Medial Meniscus Injuries in the Athlete

Physical therapists and physical therapist assistants who treat athletes with knee pain, work alongside sports medicine physicians and surgeons, or carry post-operative meniscus caseloads and want a current, plain-language summary of where the evidence stands.

Physical Therapists (PT) and Physical Therapist Assistants (PTA) in outpatient orthopedics, sports medicine, collegiate and secondary school athletics, and post-surgical rehabilitation settings.

Intended audience

Physical Therapy

Level

Intermediate

Delivery format

Online, asynchronous, self-paced course: interactive reading with audio or video, and a scored post-test.

Based on

D’Amico E, Boettcher B, Johnson S, Johnson A, Kruse RC. Current Concepts in Management of Medial Meniscus Injury in the Athlete. Current Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation Reports. Accepted 8 July 2025. Open Access under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40141-025-00501-w

This narrative review synthesizes established and emerging evidence on medial meniscus anatomy, injury mechanisms, diagnosis, and treatment in athletes, and identifies where the evidence remains thin. Every claim and number in this course traces to that article. The authors report no funding and no competing interests.

A note on scope

This is a review article, not a trial. It gathers and interprets other people’s findings, so its conclusions carry the strengths and the weaknesses of the literature underneath them. The review itself says the data on several of its topics are mixed or limited, and this course reports it that way.

After completing this course, you will be able to:

1. Describe how the review distinguishes traumatic from degenerative medial meniscus tears, including which athletes tend to sustain each and the mechanisms most often involved.
2. State what the review reports as first-line management for degenerative medial meniscus tears and the circumstances under which it says meniscal repair is preferred to meniscectomy.
3. Explain what the review found about return-to-sport timelines and long-term knee osteoarthritis risk following meniscectomy compared with meniscal repair.

1. Start Here: How This Course Works
2. Podcast: Medial Meniscus Injuries in the Athlete (about nine minutes)
3. The Medial Meniscus, the Tears It Sustains, and the Athletes Who Sustain Them
4. How the Authors Built This Review and What Evidence Sits Underneath It
5. Reaching the Diagnosis: Clinical Presentation, Special Tests, MRI, and Ultrasound
6. Treatment Findings: Rehabilitation, Medications and Injections, Surgery, and Return to Sport
7. Where the Evidence Runs Out and What the Review Means for Rehabilitation Practice
8. Key Takeaways
9. Post-Test and Course Evaluation

Quinn Millington, PT, DPT, ECS is the instructor of record: the licensed clinician who reviewed this course and signed off on it. The name and credentials print on the certificate.

Disclosures. This course was developed by The ConEd Solution, which has a financial interest in its sale. No outside funding or sponsorship was received. The instructor of record has no affiliation with the authors of the source publication or their institutions.

This course awards 0.5 contact hours (30 min). How you earn them:

1. Complete the course. Every lesson, in order.
2. Pass the post-test. Score 80% or higher. Retakes are allowed.
3. Complete the evaluation. A short form rating each learning objective and the course.
4. Download your certificate. It is issued on completion and stays available in My Account.

The episode time is its measured length. Reading, post-test and evaluation times are estimates.

This course is designed to satisfy the quality requirements state boards set for continuing education. Requirements vary by state, and confirming that a course fits your renewal is up to you. Each state’s own acceptance statement is in the credit panel on this page.

1. D'Amico E, Boettcher B, Johnson S, Johnson A, Kruse RC. Current Concepts in Management of Medial Meniscus Injury in the Athlete. Current Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation Reports. Accepted 8 July 2025. Open Access under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40141-025-00501-w
2. This narrative review synthesizes established and emerging evidence on medial meniscus anatomy, injury mechanisms, diagnosis, and treatment in athletes, and identifies where the evidence remains thin. Every claim and number in this course traces to that article. The authors report no funding and no competing interests.
3. A note on scope
4. This is a review article, not a trial. It gathers and interprets other people's findings, so its conclusions carry the strengths and the weaknesses of the literature underneath them. The review itself says the data on several of its topics are mixed or limited, and this course reports it that way.