Meniscus root tear
A root tear often starts with something ordinary, like squatting or getting up from the floor. It’s easy to mistake for a sprain or early arthritis, but it needs seeing to within weeks.
What a root tear is
Each knee has two menisci, C-shaped cushions that spread your weight between the thigh bone and the shin bone. Each one is anchored to the bone at both ends, and those anchors are called roots. When a root tears away from the bone, the cushion can no longer hold its shape. It slips out of the joint, and the knee behaves as if the meniscus has been removed.
Who gets it
Most often people over 40, and more often women. The tear usually happens at the back of the inner (medial) meniscus. In younger people, a root tear on the outer side can come with an ACL tear.
How it happens
Usually not a big injury. A deep squat, sitting cross-legged, getting up from the floor or a misstep on the stairs is often enough. Many people feel a pop at the back of the knee.
What you notice
Sudden pain at the back or inner side of the knee, swelling over the next day or two, and pain on stairs, when squatting and sometimes at night.
Why it gets missed
The pain can ease after a few weeks, so it feels like a sprain. On an MRI the signs are small, and in an older knee they are easily put down to wear and tear.
Why early treatment matters
Without a working meniscus, the load on the cartilage rises sharply. That’s why a knee with a root tear can go downhill quickly.
Cartilage wears faster
Arthritis that would normally take many years can appear within months to a few years.
The bone can give way
In some knees, the bone under the cartilage develops a small fracture from the extra load, which is very painful.
Repair works best early
Repair is most useful when the cartilage is still in good condition, which is usually in the first few weeks to months.
Late tears have fewer options
Once arthritis has set in, putting the root back helps much less, and treatment moves towards managing the arthritis.
How I treat it
Not every root tear needs surgery. The decision depends on your age, your activity, the shape of your leg and how healthy the cartilage still is.
- 1
Examine the knee and the MRI
I check where the pain is and whether your leg is straight or bowed. Then I go through the scan myself. I look for the signs of a root tear and for how much cartilage is left.
- 2
Repair the root
If the knee is suitable, I reattach the root through keyhole surgery. I pass stitches through the torn root and pull them down through a small tunnel in the shin bone. They hold it in place while it heals.
- 3
Other options
If arthritis is already advanced, I’ll talk you through physiotherapy, weight and activity changes, and knee replacement if you need it.
Recovering after root repair
- Walking
- Crutches and little or no weight on the leg for about six weeks, so the root can heal to the bone.
- Brace
- A knee brace limits how far the knee bends in the early weeks.
- Physiotherapy
- Starts within days, first to get the knee straight and the thigh muscle working.
- Squatting and floor sitting
- Avoid deep squatting, kneeling and sitting cross-legged for around six months. I’ll tell you when you can start again.
- Back to normal
- Most people return to everyday activities over four to six months.
Think you have a root tear? Talk to me
Send me your MRI report on WhatsApp or call to book. I see knee patients in Bhubaneswar and Balasore.
Bhubaneswar
Balasore
General information only. Every knee is different, so I make a plan only after examining you and your scans.