Any advice for knee injuries?

About 6 weeks ago I injured my knee pretty substantially. I was referred to an orthopaedist that we were told would not do surgery unless it was a last resort. He diagnosed me with a torn meniscus (medial collateral ligament I think is it's technical name) and some damage to the ligament on the outside of my knee as well. I wore a huge brace from hip to ankle for about 3 weeks, then went down to a smaller brace for another 3, and just recently got that one removed. We're trying the "time heals all" technique, ibuprofen, heat/ice, and elevation.

Just wanted to know if anyone had a similar experience, what helped, how soon they started exercising again, etc. Thanks :)

I will be starting physical therapy in the next week or so...

I don't know if you have access to a pool, but if you do it is one of the best things for doing recovery work on your legs. The coolness of the water is therapeutic and the water allows no weight bearing and great resistance and ease of movement. You can purchase water weights.
If you can't get to a pool. Get some therabands or exercise tubing or bands. They are great for recovery. You can use those with helping. Right now you want to work on getting your range of motion back. Nothing else. Don't worry about weights. Just concentrate on exercises that are going to help you with getting mobility to your knee. Once you get some really good mobility then work on strengthening.
Sounds like you are on the right path. You might also want to purchase a support brace that you can wear through out the day or while doing any type of phyiscal activities to keep you from re injuring it. Best of LUCK...

You need to get your doctor to prescribe physical therapy for you. The therapists will put you on a regimen to increase the strength in your leg and knee.

I agree with the other guy. September 28 I got into a really bad car accident and broke my Tibia into 2 pieces, shattered my fibula, my knee cap was on top of my thigh, I tore BOTH minuscesus (sp?), tore all of my muscles and cartiladge, and ended up having to get emergency surgery two days later. They had to remove all of the cartiladge, so know it's bone on bone and I developed arthritus on the inside of my knee cap, along with getting a 7" titanium plate and 7 screws to hold my leg together. Being 6 months after the accident, my tendons, ligaments, and knee in general are still ALWAYS in pain. But my injuries were more traumatic then yours. MY suggestion is alternate heat and ice every 10 minutes. Try taking 2 ALEVE, not IBUprofen. I know that those two things alone give me immediate relief when I'm in excrushiating pain.

i had to have surgery because my knee kept popping out of place. physical therapy is the best thing for you so you don't overdo it. i did ankle weights starting at 2 lbs, walking, heat treatments, cold wraps, the little electrical hook ups,and when physical therapy was over stairs. still have pain but not so bad that i need painkillers. good luck

sounds like you are doing all that you really can. the only other things i can think of is either accupuncture or accupressure...or perhaps pain management if you are dealing with pain consistently and they tell you it may not go away. trust me, you do not want to do surgery on your knee...once you do, it's never the same. you will always have problems with them, and over years, they will just get worse...just try to have it heal as naturally as possible.