Menino, knee injured at 2007 Sox rally, to undergo surgery

(Stan Grossfeld/Globe Staff/file/2007)

Mayor Thomas M. Menino (left) tripped and injured his knee as he was walking off a stage at Fenway Park on Oct. 30, 2007, moments after this photograph was taken.

By Donovan Slack, Globe Staff

Talk about taking one for the team.

Boston Mayor Thomas M. Menino is scheduled to undergo arthroscopic knee surgery Friday to
repair torn cartilage he suffered during a Red Sox championship rally last year. Months of physical therapy failed to heal Menino's synovial joint, so he's going under the knife.

The chief of orthopedic surgery at Brigham and Women's Hospital will perform the procedure. Dr. Thomas Thornhill said today that the mayor could be up and around in a few days or it could be a few weeks.

"It depends on what we find," Thornhill said.

In arthroscopic surgery, a tube with a small camera is inserted through a small incision and used to scope out injuries, he said. Small surgical tools can then be inserted to repair the damage. The procedure, which will be performed at Faulkner Hospital in Jamaica Plain, will only require a local anesthetic, so no transfer of mayoral power is required.

Menino, 65, hyper-extended his right knee hoisting the World Series trophy at Fenway Park before the team's victory parade on Oct. 30 last year. The mayor lost his footing on a staircase but quickly recovered his balance -- and managed to keep the trophy aloft throughout. The slip, though, apparently caused more serious damage than he initially realized.

He underwent months of physical therapy. The mayor, who used to take long walks every day at 5 a.m., even switched to bicycling with hopes it would put less stress on his knee and encourage healing. But at public events recently, Menino said the injury is still bothering him. And Thornhill, who's been treating the mayor, said he decided it was time for surgery.

Arthroscopic surgery is the most common orthopedic procedure on the knee, Thornhill said. He expects to repair Menino's joint with a single procedure, though he said more may need to be done. Thornhill won't know until Friday, he said.

Menino, who has signaled he intends to run for an unprecedented fifth term next year, has maintained relatively good health during his 15-year tenure. In 2004, he underwent treatment for Crohn's Disease, a chronic condition that causes painful intestinal blockages. In 2003, doctors at Brigham and Women's removed a small lump from his back that turned out to be a rare form of skin cancer. City officials say he has since been cancer-free.

Donovan Slack can be reached at dslack@globe.com.

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