Meniscus Injuries

The knee has a medial (inside) and lateral (outside) meniscus which act as shock absorbers and give an amount of stability to the knee. The meniscus only has blood supply to the outside third of the body.

Meniscus injuries/tears (commonly known as cartilage tears) can occur without real trauma. It usually causes intermittent pain and swelling. A lot of the pain occurs with rest or at night.

Meniscus injuries are treated with arthroscopic (key hole) surgery. The most common tears occur on the inside of the meniscus body and are treated with excision of the loose flaps (meniscectomy). Patients go home on the same day and can walk without any walking aids. Recovery takes 3-4 weeks.

When the teat occurs in the outer part of the meniscus (where there is blood supply) in younger patients, it is repaired with anchors and stitches. Post-operatively patients walk with crutches for 4-6 weeks.

A special type of meniscus tear is the posterior horn tears whereby the anchor part of the meniscus at the back of the knee is torn. In the younger patients it is repaired arthroscopically on to the bone with sutures through bone tunnels. Ambulation is with crutches for 6 weeks.