If it is an isolated lateral meniscus tear, I would expect the spectrum closer to 6-8 weeks for full recovery from this surgery.
The problem is that a lateral meniscus can be associated with MCL and/or ACL injuries. Neither of these injuries would surprise me as a finding at surgery.......especially an MCL.
If this would be the case, recovery could be expected to be significantly longer.
From the picture below, imagine the lateral meniscus being crushed (coming down wobbly and hard from his jump). Such a crush would bend the knee joint to that side (creating a closed angle). The resulting bend on that side would cause the other side of the joint (the MCL side) to be forced into an open angle.....stretching/tearing the MCL which is there as a check ligament to prevent this type of movement.
This is actually a diagram of a congenital condition mimicking essentially the same type relationship of the knee position I am speaking of above.
Lateral meniscus tears can be caused by disruption of hip mechanics, especially if chronic. As any of you that have followed my medical posts on Clowney would know, sports hernias in most cases have been found to be associated with hip problems (especially femoral acetabular impingment). Most of the time, if the hip problem is not addressed, it lends itself to continued faulty core and hip mechanics which in turn encourage compromised performance and/or significantly increase the subsequent risk for future lower limb injuries (not to mention recurrent sports hernia problems). And let's not forget the chronic bone spur problems which encourages hip mechanical problems to begin with.
(You can also see from the skeleton diagram above how faulty alignment starting with the hips extending down to the knees and ankles can create an ongoing mechanical joint stress nightmare.)
