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Surgery for knee problems is a common treatment, but the research suggest is may not be worthwhile. While surgery and exercise seem to generally result in improved pain, function, and quality of life, it doesn't do better than a program of exercise. So far I've found no research supporting knee surgery, though most of the research I've found has been on meniscus tearsand the subjects are not runners. However, it seems possible to me that knee surgery may help some subjects and harm others, with the net effect being no average benefit. * A 2012 study looked at 102 patients with a meniscus tear and compared surgery with strengthening and found no difference in terms of function or pain after two years<ref name="YimSeon2013"/>. Both groups reported a high (and similar) degree of satisfaction , with their treatmenttwo thirds reporting complete pain relief. The exercise group was given supervised training three times per week for three weeks, then a further eight weeks of unsupervised exercise, while the surgical group only had the 8 weeks of unsupervised exercise. The exercise consisted of stretching the hamstrings and quads (1 min each), 3 x 10 reps of leg extensions, leg curls, half squats and full squats, plus 15 minutes of cycling. The squats were only for the last 3 of the 8 weeks, and all exercise was to be with some strain but almost pain free. There's no reason to believe this regime is optimal, but it's an interesting starting point. The patients had a degenerative horizontal tear and the surgery removed part of the meniscus only, but there is no indicates from the study of the proportion removed. The [http://www.orthopaedicscore.com/scorepages/tegner_lysholm_knee.html Lysholm score]for the subjects was ~65 which indicates "poor" status. * A 2013 study looked at with a meniscal tear and osteoarthritis in 351 subjects, with half randomly assigned to surgery, the others to physical therapy<ref name="KatzBrophy2013"/>. The study did not find any significant difference in functional improvement after 6 months. (30% of those assigned to physical therapy elected to have surgery before the 6 months were up. Those subjects had worse symptoms at the 2-month mark, but some of the best overall results at the end.)There were no details on the type or severity of the meniscus tear, or the percentage of meniscus removed.

* A 2013 study comparing surgery with sham surgery for meniscus tears in 146 subjects over 12 months found no difference between the groups<ref name="Sihvonen-2013"/>. The subjects had knee pain for more than three months prior and had not responded to conservative treatment. Both groups improved over the 12 months, but there was no difference between the groups. This is one of the highest quality studies available, with some lengths taken to blind the subjects to their knowledge of the surgery or sham surgery. There was no indication of how much meniscus was removed, though the subjects had an average Lysholm score of 60 significant problems. * A 2007 study looked at 90 subjects with degenerative meniscal tears who were given either exercise or exercise plus surgery<ref name="Herrlin-2007"/>. Both groups reported similar improvements in pain, knee function and quality of life. The exercise consisted of cycling, calf raises, leg press, stair walking, wobble board, jumping, stretching, and similar exercises to improve strength and balance. The average Lysholm score of the subjects was 65, but the range was 24-94.