Knee Pain? Ragged Cartilage? Research Suggests Surgery’s Not the Best Answer
A 10-year trial found the procedure led to more pain and reoperations, while U.S. procedure counts fell from 169,000 in 2014 to 91,000 in 2024.
- A decade-long study published in the New England Journal of Medicine found that arthroscopic knee surgery to trim degenerative cartilage provides little benefit over physical therapy, with patients facing accelerated osteoarthritis and higher reoperation rates.
- Teppo Järvinen, head of the Finnish Centre for Evidence-Based Orthopaedics, stated the procedure does not outperform 'sham surgery,' with Finland seeing arthroscopic rates drop 90% as evidence against the treatment accumulated.
- Medicare allots between $2,159 and $3,875 for the procedure, with patients paying 20% in coinsurance; Marcus Dorstel, senior vice president at Turquoise Health, noted commercial insurers pay well more than twice that amount.
- Robert Brophy, director of the Orthopaedic Clinical Research Center at Washington University in St Louis, noted that while some patients benefit, evidence increasingly supports judicious use, though practice among peers remains 'all over the map.'
- Three times as many surgery patients ultimately required total knee replacements compared to nonsurgery patients. Medical guidelines increasingly prioritize physical therapy and weight loss for degenerative knee pain, making surgery a less favored option.
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9 Articles
People who undergo common knee surgery may find their problems getting worse instead of better.
By Elisabeth Rosenthal Thousands of Americans who undergo common knee surgery may be worsening their problems rather than improving them.Researchers who followed for 10 years patients who received the actual procedure — an arthroscopic knee surgery to cut degenerative cartilage tears — or a "simulated surgery" consisting solely of an incision in the skin to treat knee pain, found that the surgery offered little or no benefit.In fact, it was asso…
Follow the money: Surgeons keep performing knee surgery despite evidence it doesn't work
Thousands of Americans who undergo a common knee surgery might be making their problems worse rather than better.Researchers who followed patients for 10 years after they received either the actual procedure, arthroscopic knee surgery to trim degenerative cartilage tears, or merely “sham surgery” — a skin incision — for knee pain, found that the surgery provided little or no benefit and was, in fact, associated with accelerated osteoarthritis an…
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naked capitalismKnee Pain? Ragged Cartilage? Research Suggests Surgery’s Not the Best Answer
Thousands of Americans who undergo a common knee surgery might be making their problems worse rather than better. Researchers who followed patients for 10 years after they received either the actual procedure, arthroscopic knee surgery to trim degenerative cartilage tears, or merely “sham surgery” — a skin incision — for knee pain, found that the surgery provided little or no benefit and was, in fact, associated with accelerated osteoarthritis a…
Common Knee Surgery Often Hurts More Than Helps
A popular fix for aching knees may be setting many patients up for more trouble, not less. A decade-long Finnish study of people with age-related meniscus tears found arthroscopic surgery to trim the damaged cartilage didn't outperform sham surgery—and was tied to faster arthritis and more follow-up operations, often...
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