Meniscus injuries
Twisting your knee during sport can cause an isolated meniscus tear.
In other cases, the meniscus changes gradually with age, and a tear seen on an MRI may have little to do with the pain.
To guide treatment, we discuss how your symptoms began, whether your knee swells and whether it sometimes locks so that you cannot straighten it.
Many tears can be managed with exercise and physiotherapy.
When surgery is appropriate, arthroscopy allows the surgeon to look inside the knee through small incisions.
If the tear has a good chance of healing, stitches can help preserve the meniscus and its role in protecting the cartilage.
After a repair, decisions about weight-bearing and returning to sport take account of the time the tissue needs to heal.
If the tear cannot be repaired and surgery is appropriate, a selective partial meniscectomy removes only the unstable, damaged tissue.
The aim is to ease pain while preserving as much of the meniscus as possible so it can continue to cushion the knee and distribute load.