Restoring Power and Flexibility to Your Knee

When a knee problem makes daily activities difficult or painful, it’s nice to know that safe, effective surgery can restore the knee to normal, pain-free movement.

Thanks to medical advances, your problem knee can be examined, and often treated at the same time, with arthroscopy.

Arthroscopy is a procedure, which allows your orthopedic surgeon to inspect and repair a knee problem without making a large incision. Using a special instrument called an arthroscope, the surgeon can look directly into (“scope”) the joint and make needed repairs. The arthroscope is a narrow metal tube, about as thick as a pencil. Its powerful lens and fiberoptic light magnify and illuminate the inside of the joint. A tiny video camera attached to the arthroscope relays pictures of the joint to an eyepiece and TV monitor in the room. With the aid of the arthroscope, the surgeon can examine your knee, pinpoint the problem, and often give treatment, all during the same operation.