehabilitate my knee, as I think many athletic minded individuals would like to. What is difficult to understand is the general lack of information regarding the best techniques to rehabilitate a knee suffering from meniscus problems. The meniscus pain seems to be brought on by any torque placed on my knee. I have failed to find a brace which can protect the knee from this type of motion. I am beginning to think no such brace exists, I guess we can't escape basic physics applied to the knee. Is it possible to work a torn meniscus enough to bring back regular pain free function? I have seen two separate orthopedists, one of which says the only solution is surgical, removing 1/3 or more of my meniscus. The second orthopedist advocates rehabilitation to the point of wearing down any meniscus folding(from a small tear) to a smooth meniscus which is functional. I wish medicine was more science than an art, because then maybe the orthopedists' advice would converge to the best solution. I suppose a third opinion is in order, especially from an orthopedist who is familiar with the implant technology. I just hope to get logical, sound advice on my options rather than a sales pitch for the implant.

--The Frustrated Flanker