Symptoms of Torn Meniscus - Age-Related Degeneration

The meniscus is a C-shaped piece of cartilage that acts like a pad between your femur or thigh bone and tibia or shin bone. You can easily injure it when the knee is twisted while bearing weight. You may have a partial or total tear. If the tear is tiny, the meniscus stays connected to the front and back of the knee. If the tear is large, the meniscus may be left hanging by a thread of cartilage. The seriousness of the injury depends on the location and the size of the tear.

Symptoms of meniscus injuries include:

• Pain, particularly when the knee is straightened.
• Swelling.
• Clicking sound in the knee.
• Locking of the knee joint.
• Weakness.

Sometimes if you injure your knee but did not seek treatment, you can develop symptoms months or years later. Although symptoms of meniscal injury may disappear on their own, they frequently persist or return and require treatment.

Sourced from NIH

Causes of Torn Meniscus - Age-Related Degeneration

A torn meniscus can occur due to degeneration related to age.

Sourced from various medical authorities

Diagnosis of Torn Meniscus - Age-Related Degeneration

Doctors diagnose knee problems by using:

• Medical history.
• Physical examination.
• Diagnostic tests, such as x-rays, bone scan, CAT scan, MRI, arthroscopy, and biopsy.

Sourced from NIH

Summary of Torn Meniscus - Age-Related Degeneration

The meniscus is a C-shaped piece of cartilage that acts like a pad between your femur or thigh bone and tibia or shin bone. You can easily injure it when the knee is twisted while bearing weight. In addition, a meniscus tear can arise from age-related degeneration which is reviewed on this page.

Symptoms: Symptoms include pain, particularly when the knee is straightened, swelling, a clicking sound in the knee, locking of the knee joint, and weakness.

Causes: The meniscus becomes weaker and thinner with age, making it more prone to tearing in less-than-traumatic circumstances, such as rising from a chair or twisting one’s leg on a step.  

Diagnosis: Doctors diagnose knee problems through the patient’s medical history, a physical examination of the knee, and a diagnostic imaging test such as an X-ray (to rule out causes other than a torn meniscus), bone scan, CT scan, MRI, or ultrasound (to identify loose cartilage) as well as arthroscopy (to study the knee with a fiber-optic video camera inserted in the knee through a small incision) and biopsy (to assess physiology and disease).

Treatments: Treatments initially include conservative techniques like rest, ice, compression, and elevation, or the RICE method. Patients can also take over-the-counter medications including Acetaminophen, Aspirin, Ibuprofen, Naproxen to reduce pain and swelling around the knee.

A more serious injury where the knee is not actively locked is treated with physical therapy or arthroscopic knee surgery. These treatments are equally effective (about 80% of the time) but surgery carries the risk of major complications (up to 2.8% of the time), death (very rare, 0.03% of the time) and serious infection (0.1% of the time). For this reason, the world’s leading experts recommend Physical Therapy over Arthroscopic Knee Surgery as the best first treatment path for more serious age-related torn meniscus.