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MRI’s and X-rays are the most commonly performed forms of imaging done on the knees to look for some type of meniscal tear or degeneration, or arthritis of the knees. With these conditions people often get the idea that because they either need surgery to “fix” it, or should avoid certain exercises or positions because it’ll make their knees worse. However, if you never received the imaging, you would never have thought that and would continue doing what you usually do. While it may sometimes be helpful to get imaging done to have an idea what is going on, you never want to let your “diagnosis” define you and how you move and exercise. If we took fifty random people off the street who have no knee pain and took imaging of their knees, a good amount of them would have some type of degeneration or tear show up. In fact there have been multiple studies (some on professional and collegiate basketball players) in which imaging was done on people who reported having no knee pain, yet the imaging showed those people had meniscal tears, arthritis, or some other tissue damage in their knees. These studies have also taken imaging on people with knee pain, and shown that they do not always have more tears or arthritis than the pain free people.
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What these studies show is that you cannot get caught up with your condition. Too often people believe that they have to be less active and protect their knees. They think that they shouldn’t go up and down stairs, work out, squat, walk, etc. As has been stated multiple times in previous posts, doing nothing is the worst thing to do. Degeneration is a natural part of aging, which happens to everyone at different rates, just like any machine that eventually wears out. While you cannot fix or control the extent of the arthritis or meniscal tear in your knee, what you can control and fix is how you move and exercise. This is when having strength and mobility is even more important than ever. You want your glutes, quads, hamstrings and other leg muscles to be as strong as possible to take pressure off of your knees. You want to perform exercises that not only strengthen these muscles, but are also functional and similar to the type of activity or sport you enjoy doing.
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Sometimes getting the imaging does not present you with a fix, but instead can be more limiting. The imaging does not always match up to how you feel, and it shouldn’t dictate how you feel. The relationship between pain and what is going on in the knee is not always clear and direct, and it is up to you, not your imaging results or diagnosis, to take charge and decide what you can do.