Return to Play Following Meniscal Repair Taylor J. Wiley, MD a, *, Nicholas J. Lemme, MD a,1 , Stephen Marcaccio, MD a,1 , Steven Bokshan, MD a,1 , Paul D. Fadale, MD a,1 , Cory Edgar, MD, PhD b , Brett D. Owens, MD a,1 INTRODUCTION AND EPIDEMIOLOGY The knee menisci are semicircular, fibrocartilaginous structures that serve several important roles in normal knee function, including load transmission, shock absorp- tion, and secondary stabilization of the knee. 1 The vascular supply of the meniscus has been well studied, with the vascularized peripheral 30% known as the red-red zone and the relatively avascular inner aspects known as the red-white and white- white zones. Tears of the meniscus are common knee injuries in the young, athletic Disclosure Statement: T.J. Wiley, N. Lemme, S. Marcaccio, S. Bokshan, and P.D. Fadale report no relevant disclosures. C. Edgar reports B.D. Owens reports consulting for Mitek, Conmed/MTF, and Vericel. a Department of Orthopedics, Brown University, Providence, RI, USA; b Department of Or- thopedic Surgery, UConn Health, 263 Farmington Avenue, Farmington, CT 06030, USA 1 Present address: 1 Kettle Point Avenue, East Providence, RI 02914. * Corresponding author. 1 Kettle Point Avenue, East Providence, RI 02914. E-mail address: twiley@universityorthopedics.com KEYWORDS  Meniscus  Repair  Return to play  Sports  Athlete KEY POINTS  Meniscal repair can be performed in an attempt to preserve meniscal tissue in situations whereby there is viable tissue with satisfactory healing potential, because partial or total meniscectomy has been shown to increase knee cartilage degeneration in younger athletes.  The decision of when the athlete can RTP should become a shared decision-making pro- cess including all parties of interest, and ultimately, these decisions will be individualized to each athlete.  Timing of return to play is dependent on many factors including the type of tear sustained, prescence of concomitant injuries and the type of repair performed, postoperative rehab protocol, time of season and type of sport played.  RTP rates following meniscal repairs in athletes are reassuring with 80% to 95% of ath- letes returning to play with the average RTP time being 4 to 6 months. Clin Sports Med 39 (2020) 185–196 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.csm.2019.08.002 sportsmed.theclinics.com 0278-5919/20/ª 2019 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.