Which is the Better Option for Treating Knee Pain: Surgery or Chiropractic Care?
Knee pain is a common cause of functional impairment and disability among the elderly, often linked to knee osteoarthritis (OA), One of the main problems causing knee pain is the meniscus.
The rate of meniscal injuries has increased due to rising sports engagement and more degenerative tears.
Arthroscopy is now the preferred treatment, even among older adults.
It is favoured over open procedures for its smaller incision and quicker recovery. Experts recommend it for mechanical symptoms when conservative treatments fail. However, failure rates in patients over 40 range from 9% to 27%
What are the key criteria for success in surgery?
anterior knee laxity,
tear location,
patient age,
lesion type,
vascular zone involvement,
time from injury to surgery, and
surgeon skill
What are the risk factors for degenerative chronic (long-term) meniscal problems?
increased age,
male sex,
work-related kneeling and squatting,
standing or walking >2 hours per day,
walking >2 miles per day,
climbing >30 flights of stairs per day,
and lifting or carrying >10 kg >10 times per week.
There was also some evidence suggesting that body mass index (BMI) >25 kg/m2 is a risk factor for degenerative tears,
What was seen as a protection against meniscal tears? =Sitting for >2 hours per day was shown to protect against degenerative tears
Risk factors for acute (new) meniscal tears included
playing soccer,
rugby,
and swimming;
What does the research say about surgery versus chiropractic conservative management?
Results also reveal that arthroscopic surgery offers minimal, short-term benefits in pain and function when compared to conservative management for degenerative knee disease, with no significant advantage over the long-term
Meaning, the long-term results show there is no benefit in having surgery instead of conservative treatment
If you would like to see what we do as Chiropractors, check out our online program for knee pain!
For more information about how we can help. Please call Health Wise Chiropractic 03 9467 7889 or book online to see one of our Chiropractors in Sunbury or Melton/Strathtulloh Today!
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We have over 30 programs on different health conditions
Each program contains
- Information about the conditions
- things to do and things to avoid
- nutrition advice
- all the stretches that are needed to help
Reference
Elsenosy AM, Elnewishy A, Delewar RA. Efficacy of Arthroscopic Meniscal Surgery Versus Conservative Management on Knee Pain and Functional Outcomes: A Meta-Analysis of Randomized Controlled Trials. Cureus. 2024 Nov 24;16(11):e74349. doi: 10.7759/cureus.74349. PMID: 39720371; PMCID: PMC11668262.
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