Treatment of meniscal tears in patients with primarily degenerative tears
| Large effect | Moderate effect | Small or no effect | |
| Exercise | |||
| Patient-reported pain | |||
| No difference between arthroscopic knee surgery and exercise Effect size (95% CI; I2): −0.51 (–1.16 to 0.13; 0.0%); 2 studies (n=157)58 62 | Moderate-quality evidence | ||
| Small effect from arthroscopic knee surgery in addition to exercise compared with exercise alone Effect size (95% CI; I2): 0.18 (0.05 to 0.32; 0.0%); 5 studies (n=893)3 | High-quality evidence | ||
| Patient-reported function | |||
| No difference between arthroscopic knee surgery and exercise Effect size (95% CI): −0.06 (–0.23 to 0.11); 1 study (n=140)62 | Moderate-quality evidence | ||
| No difference between arthroscopic knee surgery in addition to exercise compared with exercise alone Effect size (95% CI; I2): 0.13 (−0.03 to 0.28; 7.8%); 4 studies (n=785)3 | High-quality evidence | ||
| Muscle strength | |||
| Moderate effect from exercise compared with arthroscopic knee surgery (peak torque for isokinetic knee extension) Effect size (95% CI): −0.45 (−0.62 to −0.29); 1 study (n=140)62 | Moderate-quality evidence | ||
| No difference between arthroscopic knee surgery and exercise (5 repetition maximum measured with a leg extension bench) Effect size (95% CI): −0.28 (−0.80 to 0.24); 1 study (n=17*)58 | Low-quality evidence | ||
| Functional performance | |||
| No difference between arthroscopic knee surgery and exercise (number of knee bends on one leg in 30 s) Effect size (95% CI): −0.08 (–0.25 to 0.09); 1 study (n=140)62 | Moderate-quality evidence | ||
| Passive physiotherapy treatments | |||
| Patient-reported pain | |||
| Large effect from low-level laser therapy compared with placebo Effect size (95% CI): −9.07 (−10.78 to −7.38); 1 study (n=64†)65 | Low-quality evidence | ||
| Pain, function and clinical findings (Lysholm score) | |||
| Large effect from low-level laser therapy compared with placebo Effect size (95% CI): −1.28 (−1.82 to −0.74); 1 study (n=64†)65 | Low-quality evidence | ||
If the effect size is negative it is in favour of the treatment (exercise or laser). If it is positive it is in favour of the control treatment (surgery, surgery+exercise or placebo).
*Due to lack of blinding and a low sample size, the quality of the evidence was downgraded one level.
†Due to lack of description of blinding of the physiotherapist and the fact that the trial was not registered until after the data collection had been completed, the quality of the evidence was downgraded one level.