Where is lateral meniscus

The tibia is the main load bearing bone whereas the fibula runs down the outer side lateral of the lower leg; a main function of the fibula is to stabilize the ankle and help support muscles in the lower leg. You can probably feel the bony prominence of the fibula as a slight bump on the outside of your leg just below the knee. There is a nerve that runs down the back of upper leg then wraps toward the front of the lower leg - just below the bony bump - and this area is one of the common locations where the nerve gets pinched or injured as there is little "padding" in the area.

Pinched nerves can be quite painful and if your peroneal nerve is pinched or compressed here, the manifestation of pain will be symptomatically similar to a lateral meniscus tear. Degeneration to the cartilage on the ends of the bones that meet in your knee joint can become torn or wear down and is typical in cases of knee osteoarthritis.

This can cause knee pain, locking, swelling, weakness in the knee and range of motion difficulties. This condition has been directly linked to end-stages of Osteoarthritis and the degeneration of the meniscus. As the disease progresses calcium crystals are deposited into the meniscus tissue and into the fluid of the knee joint.

Increasing inflammation levels, swelling, tenderness, stiffness and loss of range of motion in the knee and leg. This is one of the less common causes of knee pain. A reduced blood supply to parts of the bone cause loose fragments of cartilage and bone to break off.

This disease can occur in any joint, it is the knee that is the most commonly affected. This can cause pain, locking and clunking sensations in the knee, limited movement and swelling. Since you are reading this, you probably know that serious knee injuries do not just disappear.

Over time, it will wreak havoc on your knees, hips, ankles and lower back due to lack of movement, over-compensation and a change in gait. It will also wreak havoc on your opposite knee, due to the fact that you will be overusing it to compensate for not using the bad knee. Recovery takes a longer time for such chronic long term injuries, but proper healing is essential to regain strength and get you back to the activities you enjoy. Everything in the human body is connected. Any meniscus injury can lead to other injuries over time if not treated properly.

You WILL subconciously start shifting more of your weight onto your opposite leg when performing normal daily activities, like climbing the stairs or when standing for long periods of time.

Many of our clients have experienced pain in their opposite foot, ankle, knee and hip because they shift their standing weight to the opposite side of their body. For example, you might normally climb stairs by leading with your injured knee, but instead will lead with your opposite leg and hop or shuffle more than walk the stairs. Even though changing something like this seems like a really small thing, changing the way you would normally climb a set of stairs when your body isn't used to that can result in pain and injuries in your healthy knee and leg.

Over time you'll notice that you automatically start to put more weight on your non-injured side to cope with everyday activities. When you experience pain in other areas of the body due to minimizing the pain from an older injury, this is something called "over compensation" pain. Usually degenerative medial meniscus pain will happen to your dominant knee if you are right handed, this would be your right knee.

When this happens there is a higher risk that you'll over-strain your weaker knee that's compensating for your injury, because it's just not as strong as your dominant side. Circulation Boost Circulatory Boost is the best treatment available to deal with over compensation issues and injury prevention by maintaining healthy blood flow in around your injured meniscus AND in your healthy knee as well. Even if you try to avoid over compensation pain in your healthy knee, you're still at risk for re-injuring your damaged meniscus.

Ignoring over compensation pain and the pain felt from your meniscus injury while returning to regular activities or your job can and usually will lead to even more problems with healing. Basically it means that your knee won't perform as well as it once did and becomes more prone to injury again later on. If you have a torn meniscus in your knee, it's very important to heal it quickly and completely.

Minimizing the healing time of your medial meniscus should be an obvious goal, as meniscus tears will no doubt limit your ability to go about your daily routine; but also keep in mind that untreated meniscus tears will typically get worse over time. As stated here pennmedicine. You may need surgery to restore full knee function. Untreated meniscus tears can increase in size and lead to complications, such as arthritis. This is why it's so important to continuously use conservative treatment tools to treat and heal recurring soft tissue damage before it builds into something bigger.

For anyone that is suffering from a torn meniscus, having the right tools makes all the difference. During the healing process your body fills in soft tissue tears with brittle tissue called "scar tissue". Scar tissue also grows once you've had surgery to repair your meniscus. The human body uses scar tissue as a temporary binding solution and will try to build the scar tissue as fast as possible around damaged soft tisue.

The scar tissue that forms in the knee will be unorganized and won't line up properly with the healthy tissue surrounding your meniscus. This can result in a long-term fusing together of your tissue that stiffens up your entire knee, reducing your mobility and making your meniscus injury even more painful!

Scar tissue can become extremely problematic over time, as you have to understand that scar tissue growth can persist and accumulate quite easily. There is a condition known as "arthrofibrosis" - also known as "stiff knee syndrome".

Arthrofibrosis occurs when scar tissue has built up inside the knee, causing the knee joint to shrink and tighten. This is one of the major reasons why physical therapy is such a crucial component in the rehabilitation process - through many various methods, a physical therapist is fighting to reduce, break up and get rid of your scar tissue.

It is often a painful yet necessary process. Continuous re-injury and build-up of scar tissue while staying active means you'll have a greater chance of winding up with on-going pain, and more tearing or weakening atrophy of soft tissue in the knee ligaments, tendons, muscle. If you have pain and inflammation in your knee, it's very important to heal your injury quickly and completely. You must avoid the build up of scar tissue. If you don't, your meniscus tear may start you on the path of a downward spiral that could result in something much worse such as permanent loss of range of motion or osteoarthritis.

This is why it's so important to continuously use conservative treatment tools to deal with your meniscal damage before it can build into something big. For any lateral meniscus tear sufferer, having the right tools means all the difference.

Scar tissue is something that needs to be dealt with fast. If you try to get back into your regular daily activities after surgery with a mound of scar tissue in your joint you'll have a higher risk of re-injury. Scar tissue is just not built to withstand the pressures of regular activity. If you have scar tissue in the knee and re-injure you knee, even more scar tissue will grow to fill in those tears.

If you keep falling into the dangerous cycle of re-injuring your knee without proper treatment you could end up with massive amounts of scar tissue in your joint. Your ability to move your affected joint in a normal way will be impaired as the amount of scar tissue increases. Before we go further, it's important to understand that your body is capable of healing itself - though it requires the flow of blood to do so. When it comes to meniscus injuries, the inner third of the meniscus known as "the white zone" really gets little to no blood flow and if you have a lateral meniscus tear in this area, your physician will probably recommend surgery to fix it.

This is one of many reasons why you need to see a doctor - only they will know if the tear is "surgically necessary" SN. A physician will always try to opt for the conservative treatment first - usually, it works although it takes time to heal. If your meniscus tear is outside the white zone, then, with good blood flow in the area, the damaged fibrocartilage will receive oxygen and much needed nutrients while flushing away toxins and waste - otherwise known as healing.

Inflammation and reduced movement lack of activity or on-going immobility reduces the flow of blood to an area that's already receiving very little blood flow which is why it is important to keep it down. Blood Flow - the natural healing process in your body - needs assistance for lateral meniscus injuries because blood flow is greatly reduced when you're injured.

When treating a lateral meniscus injury or really any type of meniscus or knee injury ie. This increase in blood flow will accelerate your body's own ability to heal itself. If you have a lateral meniscus injury, it's very important to heal it quickly and completely. Minimizing the healing time should be an obvious goal, as a chronic lateral meniscus tear will limit your ability to go about your daily routine for a long period of time. A seemingly small, nagging injury in your meniscus that's not properly treated can lead to a chronic painful degenerative lateral meniscus tear that can persist for months or even years if not properly treated.

Meniscus surgery is the most commonly performed orthopedic surgery in the United States 1. One major reason for this is that the meniscus is very important ; knowing the heavy correlation between meniscus deficiency and osteoarthritis, doctors are doing everything they can to try and repair a meniscus instead of removing it. Doctors and surgeons know that meniscus surgery will introduce more scar tissue into the knee - this is why they only recommend surgery as a last resort.

This added scar tissue will be problematic, requiring physical therapy and conservative treatment options post-surgery. If you receive good news from your doctor, he or she will predict that your meniscus can be successfully healed through the use of conservative treatment therapies - without resorting to knee surgery.

If you have been given news that you're going to need surgery, once surgery is complete your doctor will once again start you on home conservative therapies. A barely noticeable tear may resurface years later, triggered by something as simple as tripping over a sidewalk curb. In sports, a meniscus tear usually happens suddenly. Severe pain and swelling may occur up to 24 hours afterward. Walking can become difficult. Additional pain may be felt when flexing or twisting the knee.

A loose piece of cartilage can get stuck in the joint, causing the knee to temporarily lock, preventing full extension of the leg. Your doctor will generally ask you how the injury occurred, how your knee has been feeling since the injury and whether you have had other knee injuries. You may be asked about your physical and athletic goals to help your doctor decide on the best treatment for you.

Your doctor will hold your heel while you lie on your back and, with your leg bent, straighten your leg with his or her other hand on the outside of your knee as he or she rotates your foot inward. There may be some pain. It is important to describe your symptoms accurately. The amount of pain and first appearance of swelling can give important clues about where and how bad the injury is.

Tell your doctor of any recurrent swelling or of your knee repeatedly giving way. A magnetic resonance imaging MRI scan is often used to diagnose meniscal injuries. The meniscus shows up as black on the MRI. Any tears appear as white lines. An MRI is 70 to 90 percent accurate in identifying whether the meniscus has been torn and how badly.

However, meniscus tears do not always appear on MRIs. Meniscus tears, indicated by MRI, are classified in three grades. Grades 1 and 2 are not considered serious. The fimbriae of the uterine tube, also known as fimbriae tubae, are small, fingerlike projections at the end of the fallopian tubes, through which…. The bladder, like the stomach, is an expandable saclike organ that contracts when it is empty.

The inner lining of the bladder tucks into the folds…. Health Conditions Discover Plan Connect. Read this next. Tibial collateral ligament Medically reviewed by the Healthline Medical Network.

Fibular collateral ligament Medically reviewed by the Healthline Medical Network. Medial patellar ligament Medically reviewed by the Healthline Medical Network. Oblique popliteal ligament Medically reviewed by the Healthline Medical Network. Posterior cruciate ligament Medically reviewed by the Healthline Medical Network. Degenerative tears can also occur with age or due to untreated cumulative traumas. If a tear of the lateral meniscus occurs, it can be minor or severe. In a severe lateral meniscus tear, the meniscus can be torn in half, ripped around its circumference, or ripped to the extent that it hangs on by a fiber.

Patients who suffer a tear of the lateral meniscus may have minor or moderate pain and limited movement of the knee joint. Meniscus tears present with swelling and tightness along with the inability to stretch the leg out. The first clue to that you may have torn your lateral meniscus is going to be a contusion, hitting force, or energetic impact while the knee is twisting.

When the knee is twisted, or twisted with a high energy impact, the meniscus can tear. When the lateral meniscus tears the patient is usually aware that something went wrong unless other trauma distracted them from the audible popping noise than many people hear and feel.

However, many knee injuries also present initially with the popping noise or sensation such as a PCL or ACL tear; while knee injuries initially feel the same the situation of applied force is variable.