I had some damage (grade 3 tears) a year ago (and surely starting before that). Here's some of what I did, but wondering what the RSF crowd wisdom would say.
Theory:
- cartilage doesn't get any blood supply so you have to let the lubrication of the joints from gentle exercises (like walking, tai chi, etc.) slowly heal it.
- cartilage doesn't have nerve endings in it, so if you damage it, unfortunately you don't get a hint from pain until too late (when you feel other damage in other areas near it)
- inactivity is bad for it (see first point) so you have to keep doing some gentle exercises with some weight bearing.
Practice:
- did exercises my PT assigned, plus kneesovertoesguy (essentially push the ROM slowly, add a tiny amount of load super gradually), plus Kadour Ziani "cat stretch" and work toward "Asian squat" (my term).
- bit of walking and tai chi form (more walking than form)
- every so often test it (stupid idea for the most part) with a few min of futbol or related training. usually this doesn't cause pain, but I can detect some weakness.
- take some "building block" supplements like collagen peptides, omega-3, glucosamin chondroitin w/msm
- some massage gun stuff.
Results:
- after one year, only by feel, I can tell my knee is a lot stronger now, but I can also tell it's not "healed".
- not sure it'll ever be fully healed, but I'll see how strong I can make the muscles, ligaments, tendons around it as compensation (and the cartilage probably heals somewhat).
- no idea if I'll ever do agility type sports again (probably should NOT, but hey you never know). I suppose real goal is move like those 91 year old IMA guys at that age (and attain that age), nevermind IMA skill.
What else do you think I should do? anything to add, subtract, modify?