Recently a study out of Finland and published in the New England Journal of Medicine wanted to examine the efficacy of one of the most common orthopedic procedures, the arthroscopic partial meniscectomy, click here to read the results. The procedure is usually done on patients who have a partial tear or degeneration of the knee meniscus. The meniscus is basically fibrous cartilage that acts like a kind of shock absorber for the knees. It helps to disperse the weight of the body and reduce friction at the knee joint. Knee pain many times is blamed on tears or degenerative breakdown of this cartilage. 

In the aforementioned study 146 patients, 35 to 65 years of age who had knee symptoms consistent with a degenerative medial meniscus tear and no knee osteoarthritis, were randomly assigned to an arthroscopic partial meniscectomy or a sham surgery. The results of the study showed that the outcomes following surgery were no better than those patients who received the sham surgery.

Surprising? In my opinion it's not the least bit surprising. Surgery can do a great job at treating an individual's symptom and/or pain, but it rarely treats the cause. No matter what your knee pain is (meniscus, patellofemoral pain, pre patellar bursitis, chondromalacia, knee osteoarthritis, baker's cyst, etc.) the cause is typically due to misalignments in the knee and the surrounding joints of the body. And yes each knee condition can be treated with surgery, drugs, or rest, but in each of those cases the true cause will go untreated. To truly get your knee pain free you need to start by correcting your posture. When the body is balanced, and the joints are at their neutral position there is no unwanted or abnormal wear and tear on the joints. With a balanced postural position the body can operate the way it was designed to -- PAIN FREE.

Are your knees hurting?  Call or email to set up your free posture evaluation and consultation at the Egoscue Clinic or online via Skype.