Knee pain

[JCalvin]

Is knee surgery ever the thing to do if someone has knee pain with a meniscus tear, anserine bursitis and osteo? I understand that pain doesn’t equal tissue damage and tissue damage doesn’t equal pain, but how does this translate to helping the patient in from of you who is in pain? How do you explain to a patient that surgery may not help and where do you go from there?

[RVR]

Not a physician here, but Austin (in another thread and iirc in podcasts) has covered that sham surgery didn't have different outcomes than surgery in meniscus tear patients and that like with many injuries/pain, MRI findings are frequently incidental. I'll let docs give you doctor-specific recommendations but I imagine this is where a good rehab referral/team probably comes in.

[Austin Baraki]

Is knee surgery ever the thing to do if someone has knee pain with a meniscus tear, anserine bursitis and osteo? I understand that pain doesn’t equal tissue damage and tissue damage doesn’t equal pain, but how does this translate to helping the patient in from of you who is in pain? How do you explain to a patient that surgery may not help and where do you go from there?

Having an approach to these questions is the purpose of professional medical training and evaluation. There is not a simple answer we can realistically provide you here, sorry.