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Message: [QUOTE="Giddyup5, post: 2784248, member: 804"] There are 2 main things that determine if a meniscus can be repaired: its location and the tear pattern. Peripheral tears of menisci have a better blood supply and therefore have the capacity to heal if sewn back together. Central tears do not and therefore need to be excised so they no longer cause you pain and mechanical symptoms. Blood supply matters because the tear needs to organically heal. Even the most robust repair will fail over time if the body does not heal causing the suture to break. The tear pattern is also important. Imagine a simple tear in cloth--very easy to sew together. Now, imagine if there were multiple components of the tear with irregular edges--much harder. These components are all considered during the arthroscopy to determine if you are a candidate for repair. Sounds like he had a tear amendable to a repair which is great for him in the long run. Maintaining your meniscus decreases the rate of developing osteoarthritis over time. The repair takes time to heal so you do not do any advanced physical therapy until about 6 weeks. Compare this to a meniscectomy (excision) where you can start aggressive PT immediately and it explains some of the difference in recovery time. The 4-6 month range is reasonable return to division 1 athletics. Quick side note--not all meniscus tears need surgery. If you put 100 people without any knee pain over the age of 40 into a MRI scanner, approximately 40% would have a incidental tear of their meniscus. The meniscus degenerates over time any many times does not require surgery. Also, there is no correlation that having a meniscus tear in one knee makes you prone to developing another one in your other knee. ACL tears on the other hand...different story. Hope he has a quick and uneventful recovery! [/QUOTE]

Verification: First name of men's bb coach