How has the new data regarding long-term follow-up of degenerative meniscal tears vs surgery changed your management approach in these patients?

Degenerative meniscus tears are a common finding on MRI in our older patients. A challenge lies in determining if that finding is the cause of the patient's symptoms. When deciding whether to send for surgical consultation, I query about mechanical symptoms (catching, locking, or giving way) and/or recurrent effusions. If these are absent, then physical therapy with or without intra-articular corticosteroid is the appropriate intervention. If these are present, I next determine if another cause ...

Years ago, there was an article that noted that no benefit was seen in "real" vs "sham" arthroscopy of the knee 18 months after the procedure, and that a higher percentage of the real patients had undergone knee replacement. I queried a local ortho about the study, and he told me that "we choose our patients differently."

As a "n of 1" person, I have had a medial meniscus tear in my right knee when an MRI was done for chronic pain in the medial region. I exercised the knee, adjusted stairs (hurt...