One day, when Xiaohui was imitating Kobe’s turnaround action, he suddenly felt a “pop” from his right knee, and was unable to move his knee. The result was as expected, a meniscus injury in the right knee. When I told her that she needed surgery, she was stunned, how could she need surgery for a twisted knee? Let me tell you why! The meniscus is two fibrocartilages shaped like a crescent, located in the gap between the femur and tibia of the body. The shape of the meniscus: from above, the outer meniscus looks like an “O” shape, and the inner meniscus looks like a “C” shape; from front to back, both meniscus look like a triangle. The function of the meniscus: to transmit pressure; to absorb shock forces; to stabilize the knee joint; to limit excessive flexion and extension of the knee joint; to lubricate the knee joint. The mobility of the meniscus: the lateral meniscus is more mobile and relatively easier to injure; the medial meniscus is more fixed and relatively less likely to be injured. Blood flow distribution of the meniscus: the outer 1/3 is the red zone, covered by blood flow, which needs to be preserved as much as possible during surgery The middle 1/3 is the red and white zone, with partial blood flow, which can be removed if ruptured The inner 1/3 is the white zone, without blood flow coverage, which can be removed if ruptured. Meniscal rupture usually starts from the white zone, if not treated in time, the rupture can extend to the red-white zone or even the red zone, if the rupture extends to the red zone it is more difficult to handle. Causes of meniscus injury: 1 Acute traumatic tears: Most often seen in young people with sports injuries, when the knee joint is twisted quickly, kicked vigorously to kick the air, squatting and walking, tripping and falling during running, easily produce meniscus injury; 2 Chronic degenerative tears: associated with ageing meniscus degeneration degeneration, chronic injury caused by repeated activities of the knee joint, common in the injury of the posterior corner of the medial meniscus. Typical symptoms of meniscus injury: pain, interlocking knee joint (i.e., stuck feeling), decreased range of motion in flexion and extension, and the presence of popping in the knee joint. Physical examination of meniscal injuries: McKay test, grind test, squat walk test. Tests for meniscal injuries: magnetic resonance imaging (non-invasive, commonly used in clinical practice); arthrography (non-invasive, commonly used in clinical practice) Arthrography (invasive, less commonly used today); ? Arthroscopy (invasive, but treatment can be performed at the same time). Meniscal injuries that show less than III degrees on MRI can be treated conservatively for the time being. Conservative treatment methods: braking, reduce walking and standing and squatting movements, regular review is required, and surgery is required if the degree of rupture is found to increase. Surgery is recommended for meniscus injuries of degree III or above as shown on MRI. Surgical treatment methods: 1 incisional surgery: more traumatic, less used now. 2 arthroscopic surgery: less trauma, good efficacy, fast recovery, is the first choice of clinical treatment of meniscus injury. Surgical methods: partial meniscectomy, most meniscectomy, total meniscectomy, meniscus suture, meniscus transplantation. Consequences of meniscus injury:? The greatest danger of meniscal injury is that when walking and exercising, it can lead to wear and tear of the cartilage in the knee joint, resulting in permanent cartilage damage to the knee joint. When the cartilage damage reaches a certain level, it is often difficult to achieve a satisfactory outcome, even if the meniscus injury is treated surgically! It is important to inform people that if symptoms, physical examination and MRI agree that a meniscal injury is present and requires surgical treatment, early treatment is recommended. The best time for treatment is usually within three months of a definite meniscus injury. If you walk and move around with a meniscus injury for a long time, it will cause irreversible wear and tear of the knee cartilage, and at that point, your doctor won’t be able to help you!