Relieve meniscus pain
There are some therapeutic procedures that can be used for the conservative (non-surgical) treatment of meniscus pain. If the meniscus pain is acute, the leg should be loaded as little as possible. Raising the leg, gentle treatment and cooling counteract swelling and alleviate the acute pain.
A sports ointment with analgesic effect and an elastic bandage or sports bandage can also counteract meniscus pain. Acupuncture or special injection procedures into the joint can also help to relieve the pain. Pain can be effectively alleviated by medication that has analgesic and anti-inflammatory effects (e.g. anti-inflammatory drugs such as Diclofenac, Voltaren®).
It is advisable to reduce overweight, because the higher the body weight of the person affected, the greater the risk of damage to the knee joint. In some cases, the prescription of orthopedic shoes or insoles can compensate for possible misalignments and the resulting painful misloading of the meniscus. Other possibilities to alleviate meniscus pain include water and bath therapy, electrotherapy, ultrasound therapy or physical therapy methods.
Basically, it is recommended to do a thorough muscle training to strengthen and build up the muscles surrounding the knee. This can often improve pain symptoms. If a direct accident event is responsible for the meniscus pain and the symptoms last longer than one or two days, a doctor should be consulted so that a correct therapy can be initiated.
Diagnostics for meniscus damage
If one feels pain in the knee joint, one should either choose an orthopedic surgeon directly or choose one’s family doctor, who will issue a referral to an orthopedic physician after taking the patient’s medical history and performing a basic diagnosis if there is still a suspicion of pain originating from the meniscus. Finally, the orthopedic surgeon will perform some clinical tests, so-called meniscus tests, to see if the pain really originates from the meniscus. In many cases, it is also useful to take an X-ray and, in most cases, to perform a magnetic resonance tomography (MRI). Neither the meniscus tests nor an x-ray can reveal meniscal damage. Only an MRI can show the cause of the pain by imaging.
