What are the principles of treatment after a meniscus injury

Meniscus injuries can be treated conservatively in some cases and require surgery in others. (i) Conservative treatment of meniscus tear is subject to several conditions: ① Meniscus is a tear in the area of rich blood supply; ② Tear should not exceed 2cm in length; ③ Knee should be splinted to limit the activities for 6 weeks; ④ Rehabilitation according to the meniscus suture. ⑤ Acute injury. If the injury is more than 3 weeks old and still shows signs of meniscus damage, it indicates that the likelihood of your meniscus healing on its own is minimal. In addition, many people, although opting for conservative treatment, do not limit their activities and do not even wear a straight splint. (ii) If it does not meet the scope of conservative treatment should be surgical treatment. Meniscus that requires surgical treatment needs to be operated as early as possible, if late surgery will have the following problems: ① Tear will be increased, resulting in the removal of more meniscus in future surgery, the more meniscus removed, the greater the impact on the knee joint after surgery. ② Early surgery will make the chances of suture repair of the injured meniscus significantly higher. After the meniscus is sutured, if it heals, it will be similar to if it had not been injured. Delaying surgery makes the chance of suture repair lost. (iii) Even a total meniscectomy is less abrasive to the joint than a torn meniscus within the joint. In order to prevent accelerated degeneration of the knee, surgery should be performed early. ④ Early surgery allows for a speedy return to all activities such as life, work, sports or normal training for athletes. The principle of surgery for meniscus requiring surgical treatment should be: if suture can be done it should be done as much as possible, if it is not possible to do so and a part of it needs to be removed, every millimeter of the meniscus should be preserved as much as possible. Try not to remove the meniscus in its entirety. The earlier surgery is performed on a meniscus that requires surgical treatment, the more hope there is for suturing and the less of the meniscus that is removed. There are usually no serious sequelae after surgery (the knee joint ages much slower after meniscectomy than one might think or fear). Menisci that are not suitable for conservative treatment are very unlikely to get better without surgery. (C) meniscus suture can be judged from the following signs of success: ① the original symptoms disappear: that is, the activities of more pain, swelling, interlocking. ② disappearance of the original signs: the original meniscus wobble test, Mai’s sign, KS sign, joint space convexity, joint space pressure pain, etc. have disappeared or mostly disappeared. ③After suturing, do another MRI to see whether the alignment of the suture is neat or not, and what is the signal intensity and degree of neatness.