Knee Arthroscopy Specialist

What is knee arthroscopy?

Knee arthroscopy is a procedure that allows Ortho 1 Medical Group to closely examine the tissues inside your knee, diagnose injuries and diseases, and repair the problem.

As a minimally invasive procedure, your surgeon makes several small incisions and does your surgery using pencil-sized instruments that fit through the incisions. They insert the arthroscope through one incision. It lights the joint and sends magnified images from inside the knee to a monitor watched by your surgeon.

After using the image to examine your joint, your surgeon inserts instruments through other small incisions to complete your surgery.

Why would I need knee arthroscopy?

Surgery is the last resort for most patients after they don’t get symptom relief from nonsurgical treatments. However, some injuries need immediate surgery, and other knee problems have a higher chance of needing surgery. Examples include:

• ACL tears
• Meniscus tears
• Advanced arthritis
• Tendon ruptures
• Articular cartilage damage
• Knee fractures
• Posterolateral corner injury (an injury causing side-to-side knee instability)

Your surgeon might also recommend surgery if you have an infection or loose fragments of bone or cartilage in the joint.

What procedures are done during knee arthroscopy?

Ortho 1 Medical Group can repair nearly every knee joint problem with arthroscopic surgery. The most common arthroscopic repairs include: 

• Reconstructing torn ligaments
• Repairing damaged tendons
• Fixing a meniscus injury
• Transplanting cartilage
• Eliminating bone spurs
• Removing inflamed tissues
• Taking out loose fragments
• Cleaning away infected tissues

When these procedures are done with minimally invasive arthroscopy, you have less pain, minimal scarring, and faster healing compared to traditional open surgery.

What happens after knee arthroscopy?

Knee arthroscopy is often an outpatient procedure, so you go home the same day. But your provider first makes sure that you can walk using an assistive device like a walker, cane, or scooter.

Your rehabilitation begins as soon as possible with gentle movement. Then you gradually progress to exercises that restore muscle strength and your full range of motion. You should be able to return to your usual activities in 6-8 weeks. A rebuilt ligament can take longer to rehabilitate.

If you need knee arthroscopy, you need the experienced team at Ortho 1 Medical Group. Call the nearest office today or book an appointment online.