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.
Walking up or down stairs may be particularly painful, and may also cause increased swelling in the knee.
Rest. 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.
Ordinarily, your doctor or physical therapist will ask you to reduce your sports activities while your meniscus tear heals. Healing could take between four and eight weeks.
They're made of cartilage, a tough, rubbery substance. They're basically shock absorbers that keep your thighbone in the upper leg from pounding on the shinbone in the lower leg. If you tear one, your doctor probably will suggest that you rest, apply ice, and take pain relievers at first.
Your doctor may recommend the RICE regimen—rest, ice, compression, and elevation—to treat a meniscus tear. Resting your knee can help relieve your symptoms. Your doctor may suggest using a cane for a few weeks to keep weight off your knee and to stay away from physical activity that may have contributed to the injury.
A tear is usually labeled as severe if the meniscus has a big tear. Loose pieces may cause the knee joint to lock or catch. This level of injury may also keep you from bending or straightening your leg and can make walking difficult. Severe tears usually require surgery to repair.
A torn meniscus can cause temporary or permanent disability and prevent a person from being able to walk around easily. If you have a job that involves manual labor or movement, your injury is likely to put you out of work until you can heal, which may take weeks or months.
Not necessarily. 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.
Quad sets: Lie down on the floor or the bed with your injured leg straight. Fully extend your leg—there should be no or little bend in your knee.
Recovery will take about 6 to 8 weeks if your meniscus tear is treated conservatively, without surgery.
While taking the stairs is undoubtedly a benefit to your overall health, it does put stress on the knees, hips, and feet – especially going down. Patellofemoral pain syndrome is the most common cause of knee pain seen by doctors and is a pain that increases with stair climbing or squatting movements.
A common question about this injury is: “Can you still walk with a torn meniscus?” The answer will depend on the severity of the injury and other individual factors, but there is a chance that a meniscus tear may cause pain when walking.
In addition to runner's knee and osteoarthritis, another common reason your knee may hurt when going upstairs is a ligament injury. The knee joint is held together by strong bands of tissue called ligaments.
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.
Although knee braces do not heal or treat your meniscus tear directly, they can provide extra support and stability for your knee while your meniscus injury heals. A good brace will protect your knee and take the pressure off your meniscus, allowing it to rest.
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.
Tears that won't heal
The outside of the meniscus has a rich blood supply and access to blood cells that help regenerate new meniscus tissue and spur healing. The inside of the meniscus, however, is blood-poor and may take a long time to heal on its own, if it ever does.
So unfortunately, having a meniscal tear which requires surgery may raise your risk of getting arthritis later in life. It has also been shown that a knee that has undergone meniscus surgery has weaker thigh muscles and poorer quality of cartilage 4 years after the surgery [3].
Standing heel raises are an exercise that can help alleviate symptoms from a meniscus tear. The exercise is fairly simple: begin standing with feet hip-width apart, and the knees bend slightly. Hold onto a chair for balance if needed. Raise the heels slowly, then slowly lower back to starting position.