How to treat rupture of the posterior horn of the medial meniscus

The meniscus is the cartilage formation in the knee joints that perform the cushioning function, stabilize the knee joint, contribute to sodruzhestvennaja the articular surfaces of the knee.

Injuries of the meniscus

In the structure of the meniscus isolated meniscus body and two horns front and rear. By itself, the fibrous cartilage, blood supply is carried out from the joint capsule, so the circulation is quite intense.

Injury to the meniscus is the most common injury of the knee joint. The knees themselves — a weak spot in the human skeleton, because the daily load on them starts from the moment when the child begins to walk. Very often, damage to the menisci occur in the course mobile games, when playing contact sports, too sudden movements or falls. Another cause of meniscus is knee injuries received in an accident.

Treatment of rupture of the posterior horn of the medial meniscus may be operative or conservative.

Conservative treatment

Conservative treatment includes adequate pain relief. If the accumulation of blood in the joint cavity, punctured it and drain the blood. If there is a blockade of the ankle after an injury, it is eliminated. If there is a torn meniscus, concomitant with other knee injuries, the plaster splint at the end to provide a foot rest. In this case, rehabilitation takes more than one month. To restore function of the knee is assigned gentle physical therapy.

Isolated rupture of the posterior horn of the medial meniscus recovery time less. The plaster in these cases is not applied, because to completely immobilize the joint is not necessary — it can lead to stiffness of joint.

Surgical treatment

If conservative treatment fails if the effusion in the joint is retained, the question arises about the surgical treatment. Also indications for surgical treatment is the occurrence of mechanical symptoms (clicking in the knee, pain, the occurrence of blockades of joints with limited range of motion.

In our time, conducts the following types of operations:

Arthroscopic operation.

The operation is performed through two very small incisions through which the arthroscope is introduced. During the operation, removed the separated small part of the meniscus. Fully, the meniscus is not removed because it functions in the body a very important;

Overlay arthroscopic suture of the meniscus.

If the gap is significant, then the technique should be used to overlay arthroscopic suture. This technique allows to restore damaged cartilage. Using a single stitch partially separated part of the posterior horn of the meniscus is attached to the body of the meniscus. The disadvantage of this method is that carry out it only in the first few hours after injury.

Transplantation of the meniscus.

Replacement of the meniscus of a donor is performed under complete destruction of the cartilage your meniscus. But such operations are quite rare, because in the scientific community yet there is no consensus about the advisability of this operation.

Rehabilitation

After treatment conservative and operative necessary to complete a full course of rehabilitation: to develop knee, increase the strength of the legs, to train the quadriceps to stabilize the damaged knee.