No differences found in Tx outcomes for nontraumatic tears
A 2007 prospective RCT evaluated 90 adults ages 45 to 64 with nontraumatic meniscal tears confirmed by magnetic resonance imaging for improvement in knee pain and function with arthroscopic treatment and supervised exercise (AE) or supervised exercise (E) alone.2 Knee pain and function were assessed before intervention, after 8 weeks, and after 6 months of treatment using 3 surveys: the KOOS, the Lysholm Knee Scoring Scale (LKSS; 0-100, with higher scores correlating with good knee function), and the Visual Analogue Scale (VAS) for knee pain (0-10, with 0 indicating no pain and 10 indicating maximum pain).
The KOOS revealed that at 8 weeks and 6 months both groups had significant improvement from the initial evaluation in all subscale scores. In the AE group, the 8-week pain score increased from a baseline of 56 to 89 (P<.001) and remained at 89 at 6 months (P<.001). For the E group, the 8-week pain score improved from a baseline of 62 to 86 (P<.001) and continued at 86 after 6 months (P<.001).
The LKSS score for both groups showed significant improvement from baseline at 8 weeks: 34% of the AE group and 42% of the E group scored higher than 91 (P<.001).
VAS scores showed a significant decrease in pain at 8 weeks for both the AE and E groups: beginning median value for both groups was 5.5 and decreased to 1.0 at 8 weeks and 6 months (P<.001).
The authors concluded that both groups improved significantly from initial evaluation regardless of treatment method and that no statistically significant difference existed between treatment results.