Meniscus injury is not uncommon nowadays. It is also known as meniscus tears. So, the foremost question that must be coming in the some of the readers’ mind is ‘What is meniscus?’ Basically, it’s a piece of cartilage present in your knee joint. The knee joint of a human being is formed with the three bones naming thighbone (also known as the femur), shinbone (another name is tibia), and kneecap (also known as patella). Get expert physiotherapy treatment for Meniscus Injury from PAL Physiotherapy center to cure your injury.
The purpose of the meniscus is to cushion and stabilize the knee joints between the thighbone and the shinbone. It safeguards the bones from wear and tear. So coming back to our point of discussion and to answer the initial question ‘What is the meniscus injury?’
The meniscus tear injury occurs due to the sudden twists of knees. Some of the times, the shredded pieces of the cartilage catches in the joints of the knee and lock up the joints which create too many difficulties to move and fold your knees.
The meniscus injury is comparatively more prevalent in the athletes. Various sportspersons of the contact sports like football, rugby, volleyball, soccer, basketball suffers from the meniscus tears injury. The other sportspersons from the non-contact sports which require jumping and cutting also have the high chances of having the meniscus injury. Reason being is, these sports require all of the sudden whole body’s movement, change in direction and running patterns.
The athletes who grow old usually complains about meniscus injury as their meniscus gets weaken with the growing age. However, meniscus injury is not limited to the athletes, the old age people also suffer from the problem of the meniscus injury. More than 40 % of the people with the age of 65 or above complain about the meniscus injury.
The patient may sense a sound like pop when the meniscus gets the tear. Most of the persons can still walk with the meniscus injured knee. In fact, various athletes keep playing with the tear. But over a time period of the two to three days, the knee will gradually get more swollen and stiff.
The foremost common symptoms of the meniscus injury are:
- Pain in the knee area. At the initial stage, pain may be low but it gets worse over with the time
- Stiffness and swelling
- Locking of your knee
- The sensation that the knee has been collapsed
- Unable to move or fold the knee through its full range of motion
To diagnose meniscus injury, your doctor will first observe the symptoms. She/ he will also enquire about any pain arose in the past in the knee area. After listening about the injury in detail, she/ he will make the recommendations for the X-rays to dissipate the suspiciousness of any broken bones or any other problem.
For a detailed evaluation and better images of the tissues, she/ he may also recommend for the Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI).
The type of treatment depends on the type of tear, its size etc. One-third of the meniscus have sufficient blood supply so this zone can be healed either on its own or with the help of surgery. About the other two-third area, here the tears cannot grow back as the supply of blood lacks here so the shredded pieces are trimmed away surgically.
The possible treatment suggested by your doctor will be rest, application of the ice and the pain relievers at the initial stage. Thereafter, there may be the need of surgery or physiotherapy or both.
The physiotherapy treatment is suggested to escape from the surgery. The middle-aged people or the patients of the osteoarthritis usually tear the meniscus. For these people, physiotherapy may be as much effective as the surgery is.
For the younger, fit and athletic people, the Meniscus Injury treatment in Gurgaon with the help of the physiotherapy may be the better option over surgery depending upon the level and location of the injury. But if the patient is facing the lockup problem, then the surgery may be the only resort.
Even if the resort of the surgery has opted, the physiotherapy treatment may be still recommended by the doctors and at the very least some of the exercises for the home.
The time period of the physiotherapy may be around of 4-6 weeks to 12 weeks, on a regular basis, depending upon the severity of the injury. Additionally, the exercises at home are the must. If it doesn’t work, then surgery may be the ultimate resort.
Most often the meniscus injury is caused by the accidents, so the prevention is difficult in this case. But still, the following are the precautions by adhering to them one can lower the risk of the Meniscus Injury:
- Do warm up with light activities before starting your game etc.
- Keep your thighs and the muscles strong with the help of regular exercise
- Choose the perfect shoes for you which fit you and support you
- Maintain enough flexibility in your body
- Never shift to the intense work out abruptly. If you want to increase the level, then increase it slowly
- Give the proper rest to your body and muscles between the workouts as the fatigued muscles carry a higher chance of suffering from the meniscus injury.
