Partial meniscectomy recovery time for work return, not as fast as we believe.

Abstract

Introduction: the objective of our work is to assess the timeline of return to work (RTW) and sports, following arthroscopic partial meniscectomy. We hypothesized that patients in greater-intensity occupations would demonstrate greater duration of absence from work and sports, and also that most patients return to unrestricted activity within 7 weeks after knee arthroscopy.

Material and methods: we obtained from 100 cases preop Tegner, Lysholm, VAS and type of work based on physical demand (REFA classification). We reevaluate all cases at three months and at two years postop.

Results: all the patients returned to work, and 90% returned to sports. The median RTW time was 4.8 months. 79% RTW by six months. Of the 21 patients with no subjective improvement by six months, seven required revision knee arthroscopy, 14 had biomechanical examinations that showed submaximal effort and they returned to work. We evaluated type of meniscal tear, gender, age, Lysholm score, Tegner, VAS, satisfaction with knee results postop and rehabilitation sessions, and we did not find any statistically significant correlation with RTW time.

Conclusion: we thought RTW after meniscal surgery strongly depends on the physical work strain, but we didn't find that in our study. So, we taught much more variables influences on work return, and worker compensation has an important value.