Knee Meniscus

The meniscus are a small, "c" shaped pieces of cartilage that act as a cushions in the knee joint. There are two menisci in your knee first is thigh bone (femur) second is shin bone (tibia). There is a meniscus on the inner (medial) side of the knee and one on the outer (lateral) side of the knee. Injuries to either the medial meniscus or the lateral meniscus are common and are often referred to as a "torn cartilage". Injuries to the menisci often result in pain and swelling in the knee. These meniscus functions to distribute your body weight across the knee joint. Without the meniscus present, the weight of your body would be unevenly applied to the bones in your legs (the femur and tibia). This uneven weight distribution would cause excessive forces in specific areas of bone leading to early arthritis of knee joint . Therefore, the function of the meniscus is critical to the health of your knee. There are two different mechanisms for tearing a meniscus. Sometimes the knee becomes "locked" in a bent position and is quite painful with attempts to straighten it. This scenario is often caused by the mechanical blockage of the joint from a displaced bucket handle type meniscal tear. The torn fragment actually acts like a wedge to prevent the joint surfaces from moving, hence the knee appears locked.

Traumatic tears result from a sudden load being applied to the meniscal tissue which is severe enough to cause the meniscal cartilage to fail and let go.When people talk about arthritis and wear of cartilage , they are talking most often about the articular cartilage on the ends of the bone. These usually occur from a twisting injury or a blow to the side of the knee that causes the meniscus to be levered against and compressed. A football clipping injury or a fall backwards onto the heel with rotation of the lower leg are common examples of this injury pattern. In a person under 30 years of age this typically requires a fairly violent injury although any age group can sustain a traumatic tear. Degenerative meniscal tears are best thought of as a failure of the meniscus over time. There is a natural drying-out of the inner center of the meniscus that can begin in the late 20's and progresses with age. The meniscus becomes less elastic and compliant and as a result may fail with only minimal trauma (such as just getting down into a squat). Sometimes there are no memorable injuries or violent events which can be blamed as the cause of the tear. A torn meniscus will usually cause pain on the side of the knee that is localized to the meniscus (at the level of the joint line between the femur and tibia). Swelling of the joint may occur although meniscal tears by themselves usually don't cause a large, tensely swollen knee.

Symptoms of Meniscus tear.

• Knee pain.
• Swelling of the knee.
• Tenderness when pressing on the meniscus.
• Popping or clicking within the knee.
• Limited motion of the knee joint.

Treatment of Meniscus Tears

• Ice an Injury.
• Cortisone Injections.
• Arthroscopy.