Knee Meniscal Tear Diagnosis? Meaning and Management
Meniscal knee injuries are a common diagnosis in the sporting, but also non sporting population. From young to old can be affected. Injury can occur with an acute sudden sports injury, but also with degenerative knee issues and osteoarthritis.
At Physiologix we work extensively with knee injuries including meniscal tears. Our work covers conservative management, through to rehab after injections or surgical intervention.
What is the meniscus
The menisci are crescent shaped fibrocartilaginous structures located one on the inside of the knee (medial) and one on the outside (lateral), sitting between the thigh (femur) and shin (tibia) bones.
What does the meniscus do?
The menisci have a few key functions.
- Mechanical stability – they help to add a level of stability to the knee joint
- Shock absorption – they are in a great location to help deal with shock that travel between the femur and tibia
- Nutrition – they help to keep the knee joint healthy
- Lubrication
How can you get a meniscus tear?
There are many possible reasons:
- Different individuals may have certain variations in their anatomy that may predispose to injury
- Injury frequently can occur with trauma, often with a twisting or side stepping movement. In sport this can occur with contact but also with a sudden change in direction, or landing from a jump.
- Lastly age related wear can impact directly on the key functions we discussed above and causes changes to the cartilage within your knee, affect your weight bearing knee joint surfaces, and contribute to swelling, or effusion, in your knee.
Age related tears can occur without any specific single reason – it may be a cumulative build up.
What are the symptoms you may experience with a meniscal tear?
Typically with an acute, or sudden onset, meniscal tear you can experience pain, stiffness, a locking sensation, a feeling of giving way or your knee being unstable, knee swelling and loss of movement in the joint.
Will imaging help?
Imaging will help to assess exactly what damage you may have done to your knee. In the more mild situations, your doctor and physio will work with you to resolve your pain, possibly without imaging. Also, in the degenerative meniscal tear we may leave things a little longer before imaging. In these situations, you will frequently do well and recover with physio intervention only. If things are slower to recover, or if the injury is more severe, imaging will help ascertain exactly what is wrong in the knee, and if anything else in injured, or if surgery may be indicated.
How to best manage your meniscal tear.
Your GP, sports physician and or orthopaedic surgeon will work together as a team to ensure the best options for your rehabilitation are followed. Surgery is a last resort, but may be needed in the more acute, younger athlete in an acute injury, or in the older degenerative knee that is not resolving.
Physiotherapy aims to reduce your swelling, regain your range of movement, regain normal strength and help facilitate you returning to your previous level of activity.
We will help you lose weight, which can be a huge benefit in pain management, and we will help you exercise despite limitations that you may struggle with.
When recovery is slow we will help guide you through the next steps and assist in helping you find good support in moving forward. We will work with your doctors if injections may be indicated, and we will help prepare you for surgery, and to recover after surgery should this need to occur.
And throughout all of this we will help you find ways you can keep you active, fit, and healthy. Our aim is to prevent as much loss of fitness through this rehabilitation process as is possible.
Questions? Please feel free to contact us with any queries you may have. Physiologix is based upstairs at Gap Health and Racquet Club. You can call us on 3511 1112 or book an appointment online at physiologix.com.au.
Refences:
Brittberg M. Clinical articular cartilage repair. An up to date review. Ann Jt. 2018;3(3):1–8.
