Resting your knee will allow for quicker restoration. You can use crutches to aid in moving around without straining your knee. You should ice your knee for about 15 minutes every few hours until the swelling is gone.
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.
Most people who tear a meniscus can return to full activity. If you have surgery to repair a torn meniscus, your knee should be fully recovered after a few months of physical therapy. If you have surgery to remove all or part of your meniscus, you may be at higher risk of developing arthritis down the road.
Physical Therapy
Low-impact exercises such as stationary biking may reduce your level of pain, improve mobility, and restore function to the area around the meniscus tear. As your knee and muscles grow stronger, your physical therapist guides you in returning to more vigorous activity.
The injury won't heal on its own, which means it may continue getting worse without proper care. For example, a partial tear may continue to worsen until it's a complete tear. Continuing to walk on the affected leg can aggravate your symptoms, making pain and stiffness worse in as little as a few days.
Avoid positions and activities that place excessive pressure on knee until pain and swelling resolve. Problematic positions include squatting, pivoting, repetitive bending (eg, climbing stairs, rising from seated position, operating clutch and pedals), jogging, and swimming using the frog or whip kick.
Meniscus (cartilage) Repair patients cannot do twisting, pivoting, squatting, deep knee bends or impact activities for four months.
Meniscus tears, indicated by MRI, are classified in three grades. Grades 1 and 2 are not considered serious. They may not even be apparent with an arthroscopic examination. Grade 3 is a true meniscus tear and an arthroscope is close to 100 percent accurate in diagnosing this tear.
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.
Over time, a meniscus tear may become more severe and cause further damage if left untreated. Further, certain activities may cause symptoms to flare up. Some patients might find it difficult and painful to climb stairs, or even to get out of bed.
If you have knee pain and have been told you have a suspected meniscal tear either from an exam or from MRI, much of the time this can heal on its own with 4-6 weeks of rest, doing some physical therapy that would focus on some range of motion and strengthening exercises and correcting any biomechanical problems that ...
Stiffness and pain are often reduced and eliminated as range of motion improves at the joint. By combining therapies that may reduce pain such as massage, Active Release Therapy, and Graston, we can get quicker, less painful results that ultimately result in a quicker return to your sport or activity.
Meniscus tears are the most frequently treated knee injuries. Recovery will take about 6 to 8 weeks if your meniscus tear is treated conservatively, without surgery.
The pain is temporary but if there is some inflammation, use a Cold Compress or Ice Pack on your knee, as it naturally relieves pain and inflammation. Once pain and swelling is non-existent, a heat treatment (via the Knee TShellz Wrap®) should be considered to encourage healing of the underlying injury.
The pain may come and go over a period of years if the tear isn't treated. Larger tears usually cause more pain and immediate swelling and stiffness. Pieces of the torn meniscus can float into the joint space. This can make the knee catch, pop, or lock.
Continuing to play with a torn meniscus, however, will likely have long-term effects on the ability of that cartilage to heal on its own. Low-grade meniscus tears can often heal without surgery. We recommend that patients rest the knee and avoid putting weight on it as much as possible.
Most meniscus injuries get better with conservative treatment (such as physiotherapy) and in very few instances has surgery been found to provide superior outcomes both in the short and long term.
Swimming is one of the best cardio workouts for people with bad knees, because of its low impact on your body. Swimming is also a very versatile activity and can burn calories very quickly. While swimming you'll be able to work all major muscle groups in your body including glutes, chest, and especially the core.
An effective, long-lasting treatment has widely been sought after. Intra-articular corticosteroid injections have been among the methods of controlling pain for more than 60 years. However, such injections tend to produce short-lasting results, with profound effects lasting an average of up to 4 weeks.