I had my torn meniscus worked on in an Army hospital about 40 years ago. They opened it up from one side to the other and removed a torn chunk. It took me about 3 weeks to recover, the first week in the hospital and I was in pretty good shape back then. Today, the arthroscopic procedures have you leaving the hospital the same day with two tiny little holes to heal and none of the butchery they did on mine. It lasted 40 years, but now at age 71 I've scheduled a total joint replacement. They're predicting about the same recovery period for a whole knee replacement. Ain't medical progress grand?