Meniscus Rehabilitation After Surgery: What the EU-US Consensus Agreed On

Physical therapists and physical therapist assistants who see patients before or after meniscus surgery, including those working in outpatient orthopedics, sports rehabilitation and post-operative care settings. Athletic trainers, orthopedic nurses and sports medicine physicians who coordinate post-operative knee care will also find the material relevant.

Physical therapists and physical therapist assistants; secondarily athletic trainers, orthopedic and sports medicine physicians, and rehabilitation students.

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

This course reports on part one of the EU-US formal consensus on meniscus rehabilitation, a joint initiative of the European Society for Sports Traumatology, Knee Surgery and Arthroscopy (ESSKA), the American Orthopaedic Society for Sports Medicine (AOSSM) and the American Academy of Sports Physical Therapy (AASPT), developed between 2022 and 2024. Part one addresses rehabilitation after surgical treatment for degenerative meniscus lesions and acute meniscus tears, including partial meniscectomy, repair and reconstruction. The consensus authors state that prevention programmes, non-operative treatment of acute tears and degenerative lesions, return to sport and patient-reported outcome measures are presented in a separate part II article, which is outside the scope of this course. The full consensus document is posted open access on the ESSKA website and the ESSKA Academy website.

After completing this course, you will be able to:

1. Describe how the EU-US meniscus rehabilitation consensus was developed, including who took part and what the consensus group reported about the strength of the supporting literature.
2. Distinguish the criterion-based rehabilitation approach the consensus describes after arthroscopic partial meniscectomy from the combined time-and-criterion-based approach it describes after meniscus repair and meniscus reconstruction.
3. State the consensus positions on weight-bearing, range-of-motion restriction and expected rehabilitation duration for meniscus repair by tear type and for meniscus reconstruction.

1. Start Here: How This Course Works
2. Podcast: Meniscus Rehabilitation After Surgery — the EU-US Consensus in Brief (about nine minutes)
3. Why Three Societies Took On Meniscus Rehabilitation
4. Building the Consensus: Experts, Literature and Ratings
5. After Partial Meniscectomy: Milestones Rather Than the Calendar
6. After Repair and Reconstruction: Time Frames Plus Criteria
7. Thin Evidence, Strong Agreement: Limits and Clinical Relevance
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. This course reports on part one of the EU-US formal consensus on meniscus rehabilitation, a joint initiative of the European Society for Sports Traumatology, Knee Surgery and Arthroscopy (ESSKA), the American Orthopaedic Society for Sports Medicine (AOSSM) and the American Academy of Sports Physical Therapy (AASPT), developed between 2022 and 2024. Part one addresses rehabilitation after surgical treatment for degenerative meniscus lesions and acute meniscus tears, including partial meniscectomy, repair and reconstruction. The consensus authors state that prevention programmes, non-operative treatment of acute tears and degenerative lesions, return to sport and patient-reported outcome measures are presented in a separate part II article, which is outside the scope of this course. The full consensus document is posted open access on the ESSKA website and the ESSKA Academy website.