The medial meniscus is a c shaped piece of cartilage found in the knee. It protects, stabilizes, and cushioning the knee from the stress placed on it during activities.
A medial meniscus injury results from a tear when the knee is suddenly twisted while the foot is planted on the ground. A tear can also occur slowly as the meniscus loses flexibility.
Injury Can Come from Two Main Conditions:
- Trauma – such as a kick to the medial portion of the knee.
- Over twisting of the knee – twisting beyond the protective mechanism of the medial meniscus.
Symptoms of a medial meniscus tear:
- Sudden onset of pain.
- Medial joint line tenderness on the knee.
- Depending on the severity of the tear there maybe catching, locking and buckling of the knee.
- Depending on the severity of the tear, pain during and after exercise.
- Pain with fully bending or extending the knee.
- Pain with going up or down stairs, getting up from a chair or out of a car.
Meniscus tears are graded into three levels.
Grade one and two: Will respond to acupuncture and can heal. In grade one or two, most tears are in the “red zone” – the outer portion of meniscus has a blood supply where it attaches to the lining of the knee capsule. Due to the blood supply mild or moderate tears located in the “red zone” respond to acupuncture.
Grade three: The inner portion has a limited blood supply, which hinders the healing process and require surgery. Acupuncture is beneficial during post-surgery rehab.
I approach treating your medial meniscus tear to your presentation, which involves:
- Analyzing your posture – is your pelvis aligned with knees and ankles?
- Understanding how other factors such as the calf muscles, quad, hamstrings, hip and pelvic muscles can help your healing process.
- Muscle testing the muscles impacting the knee for weakness and pain.
- Improving your knee cap alignment.
- Targeting effected muscles, releasing motor points, trigger points and relaxing the fascia.
Providing exercises to continue treatment success between acupuncture treatments.
Call (914) 572-5137 today or click here to schedule an appointment & learn more about how we can help you.