Horizontal Cleavage

[Spydaman]

Will a horizontal cleavage tear of the posterior horn/body of the medial meniscus ever repair itself or is surgery the only option?

[The_Doc]

Variables affecting healing are:

Stability of knee ACL/PCL etc
Age of patient
Time since injury
Actual shape of tear, because MRI is only about 70% accurate for shape
nearby cartilage injury
Ramp injury
Root injury

Also of note. Your chance of having one of these and being completely asymptomatic, is roughly your age plus 5-10% ontop.
EG 80% of 70 yr olds have one and know nothing about it and it is a Red Herring.

The real question is "Is it actually causing the problem?"

I can't treat you over the internet, find yourself a specialist in RL, I'm afraid.

[Spydaman]

The_Doc said:

Variables affecting healing are:

Stability of knee ACL/PCL etc
Age of patient
Time since injury
Actual shape of tear, because MRI is only about 70% accurate for shape
nearby cartilage injury
Ramp injury
Root injury

Also of note. Your chance of having one of these and being completely asymptomatic, is roughly your age plus 5-10% ontop.
EG 80% of 70 yr olds have one and know nothing about it and it is a Red Herring.

The real question is "Is it actually causing the problem?"

I can't treat you over the internet, find yourself a specialist in RL, I'm afraid.

Thanks for the quick reply. The knee is stable and ACL/PCL is undamaged as is the cartilage. I don't know the shape of the tear but there is also a para meniscal cyst at the posteromedial joint margin. I'm 59 and mostly desk bound at work but active at home. I cycle which improves it and do a park run occasionally which aggravates it. I don't know what a ramp or root injury is but I think this initial cause was a fall skiing about 20 years ago. Until recently it's not really caused any problems but the older I get the more painful it's getting. I don't know what a specialist in RL is either?

[The_Doc]

Sorry, my true inner geek coming out there.

RL = real life.

a human