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A tear of a meniscus is a rupturing of one or more of the fibrocartilage strips in the knee called menisci.When doctors and patients refer to "torn cartilage" in the knee, they actually may be referring to an injury to a meniscus at the top of one of the tibiae.
A bucket-handle tear of the knee is a specific type of meniscal injury characterized by a longitudinal tear of the medial or lateral meniscus, where a displaced inner fragment resembles the appearance of a "bucket handle". [1]
However, recent research has called into question whether many meniscus tears actually cause pain or are simply part of the normal degenerative process of aging. A 2008 study in the New England Journal of Medicine which shows that about 60% of meniscus tears cause no pain and are found in asymptomatic subjects. [1]
The researchers did however find that arthroscopic surgery did help a minority of patients with milder symptoms, large tears or other damage to the meniscus — cartilage pads that improve the congruence between femur and tibia bones. [16]
Knee pain is pain caused by wear and tear, such as osteoarthritis or a meniscal tear. Effective treatments for knee pain include physical therapy exercises, [ 28 ] pain-reducing drugs such as ibuprofen , joint stretching, [ 29 ] [ 30 ] knee replacement surgery, and weight loss in people who are overweight.
However, the meniscus has poor blood supply, and, therefore, healing can be difficult. Traditionally it was thought that if there is no chance of healing, then it is best to remove the damaged and non-functional meniscus, although at least one study has shown that there is little significance if a meniscectomy is done for degenerative tear. [7]