Medical Exercise Therapy is Effective After Arthroscopic Surgery of Degenerative Meniscus of the Knee: A Randomized Controlled Trial

BACKGROUND There is no consensus in postoperative rehabilitation regimen for people who had undergone surgery for degenerative medial meniscus damage. The aim of this study was to examine whether it is beneficial to undergo postoperative physiotherapy after surgery for these patients. METHODS A prospective randomized controlled clinical trial. Over a 4 month period, 70 participants were randomly assigned into a high repetitive, high dosage medical exercise therapy group (EG) (n = 36) or into a control group (CG) (n = 34). Pain was a composite score of visual analogue scale (VAS). Function was measured with a functional assessment questionnaire (KOOS). Muscle strength was measured with a five repetition maximum test of quadriceps femoris. RESULTS Prognostic variables were similar between the groups at baseline. Five (7%) people dropped out during the treatment period. The EG achieved significantly better outcome effects than the CG at pain (VAS reduced 1.9 in EG and 0.6 in CG) and function (KOOS decreased 18 in EG and only 6 in CG). CONCLUSIONS For people who have undergone surgery for degenerative meniscus damage, postoperative high repetitive, high dosage medical exercise therapy is an efficient treatment alternative compared to no rehabilitation.