Many Many Many people have a meniscal tear and don’t even know about it.
Similarly, many people who have knee pain, who receive an MRI often find out they have a meniscal tear.
In the USA we perform TONS of unnecessary meniscectomies (removal of portions of the meniscus) and I’ve seen way too many botched meniscetomies to ever recommend this, UNLESS there is mechanical locking of the knee which is not spending to non operative management.
There have been a few great research studies now documenting how surgery vs. sham surgery (fake surgery) have the same outcomes when it comes to menisectomies.
I’d highly recommend the clinicalathlete podcast, particularly he episode which talks about meniscal tears and surgery outcomes.
What are your thoughts? Ever had a meniscectomy?