Rehab, Exercise or Knee Surgery?

Knee injuries account for 2.5 million sports-related injuries that are seen in emergency rooms annually.

Ruptures of the anterior cruciate ligament (ACL), occur in 100,000 to 200,000 people each year. The ACL stabilizes the knee.

Knee injuries are treated by a wide range of healthcare professionals, including, but not limited to; family practitioners, orthopedists, podiatrists, chiropractors, physical therapists, osteopaths, acupuncturists and massage therapists.

Knee injuries vary from a variety of traumatic injuries to overuse injuries. Degenerative and other arthritic changes can worsen the injury.

There is a meniscus on the inner side (medial) and the outer side (lateral) of the knee. They are soft shock absorbing discs. Meniscal tears are a very common knee injury, which occur in 35% of people over the age of 50.

I tore my medial meniscus of my left knee in 1991. I was told by 2 orthopedists that I needed surgery. At that time, with every step that I took, I heard and felt a "click". I did my own rehab and performed mental visualization exercises, imagining "fingers" growing out from each side of the meniscal tear (that I saw on the MRI) and fusing with each other. I am not sure what did the trick, but my knee stopped clicking. I cancelled the surgery and today, my left knee feels as good as my right knee. One of the orthopedists told me that by skipping the knee surgery, I would need knee replacement within10 years, which would have been in 2001. Needless to say, that wasn't an accurate assessment.

I am not saying that knee surgeries are not needed at times, because they absolutely are. What I am saying is that if I had the surgery in 1991, I don't know what shape my left knee would be in today. I imagine that it would be much worse than it is, since it doesn't bother me at all.

The human body has no spare parts and when you start removing body tissues, there can be repercussions. I love that old expression that "a minor surgery is a surgery that happens to someone else."

A recent randomized control trial demonstrated the effectiveness of using a structured exercise program to rehabilitate the knee either prior to surgical repair, or in many cases, instead of a surgical repair.

There is no crystal ball, but I personally will always choose surgery as my last resort, since you can't undo a surgery.

You can learn about knee anatomy and knee injuries, by clicking this link.

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