Arthroscopy Sports Medicine

Introduction

Arthroscopic surgery is a minimally invasive method of surgery that has probably been the single-most significant recent advance in sports medicine. In arthroscopic surgery (also called key-hole surgery), the Orthopaedic surgeon makes a tiny incision and works with a lighted camera lens that is no larger than a pencil to look inside the joint. Thanks to the small incision, most patients feel less pain and experience faster recovery after arthroscopic surgery than compared to traditional surgery.

Because arthroscopy enables the physician to see right inside the joint, arthroscopy is sometimes used for diagnosis, as well as treatment of joint disorders. Often the patient is comfortable enough to stay awake during the procedure and watch it on a television screen! Many surgical procedures that used to be performed with complex open surgery are now performed with arthroscopic surgery. Depending on the problem found, surgeons may use small tools inserted through additional incisions to repair the damage, such as a torn meniscus or a torn ligament that fails to heal naturally. Using arthroscopy, for example, a surgeon may reattach the torn ends of a ligament or reconstruct the ligament by using a piece (graft) of healthy ligament from the patient or from a cadaver.