Symptoms of a meniscus injury

What does a torn meniscus feel like?

A symptom is an abnormality that you recognize yourself (for example pain or tenderness in your knee). Everyone's experience is different, therefore symptoms are subjective and based on an individual basis.

The most common symptom of a torn meniscus is pain; although knee pain can be caused by a number of different injuries or conditions. Other symptoms you may experience with a meniscus tear include:

• Pain
• Pain worsening with use
• Stiffness and weakness
• Swelling
• Grinding, popping, clicking, or locking
• Degeneration of the knee joint over time

Pain

If you experience a meniscus injury, pain can either be gradual or immediate depending on how severely the damage to the meniscus is and/or how quickly it happened. Often you will feel pain and tenderness in your joint, especially when you touch your knee with slight pressure. If you have a tear, you will usually feel a sharp pain along the joint line in the area of your tear (usually the inside or outer part of the knee). Pain in the middle of your knee often indicates a medial meniscus tear. In some cases you may even experience pain throughout your entire knee joint.

Pain Worsens With Use

Pain will become worse when you try to bend, straighten or twist your knee, during or after exercise (especially activities involving deep knee bends) and sometimes even just by putting weight on your knee. Your doctor may recommend that you use a crutch or cane to minimize the load placed on your torn meniscus to alleviate pain and further damage while you are trying to heal.

Stiffness and Weakness

You may find that your range of motion limited and that you are not able to bend or straighten your knee all the way. You may also experience a buckling or weakness in your knee that happens when a torn meniscus fragment slips out of being lodged between your bones. A reflex relaxation of the thigh muscles creates weakness in your knee joint resulting in poor stability.

Swelling

You will experience swelling either immediately if your blood vessels are disrupted because of a traumatic event, or within 12 hours after your joint tissues become inflamed. Swelling over time or recurring is a result of synovial fluid filling the joint cavity, as your body tries to protect itself (this is often called "water on the knee").

Grinding, popping, clicking, or locking

These can range from being annoying to downright painful and can last a few seconds or be persistent for a few weeks. Joint locking occurs when the fragment of torn meniscus does not work its way out of being lodged between your femur and tibia resulting in an inability to straighten or bend your knee. This can be painful and may cause weakness in the knee. You may have to manually move or manipulate your knee to get relief and you will feel a click or snap when it eventually unlocks.

Degeneration of the joint

Once injured, the meniscus is more susceptible to slowly wearing away with regular knee movements. When this happens more friction occurs against the articular cartilage and this cartilage wears away from the surface of the femur and tibia. With less protective covering, the joint begins to deteriorate. If your knee tissue begins to degenerate you have an increased risk of developing osteoarthritis (degenerative arthritis) over time.

All of the above symptoms can be aggravated by walking with a bent knee or pointing your foot.

Stages of Symptoms

There tend to be 4 stages of symptoms dependent on the type of meniscus injury you experience.

If you have a minor tear you will often experience pain and slight swelling within the first 12 hours of noticing the discomfort. These symptoms often go away within a 2 - 3 week period.

If you have a moderate tear you will often have pain near the location of your meniscus tear, especially when twisting or squatting. Swelling will generally increase over 2 - 3 days, as will your stiffness, which will result in a limited range of motion when bending your knee. Symptoms will eventually go away but will tend to recur with minor twisting or overuse.

If you have a severe tear, pieces of torn meniscus can move into your joint space and lead to a locked knee that is very swollen, stiff and painful. These symptoms come on quite quickly. Bruising and swelling with severe pain within minutes of an injury, generally indicate a tear of your ligament as well as your meniscus.

If you suffer from a degenerative tear, it may not have resulted from one specific incident, but rather wear and tear over the years. You also may not recall when or how your symptoms started, however it is often from a squatted position. Pain and minimal swelling are often the only signs you will experience, which last indefinitely. You may also have some knee grinding or catching, depending on the extent of the degeneration.

Although your symptoms may disappear on their own, they often carry-on or return and eventually require treatment. If a meniscus tear goes untreated, the situation can lead to a complete tear and long-term damage.

Should you seek medical attention?

It is recommended that you see a physician with any continued discomfort and/or pain in your knee or you experience any of the symptoms below:

• Increased or constant instability or inflammation of the knee (swelling, pain, heat or redness) that lasts longer than 2-3 days.
• Locking, catching or buckling of your knee on a regular basis, or very limited range of motion (can't fully extend, bend or rotate your knee or lower leg).
• Constant clicking, popping or grinding sounds in your knee.
• Unable to participate in activities or work due to the pain or limited range of motion.
• Knee looks deformed or you have significant bruising around that area.
• A traumatic accident may have broken or dislocated a bone.
• Any other unusual symptoms.

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