A review of intra-articular knee injuries in racquet sports diagnosed by arthroscopy.

Because of the recent rapid increase in the number of knee injuries related to racquet sports, the authors undertook a retrospective study of such injuries seen over a 5-year period at the Toronto Western Hospital Sports Medicine Institute. The 121 patients who presented over the study period with a racquet-sports-related knee injury requiring arthroscopy represented 30% of all racquet-sports related injuries seen during that period. The mean age at presentation was 32.8 years and two-thirds of the patients were men. All the major racquet sports were represented. In all, 213 lesions (7 bilateral) were seen at 128 arthroscopies, and 165 arthroscopic procedures were performed. The most common lesion was meniscal followed by chondromalacia patellae, anterior cruciate ligament tears, chondral lesions and pathologic plicae. Over 90% of the patients returned to their chosen racquet sport within 3 months of the arthroscopy and most were playing at a similar performance level to that before the initial injury.