Meniscus...?

[runnerx14]

Hi! I'm a 17 year old distance runner in high school, and I've never had any knee problems up until this point. All of a sudden, over a month ago, I got back from an average run and had severe pain on the inside and top of my knee. I decreased my mileage a lot for about two weeks, and it just kept getting worse. Finally, my coach made me stop running and I haven't done anything for about three weeks now. It's still swollen, and even just walking causes a lot of pain. I had an MRI done and it said that there's grade 1 medial meniscus degeneration. Does anyone know what this might mean, or what kind of treatment options there are for me? Also, my physical therapist said that he thinks it might be something called plica syndrome. Does anyone here have any sort of experience with either of these two problems?

[Heidi]

Hi,

The medial meniscus is a circular disc of cartilage which sits on the top surface of your tibia (shin bone) on the inside of the knee joint. There is also a lateral meniscus on the outside. Degeneration means wear and tear basically, either the cartilage is wearing away (unlikely at your age!) or there are one or more small tears in it.

Treatment can be conservative which usually involves a lot of rehabilitation exercises. In cases which are severe enough surgery can be an option to cut off any flaps of cartilage.

Have a look on this page for more info:

http://www.sportsinjuryclinic.net/cybertherapist/front/knee/medialmeniscus.htm

Plica syndrome is due to folds in the synovial sheath which surrounds the inside of the knee joint (containing synovial fluid). This can cause sharp pain and a catching sensation at the knee. Have a look at this page:

http://www.sportsinjuryclinic.net/cybertherapist/front/knee/synovial_plica.htm

[runnerx14]

Thank you so much for the response!
Okay, so I just have another question. Generally, if it's classified as meniscus degeneration, and not a tear, will surgery be necessary? Or does it just vary from person to person? Also, I have heard that when they do meniscus surgery, sometimes it's repair, and sometimes they just remove the damaged part. Do you know what the benefits/drawbacks of each type are?

[Heidi]

I believe it depends on the extent of the degenration and so yes will vary from person to person.

Not sure about repairs, to my knowledge (which with surgery, isn't very up-to-date) they just remove the tear, or problem part of cartilage