Torn Meniscus - Symptoms And Treatment Of It!

Your knee is guarded and cushioned by a cartilage known as meniscus. A meniscus tear, therefore, is an extremely painful and discomforting situation. It occurs very frequently and has emerged as one of the most commonly occurring cartilage injuries. What makes a meniscus tear an extremely common phenomenon is the way it can tear that is all it takes is a twist of the knee for it to happen.

People involved in sports mostly face the brunt of this form of injury. The risk of getting meniscus torn increases with age and tends to occur at the slightest change of direction of movement. 

Symptoms 
Some of the symptoms of a torn meniscus are:

1. Pain and inflammation: It goes without saying that an internal injury of the cartilage or tearing away of it would inevitably result in extreme pain and inflammation near the knee.
2. Immobility: The extreme pain and inflammation, which follows will inevitably make it difficult to move. Since the pain occurs in the joint, you will have difficulty in walking and any forceful movement will only aggravate the pain.
3. Locking of the knee: Locking of the knee refers to a situation when you are unable to move your knee. This occurs most commonly after you have your meniscus torn.

Initial treatment

The doctors initiate the treatment with some simple measures to avoid surgery. The measures include: 

• Rest: The first thing any doctor would recommend would be to take proper rest and do not indulge in any activity that aggravates your knee pain, or forces you to twist, rotate or pivot your knee. If you are suffering from severe pain, crutches might help in taking pressure off your knee to promote healing.
• Apply ice: In order to get some relief, applying ice is a suitable option. If you apply ice every day for some time, it wonders in reducing swelling and the consequent pain.
• Medication: There are some pain relievers that can ease knee pain.

Therapy

The doctor then recommends physical therapy to strengthen the muscles around your knee area and other parts of the leg to stabilize and support the knee joint.

Surgery

If your knee remains sour even after the therapy, then your doctor would recommend you to undergo a surgery. It is possible to repair a torn meniscus, especially in children and young adults. If the tear still doesn't get repaired, the meniscus might be tripped through surgery, through tiny incisions using an arthroscope. After the surgery, you will have to do exercises to optimize knee strength and stability.