KNEE ARTHRITIS - General principles of managing Osteoarthritis of the knee :
Previous Knee Injury, Now Osteoarthritis - - Posted by kski (kski), 13 October 2002
[b][/b] I work as a letter carrier. In January 1998 my left knee had killer pain, an orthopedic surgeon examined me and told me he was sure I had a medial meniscal tear. About 6 months after my injury and after physio, I had an MRI, it showed no tear, but the surgeon still thought so because of my pain. I changed my duties at work and it got better. Now 4 years later it hurts still, not too much and I had another MRI done. THis time it showed osteoarthritis of the knee. My doctor told me it probably has a little to do with my first injury. A little? I'm only 30, what else would cause it!? My other knee is fine, no arthritis, so obviously it was the injury. Was it? Could I have really had a meniscal tear even if the MRI didn't show it? I'm confused.
Posted by jathib (jathib), 13 October 2002
Yes, you could really have a tear without it showing on the MRI. They are not 100% accurate. The only way to know for sure is to have an arthroscopy. Quite often a torn meniscus will cause arthritis if it's not treated. I know that was the case with me.
Updated Thu Apr 29 2010
