When can I do sports again? | Exercises from physiotherapy for meniscus tears

When can I do sports again?

Patients should stop exercising after a torn meniscus, especially after meniscal suturing or transplantation, as the tissue must first grow together again. Although the affected persons should be made mobile again at an early stage, when and to what extent sport can be done again, should be decided individually for each patient with regard to the development of the meniscus tear and the chosen form of therapy. Although the rehabilitation process goes through the same phases with most forms of therapy, the chronological sequence can vary.

As a rule, patients first learn normal everyday movements again and train the mobility and stability of the knee joint. The physician decides in cooperation with the therapists when full or partial weight bearing is allowed again. The return to sports is then also done step by step, starting with joint-gentle sports such as swimming, walking or hiking and then slowly moving on to running training and later to contact sports such as soccer or basketball.

Symptoms

If there is a meniscus tear, the affected persons have different levels of pain depending on the type and cause of the tear. For example, after a trauma, the pain is significantly stronger than in the case of a degenerative cause, in which a tear is sometimes even discovered only by chance. An acute meniscus tear causes pain in the knee joint gap and often also on the inside of the knee (which is often the inner meniscus more affected).

Those affected also react sensitively to external pressure on the meniscus. A torn meniscus can also be accompanied by restrictions in movement or blockages of the knee joint. Often affected persons cannot bend or stretch the leg completely.

Depending on the extent of the injury, pain or restrictions in walking may also occur.In the case of an acute injury, the knee joint often swells up and is also warm and reddened in the case of inflammatory processes. Especially in the case of sports injuries, other structures such as surrounding ligaments or cartilage are often also affected by the injury and can increase the already existing pain. This pain can also radiate into the shin or thigh. In principle, the severity of the symptoms depends on the severity and extent of the injury, so that some people may experience almost no pain and others may experience severe pain. Further articles may be of interest to you in this regard:

  • Crunching in the knee
  • Outer meniscus – Pain
  • Inner meniscus – pain
  • Pain in the hollow of the knee