by AceMedEd

Teach card · keep it in your scrub pocket

Meniscus tear

Ask during the case

  1. At the medial compartment, probe on the posterior horn: "Show me the tear. Which way does it run, and which vascular zone is it in?"
  2. Before anything is trimmed or repaired: "Which fibers carry hoop stress, and what does a radial or root tear do to them that a longitudinal tear doesn't?"
  3. In the lateral compartment: "Show me the popliteal hiatus. Why don't we call that gap a tear?"

Point at: the probe lifting the posterior horn on the monitor, then the popliteus tendon in its hiatus.

End of day: "Draw the menisci from above with the four roots, the three zones and today's tear." Two minutes, no notes.

Where this kit and your technique differ, yours wins.

Send this to your students

The night before. They prep alone, redraw at turnover, and get a cold check tomorrow morning. They won't see these questions.

Open the student page

Reviewed by Mehdi “AC” Talle, D.O., November 2026. Sources: Netter, Gray's Anatomy and Hoppenfeld's surgical exposures. Teaching schematic, not to scale; anatomy and technique vary. Management and indications are left to you on purpose.