Arthroscopy is a kind of surgical procedure that involves examination or treatment of the damage caused to the interior of a joint. It either evaluates or treats a number of orthopedic conditions that may include torn floating cartilage, surface cartilage, and reconstruction of ACI and trimming of damaged cartilage. It is particularly beneficial for professional athletes who too often injure their knee joints that require faster healing time. In contrast to the traditional open surgery, only two incisions are made, one for the insertion of the arthroscope and the other for the surgical instrument.

Ligaments, and menisci or cartilage are the tissues found in joints such as the knee, shoulder, elbow, wrist, ankle foot and hip. A small fiber-optic camera called arthroscope is inserted into the joint, through an incision. Through a video monitor, the surgeon diagnoses or repairs the damaged joint tissues. If besides diagnosis, repairing of tissues is undertaken, it is known as arthroscopic surgery. There is least of trauma to the tissues, minimal pain to the patient and quicker recovery for resuming the athletic activities. Knee arthroscopy is performed to treat injury of the meniscus, cartilage micro-fracturing and reconstruction of Anterior Cruciate Ligament (ACL)

Arthroscopy is also performed for visualizing the internal position of the joint during the course of certain surgical procedures that involve articular disc or surfaces. It is almost similar to laparoscopy. Mostly, Arthroscopy is an outpatient procedure. It can be performed by application of general, spinal or even local anesthesia. For the diagnosing and examination of the knees, Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MIR) can be applied instead of arthroscopy. The size of the incision made is about 4mm or 1/6” in length. Immediate swelling of knees follows after the arthroscopy which may take 7 to 15 days for coming to normalcy. Therefore, extensive exercises should be avoided.

Arthroscopy can be effectively applied for diagnostic and treatment of a number of diseases that may be inflammatory, non-inflammatory, infectious and injurious. It facilitates treatment of diseases such as spinal deformity, tumors, spinal disc herniation, general spine trauma and degenerative discs.

Hip arthroscopy is used to treat the external area of the hip and the hip joint itself. The treatment covers labral tears, removal of loose and foreign body, biopsy or washout of hip for infection, Chondral (cartilage) lesions, ligamentum teres injuries snapping psoas, trochanteric pain syndrome, snapping iliotibial band, osteoarthritis, sciatic nerve compression, ischiofemoral impingement and direct assessment of hip replacement.

Shoulder arthroscopy treats diseases of shoulder that may include sub-acromial impingement, acromioclavicular osteoarthritis, rotator cuff tears, chronic tendonitis, frozen shoulder, shoulder instability, removal of partial tears of the long biceps tendon, SLAP lesions and repair of bankarts lesion. Keyhole surgery of the shoulder has become very popular because involves the least time for the patients to be in the hospital after surgery.

Wrist arthroscopy investigates and treats the symptoms of repetitive strain injury, fractures of the wrist and torn and damaged ligaments. It also covers ascertainment of joint damage caused by wrist osteoarthritis.

Spinal arthroscopy is used to remove bone, muscle and ligaments for accessing and treating of the problematic areas such as mid spine or thoracic.

In case of inflammatory arthritis like rheumatoid arthritis, arthroscopy is used for removing the inflamed joint tissue or synovectomy. In such case, biopsy of the tissue lining is done and is examined under a microscope for determining the cause of inflammation and for identifying the possibility of any infection such as tuberculosis.

In case where withdrawing of fluid with needle (aspirating) does not provide adequate information, arthroscopy is performed getting more information for better analysis. Other areas of application of arthroscopy are removal of foreign objects like plant thorns or needles on loose tissues like chips of bone or cartilage.

Diagnosis of injuries and disease of joints can be done, initially by taking a thorough medical history, followed by physical examination, usually by X-Rays. In addition, other tests such as Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) or Computerized Tomography (CT) can also be taken up. A final diagnosis can be made through arthroscopy. Besides diagnosis, arthroscopy treats the diseases and injuries of bones, cartilage, ligaments, muscles and tendons. Arthroscopic examination diagnoses inflammation of the lining of the knee, shoulder, elbow, wrist or ankle.

Arthroscopy can also be used for the examination of acute or chronic injury of shoulder such as rotator cuff tendon tears, impingement syndrome, and recurrent dislocations. A number of complications relate to knee can be examined through arthroscope, that may include meniscal or cartilage tears, wearing or injury of cartilage cushion; known as chondromalacia, and ACL or Anterior Cruciate Ligament tears with instability. Examination of carpal tunnel syndrome of the wrist also can be done through arthroscopy.

For a professional athlete, knee is the most important of all joints in the body. Because of the very nature of its function, knee can easily be injured. The femur rotates on the tibia and knee cap known as patella slides in a groove on the end of the femur. Large ligaments control the motion. The meniscus is a wedge of soft cartilage between femur and tibia, which absorbs shock during motion. Athletes experience injuries to their knee ligaments such as the ACL or Anterior Cruciate Ligament, Medial Cruciate Ligament(MCL).

Injury to ACL is caused by changing the direction rapidly, slowing down when running and landing down from a jump. Those participating in skiing, basket ball and football players wearing cleats are more susceptible to ACL injury. Injury to the MCL is caused by any direct blow to the exterior of the knee which may occur in contact sports like football and soccer. The Posterior Cruciate Ligament is caused if the athlete faces a direct blow to the front of the knee or if he makes just a misstep while playing. Tears in the meniscus can be caused while twisting, cutting, pivoting, decelerating or being tackled.

Arthroscopy can be beneficially used when an athlete is faced with any of the above injuries to their joint so that they get the injury repaired with lest of pain but with highest accuracy and precision. At the same time, they are enabled to recover fast and resume their usual athletic activities.