Whether surgery is conducted or not - a torn meniscus should always be rested until it's healed. However, once the area has healed the patient will likely be recommended to do physio on the area - through the use of stretches and motion exercises.
Rest your knee when possible. Do not squat or kneel. Take pain medicines exactly as directed.
Avoid activities that aggravate your knee pain, especially any activity that causes you to twist, rotate or pivot your knee. If your pain is severe, using crutches can take pressure off your knee and promote healing.
Exercises are an important part of treating meniscus tears. For an exercise plan to be effective, it has to start at the correct intensity that matches the severity of your symptoms and then progress until you regain full strength and control.
Continuing to walk on the affected leg can aggravate your symptoms, making pain and stiffness worse in as little as a few days. Plus, suffering a torn meniscus may also increase your risk of complications, like developing osteoarthritis in that knee.
Put your affected leg about a step behind your other leg. Keeping your back leg straight and your back heel on the floor, bend your front knee and gently bring your hip and chest toward the wall until you feel a stretch in the calf of your back leg. Hold the stretch for at least 15 to 30 seconds. Repeat 2 to 4 times.
Left untreated, a meniscus tear can limit your daily life and ability to participate in exercise and sports. In serious cases, it can develop into long-term knee problems, like arthritis.
How soon you can return to work depends on your job. If you sit at work, you may be able to go back in 1 to 2 weeks. But if you are on your feet at work, it may take 4 to 6 weeks. If you are very physically active in your job, it may take 3 to 6 months.
Rest: Keep your weight off the injured knee as much as possible. Ice: Place an ice pack on your knee for about 20 minutes, several times a day. Compression: Wrap your knee with a compression bandage to help reduce swelling. Elevation: Rest with your leg raised higher than your heart to decrease swelling.
In severe tears, pieces of the torn meniscus can move into the joint space. This can make your knee catch, pop, or lock. You may not be able to straighten it. Your knee may feel "wobbly" or buckle without warning.
Meniscus Tear
Any injury to the meniscus can result in the inability to knee movement. Old age, sports, and stairs climbing are the major causes of meniscus tears. In case of meniscus injury, you'll feel severe pain and swelling in your knee. As a result, you can't straighten knee.
Pain in the knee joint. Swelling. Catching or locking of the knee joint. Inability to fully extend or bend the knee joint.
Symptoms of a meniscus tear may be different for each person, but some of the most common symptoms are: Pain in the knee joint: usually on the inside (medial), outside (lateral) or back of the knee. Swelling. Catching or locking of the knee joint.
Magnesium could be used for in situ meniscal repair due to the potential capacity of magnesium to recruit endogenous stem cells and promote synthesis of fibrocartilaginous matrix.
The patient should avoid pivoting and squatting and should work on keeping the quadriceps muscles strong. If the swelling and pain have not resolved in 6 weeks, they usually won't without surgical intervention.
A horizontal meniscus tear is one of the easiest types of tears to repair in the knee. Rather than removing the portion of the meniscus that is damaged, the surgeon will try to sew together the circumferential fibers of the meniscus back together.
Massage – Encompassing a variety of techniques with sufficient pressure through the superficial tissue to reach the deep lying structures. It is used to increase blood flow, decrease swelling, reduce muscle spasm and promote normal tissue repair.
Untreated tears can progress and become worse over time. Progressive meniscus loss can increase the risk that a person will develop degenerative knee arthritis. It is important to get a diagnosis and seek treatment early.
“Most meniscus tears are not repairable because of the pattern of the tear. Only the outer third of the meniscus has a blood supply and will heal reliably,” said Joshua J. Christensen, M.D., orthopedic surgeon with Norton Orthopedic Institute.
Range of motion may be limited due to pain, swelling, and/or mechanical limits from the tear. Daily activities such as walking up and down the stairs, walking down a hill, kneeling, and squatting are often made difficult due to increased pain in the knee.