“How long does it take to recover from arthroscopic knee surgery?”

This varies from patient to patient and could be as short as 2 weeks and as long as a few months.

Good Afternoon,
An arthroscopic knee surgery is different than what I specialize in which is knee replacement surgery. With an arthroscopic surgery small incisions are made in the front of your knee and the surgery is performed via a camera. Recovery is variable but usually you can walk immediately after your surgery and incisions that take a few weeks to heal. Most are back at work within a few weeks to 2 months and can perform strenuous activities at the 2-3 month mark.

Knee replacement surgery is more invasive but the techniques I use minimize soft tissue damage and make it minimally invasive. The incision is usually about 4 inches long (varies based on anatomy) and through this incision I remove a small amount of diseased bone from both ends of knee. Once the diseased bone is removed I cap the ends of the bone with metal much like a dentist puts a crown on a tooth. Recovery for this is slightly slower than arthroscopic knee surgery but in most cases you are walking immediately after surgery and able to return to an office type job in 4 weeks or so. (8 weeks for strenuous activities)

Hope this helps!

It depends on the the reason for the knee arthroscopy, but normally 4-8 weeks on average to have normal motion and minimal swelling and to start resuming more normal activities.

Robert D. Swift, DO, FAOAO

If the surgery is straight forward, I usually tell patients that within a week they will be up and around, and usually within about 4 weeks they should be back to full activity.

Depending on the type of procedure, between 2-6 weeks.

Will Munoz

It typically takes 4 to 6 weeks to forget about your knee after meniscectomy. By two weeks after surgery, you should be doing pretty well. At 50-years-old, I had a meniscectomy. I was on the sidelines covering a football game on Sunday, back to work on Monday seeing patients, and standing all day on Tuesday operating. The type of anesthesia you have also matters. I do all of my knee scopes under local anesthesia with as little or as much sedation that you need. That way you can get up walking right after surgery with no drowsiness or nauseousness.

It depends on what you have done. If you have a piece of the meniscus removed, you usually walk on it the same day, start physical therapy within a week, and are usually 80%-90% better in 6 weeks. You should be walking right away, and on a stationary bike within 2 weeks or so. If you have an ACL reconstruction or some other ligament repair, the recovery is significantly longer.

Most people recover within 4 to 6 weeks from routine knee arthroscopic. However, some people do take longer if there is more damage than anticipated. For example, if there is any significant osteoarthritis of the knee, the surgeon may have to scrape it or do a significant "chondroplasty" which can delay recovery to 2-3 months.