Meniscus Tear After 50? What To Do Next

Dr. Alyssa Kuhn, the arthritis specialist physio, gives us joint care insights:

5 ways to help make it better

First, the 5 gentle exercises promised in the video title at time of writing (it keeps changing):

• Seated knee extension: sit near the edge of a firm chair and straighten and bend your affected leg, keeping your heel on the floor if lifting your leg is uncomfortable.
• Straight leg raise: straighten your affected leg with your heel on the floor, press your knee down to activate your thigh muscles, then lift your leg while keeping your toes pointed upward and your torso upright.
• Back kicks: hold a stable surface, shift your weight to your unaffected side, and kick your affected leg straight behind you while keeping your knee straight and your upper body still; you can add small pulses at the end of the movement as you progress.
• Single-leg balance: begin with your feet in a comfortable stance, then gradually shift more weight onto your affected leg by tapping the toes of your unaffected leg behind you; use support and widen your stance if needed.
• Squats: hold a supportive surface, push your hips back first, then bend your knees into a mini squat while keeping your weight evenly distributed between both legs; squat less deeply to make it easier and deeper to make it harder.

Next, two important points of directionality to have up your sleeve:

• Know when to progress it: start with one or two exercises that feel comfortable and gradually move to the next exercise as your knee becomes less painful, less swollen, more mobile, stronger, and more confident.
• Know when to dial it back: increased pain, stiffness, or swelling during the hours after exercise can indicate that the intensity was too high, and that the exercise should be modified or reduced.

However, if you experience more serious adverse effects, such as a locked knee, inability to put full weight through your leg, or persistent pain and swelling, then that can indicate a need for further medical intervention, so it can be a good idea to get that checked out by a physio (yes, a physio, not a medical doctor; physios know this kind of thing a lot better, as a general rule of thumb—by all means get an opinion from both if you like; we’re never going to tell you “don’t see a doctor”, but what we want to emphasize here is “you might benefit most from consulting a physio”.

For more on all of this plus visual demonstrations, enjoy:

Click Here If The Embedded Video Doesn’t Load Automatically!

Want to learn more?

For a much deeper understanding of treating knee problems, here’s a great book that we reviewed a little while back:

Treat Your Own Knee – by Robin McKenzie ← he’s a physiotherapist and not a doctor, and/but with 40 years of practice to his name and 33 letters after his name (CNZM OBE FCSP (Hon) FNZSP (Hon) Dip MDT Dip MT), he seems to know his stuff. His work is very well-respected, and almost any English-speaking physiotherapist will have read his books.

Take care!