In select young and healthy population with few co morbidities  supervised physical therapy  is no more beneficial than a  home exercise program  following relatively simple knee surgical procedures ( arthroscopic meniscetomy ) .
Physical therapy is common following a knee surgery .
With rising healthcare costs there is debate as to the appropriateness of outpatient physical therapy following such interventions .
Many of the existing controlled trials have concluded that there is no benefit to subjects that receive supervised physical therapy when compared to subjects that perform their exercises at home .
The purpose of this systematic review was to consider the existing evidence regarding benefit following  knee surgery  and evaluate the quality , internal and external validity of such evidence .
Early and intensive physiotherapy accelerates recovery postarthroscopic meniscectomy: results of a randomized controlled study.
The efficacy of an early , intensive , supervised rehabilitation program to accelerate knee strength recovery in the first 3 weeks postmeniscectomy by arthroscopy was evaluated using a r and omized controlled trial design . The maximal voluntary isokinetic strength of 31 men , r and omly allocated to either a  treatment ( EXP ) or a  control ( CTL ) group , was measured twice by a blind rater : preoperatively ( pretest ) and 3 weeks postsurgery ( posttest ) , using a computer-controlled Kin-Com dynamometer ( Chattecx Corporation , Chattanooga , TN ) . Strength deficits of the operated leg at the pretest and posttest were established in percent of the values obtained for the sound leg at the pretest . In the interval between the surgery and the posttest , the patients of the EXP group ( n = 15 ) received nine supervised treatments combined to home exercises whereas patients of the control group ( n = 16 ) had no specific physiotherapy treatment but were given instructions in postsurgical management and prescribed exercises by the orthopedic surgeons . Patients of the EXP group had better knee extensor strength recovery than patients of the CTL group ( ANCOVA , p < 0.001 ) . The size of the strength difference ( 3 weeks postsurgery ) between EXP and CTL subgroups ( n = 8) matched according to preoperative deficits was as large as 26 % and the residual deficits of the untreated patients were two to three times larger than those of the treated patients . The results of this study highlight the importance of instituting an early intensive and supervised rehabilitation program , especially for workers returning to a strenuous job requiring good knee extensor muscle function
In select young and healthy population with few co morbidities  supervised physical therapy  is no more beneficial than a  home exercise program  following relatively simple knee surgical procedures ( arthroscopic meniscetomy ) .
Physical therapy is common following a knee surgery .
With rising healthcare costs there is debate as to the appropriateness of outpatient physical therapy following such interventions .
Many of the existing controlled trials have concluded that there is no benefit to subjects that receive supervised physical therapy when compared to subjects that perform their exercises at home .
The purpose of this systematic review was to consider the existing evidence regarding benefit following  knee surgery  and evaluate the quality , internal and external validity of such evidence .