Arthroscopy versus physical therapy in degnerative tears of the meniscus and/or osteoarthritis

8 ACE Reports (all randomized controlled trials) from the OrthoEvidence database were included in this review/meta-analysis examining the effect of arthroscopic surgery and physical therapy in the treatment of degenerative tears of the meniscus and knee osteoarthritis. The purpose of this review was to determine if any differences in outcome were demonstrated between arthroscopy followed by physical therapy versus physical therapy alone, regarding pain, function, satisfaction, adverse events, or osteoarthritis progression. Pain results were pooled at 3 different time point: 2-3 months, 6 months, and 12-24 months postintervention. At short-term (2-3 months) and long-term (12-24 months) follow-up, pain was similar between groups, with no significant difference observed. There tended to be less pain experienced at 6 months following arthroscopy, however this only reached significance in the KOOS pain outcome and the clinical importance of this observation is unknown. Assessments of functional outcome, either pooled or qualitative, suggested no significant difference between groups as well. The rate of adverse events and osteoarthritis progression also appeared to be similar.