Tag Archives: meniscus

Why You Need Crutches After Meniscus Surgery

Answering: Why You Need Crutches After Meniscus Surgery If only surgical treatment worked so perfectly that the patient would hop off the operating table, cured, with no painful recovery required. For knee surgery, that is not the case. Meniscus surgery, while often minimally invasive, still requires a recovery period including crutches, where careful attention must […]

Treating Degenerative Meniscus Tears

During the aging process, the fibrous cartilage between the thighbone (femur) and the shinbone (tibia) within the knee can degenerate and become prone to tearing. These cartilages—the medial meniscus and lateral meniscus—act as shock absorbers, thus protecting the joint surfaces from undue wear and tear, which can lead to arthritis. When you run, walk or […]

Mending Your Torn Meniscus

The menisci are cartilages in the knee that protect the joint from stresses of activity. Pivoting actions that cause the knee to twist pose a risk for meniscus tears. The injury is common among tennis players, but it can also result from deep knee bending, squatting or lifting a heavy object. If you have torn […]

Step Up to Therapy After a Meniscus Tear

The menisci, two semicircular pieces of knee cartilage located where the femur (thigh bone) and tibia (shin bone) meet, help diffuse the forces on the knee and act as shock absorbers. Meniscal tears are common. Young athletes often tear a meniscus when twisting with the knee flexed and the foot firmly planted. Older adults may […]

Meniscus Tears and Physical Therapy

A 2013 study published in the New England Journal of Medicine showed that physical therapy can be just as successful as surgery in treating tears of the meniscus, a rubbery C-shaped disc that cushions your knee. Each knee has two of these discs—one at the outer edge of the knee and one at the inner […]

Meniscus Repair: A Knotty Problem

The menisci are pieces of cartilage found between the femur (thighbone) and tibia (shinbone) in the knee joint. they absorb force and provide stability and cushioning to the joint. But a meniscus can tear, and when it does, there are several repair options. One, especially if the tear is small, is to not treat the […]

Repairing a Meniscus Tear

Remember the old children’s song that went, “the knee bone’s connected to the thigh bone”? Those lyrics are a bit misleading. The thigh bone is actually connected to the shinbone; the knee joint rests between these two bones, cushioned by an important portion of cartilage called the meniscus. When this cartilage becomes torn or damaged, […]