A Torn Meniscus Maybe Normal

You’ve been sent for an MRI and there you are with the scan results in your hand. The report is telling you that your knee has a range of abnormal findings including a meniscus tear. Uh oh! This must be why your knee hurts…well maybe not. The reality is that this tear may have been there long before the knee pain existed.

Often scan findings are linked to a person’s cause of pain however this relationship between knee pain and abnormal MRI results is not always precise. Not only meniscus tears but cartilage defects, bone marrow lesions, osteophytes and other features of osteoarthritis can be commonly found on knee scans. It’s never been more important that scans must be interpreted with caution. We now have unprecedented access to imaging services with over 27,000,000 medical imaging investigations occurring annually in Australia. This costs their medicare a whopping $4 billion yearly.

So what are the facts?

A large review study published in 2018 looked at 3761 knees in people who were pain free. From a collection of 44 studies this is what they found:

• On average, 10% of pain free knees had a meniscal tear
• 4% of people younger than 40 years old had a tear
• 19% of people 40 years or over had a meniscus tear (2)

Just recently another study looked at both knees of 115 uninjured, pain free volunteers (that’s 230 knees total). This study used an even stronger MRI machine than previous studies and what they found was:

• 30% of pain free knees had a meniscus tear
• A further 18% had meniscus degeneration
• Therefore 48% of asymptomatic volunteers had an abnormal meniscus

Should I get a scan?

The answer to this isn’t a straight forward yes or no but there should be a good reason to send someone for a scan. Guidelines were developed to prevent unnecessary knee radiographs following knee trauma, these are called the Ottawa Knee Rule.  . The indications for a x-ray are as follows:

• aged 55 years or over
• tenderness at the head of the fibula
• isolated tenderness of the patella
• inability to flex knee to 90 degrees
• inability to bear weight (defined as an inability to take four steps, ie. two steps on each leg, regardless of limping) immediately and at presentation to a health professional

If the knee pain is from a non-traumatic incident then imaging is likely not needed unless the health practitioner is concerned about other factors such as malignancy or infection. Often a diagnosis and management plans can be developed successfully without the need for any imaging.  MRI should only be considered when the knee injury diagnosis is doubtful, difficult and complex.

So what does this mean for you?

Just because you have abnormal findings on a scan does not mean it’s the cause of your knee pain. Again, we can’t determine someone’s pain source purely from a scan. This is where it is important to always match a person’s clinical history with their medical imaging – and this is what good health practitioners do! Chances are that some of those scan findings were probably there long before your pain existed. 

Summary

• The relationship between knee pain and MRI results is not always precise
• A large review found that in on average 10% of asymptomatic people had a meniscus tear. This grew to 19% in over 40’s
• In 2020, a new study found 30% of pain-free people had a meniscus tear
• 3 large reviews found that people will do just as well with physiotherapy than surgery
• Just because you have a torn meniscus on MRI, doesn’t mean you will always experience pain from it

This article was written by James Gardiner at POGO Physio in Australia.  They have a fantastic blog with tons of resources.  Check it out!

If you have any questions, please let us know!

Dominick
dominick@sanramonvalleypt.com