Partial meniscectomy is one of the most common orthopedic surgeries worldwide. While its use has declined in Finland in recent years, it remains a routine treatment in many countries.

10-Year Study Finds Worse Outcomes After Surgery

The long-term results paint a concerning picture. Patients who underwent partial meniscectomy did not experience better outcomes than those who had sham surgery. In fact, they tended to do worse.

After a decade, these patients reported more knee symptoms and poorer function. They also showed greater progression of osteoarthritis and were more likely to need additional knee surgery compared to those who did not receive the actual procedure.

Unique Trial Design Strengthens Findings

The Finnish Degenerative Meniscal Lesion Study (FIDELITY) stands out for its rigorous design. It included a sham surgery control group, allowing researchers to directly compare outcomes against a placebo procedure. Participants with degenerative meniscal tears were randomly assigned to receive either partial meniscectomy or sham surgery, and their progress was tracked for 10 years.

Teppo Järvinen, Professor at the University of Helsinki and the principal investigator of the FIDELITY emphasizes the broader significance of the results:

“Our findings suggest that this may be an example of what is known as a medical reversal, where broadly used therapy proves ineffective or even harmful.”

Rethinking the Cause of Knee Pain

The surgery has long been based on the idea that knee pain, especially on the inner side, is caused by a meniscus tear that can be fixed surgically. However, this assumption may not hold up.

“The surgery is based on the assumption that pain in the inside of the knee is caused by a medial meniscus tear, which can be treated surgically. Such reasoning — assumption based on biological credibility — is still very common in medicine but in this case, the assumption does not withstand critical examination. Based on current understanding, pain in various joints, such as the knee joint in this case, is related to degeneration brought about by aging,” says Raine Sihvonen, Specialist in Orthopaedics and Traumatology and the other principal investigator of the FIDELITY study.

Concerns About Risks and Long-Term Harm

Earlier registry and observational studies have already raised red flags about potential downsides of this surgery. These include a higher likelihood of arthroplasty, or joint replacement surgery, and a possible increase in complications after the procedure. However, observational data alone cannot prove cause and effect.

“Several randomized studies have already demonstrated that partial meniscectomy has not improved patients’ symptoms or function in the short (1-2 years) or medium (5 years) term. Regardless, the procedure has remained widely used in many countries,” says Doctoral Researcher and Specialist in Orthopaedics and Traumatology, Dr. Roope Kalske.

Why the Procedure Is Still Widely Used

Despite mounting evidence, changing clinical practice has been slow.

“For nearly a decade, many independent, non-orthopedic organizations providing clinical guidelines have recommended that the procedure should be discontinued. Still, for example, the American Academy of Orthopedic Surgeons (AAOS) and the British Association for Surgery of the Knee (BASK) have continued to endorse the surgery.

“This effectively illustrates how difficult it is to give up inefficient therapies,” Järvinen sums up.

Strong Collaboration Behind the Study

The research was carried out across five hospitals, highlighting strong collaboration and patient commitment. Of the original 146 participants, more than 90% completed the final follow-up phase.

“The study conducted in five hospitals is an example of smooth multicenter collaboration, as well as the commitment of research patients to an interesting project. Of the original 146 participants, more than 90% took part in the final stage of the study,” says the research manager Pirjo Toivonen.

The Finnish Degenerative Meniscal Lesion Study FIDELITY) is part of the broader work of the FICEBO research group in assessing the impact of surgical therapies. The project is a collaboration between the university hospitals of Helsinki, Kuopio and Turku, Hatanpää Hospital in Tampere, Hospital Nova in Jyväskylä and the Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare.

In a recent study exploring the fundamentals of quantum physics, researchers examined how matter behaves at extremely small scales, including atoms, electrons, and photons. The work, led by Cal Poly Physics Department Lecturer Ian Powell, focused on how varying a magnetic field over time can cause matter to exhibit unusual and previously unseen properties.

Powell and student researcher Louis Buchalter, who earned a Cal Poly bachelor’s degree in physics in 2025, published their findings in Physical Review B in a paper titled “Flux-Switching Floquet Engineering.” Their research shows that when magnetic fields are changed in a controlled, time-dependent way, they can generate quantum states that do not exist in materials that remain unchanged over time (remaining in the same state as time elapses).

“On a big-picture level, I would describe this as an advance in our understanding of how time-dependent control can create and organize new forms of quantum matter,” Powell said. “The central idea is that useful quantum properties can depend not just on what a material is, but on how it is driven in time. In our case, we show that periodically changing a magnetic field can produce driven quantum phases with no static counterpart.”

Toward More Stable Quantum Technologies

By carefully timing how magnetic fields are applied, scientists can design quantum systems with properties that are more stable and less vulnerable to “noise” or imperfections. These disruptions are a major challenge in quantum technology, often leading to errors in calculations or system performance.

Powell noted that while the technical details can be difficult to explain outside the field, the broader concept is clear. The findings suggest new ways to create and study these unusual quantum states in controlled settings such as ultracold-atom experiments.

“The most direct industry relevance of our study is to quantum computing and quantum simulation, rather than to a specific end-use sector at this stage,” Powell said. “Any eventual impact on areas like pharmaceuticals, finance, manufacturing or aerospace would likely be indirect, by contributing to the longer-term development of better quantum technologies. To move toward industry use, the next steps would be experimental validation and further work connecting these ideas to realistic quantum-device platforms.”

New Mathematical Patterns in Quantum Systems

Beyond creating new quantum states, the research also identified a mathematical organizing principle that mirrors patterns typically found in higher-dimensional quantum systems. This suggests that relatively simple systems driven by changing conditions could provide new ways to explore more complex quantum physics.

The team also mapped out how these exotic states form, revealing a precise structure in the system’s topological phase diagram. This diagram serves as a visual guide to different stable quantum phases, each defined by fixed topological properties.

Why Quantum Control Matters for Computing

Quantum mechanics allows computing systems to process information in ways that far exceed the capabilities of classical computers. These systems can perform large-scale simulations, analyze vast data sets, and solve complex problems more efficiently.

Magnetic fields play a central role in this process. They are commonly used to control and measure quantum bits (or qubits), the fundamental units of quantum information. Qubits are comparable to the units of 0s and 1s in classicalcomputing (applied in commonplace computing currently) used to represent physical electrical states.

Student Research Experience and Future Work

For Buchalter, participating in the study provided valuable insight into the research process and scientific communication.

“A lot about the process of conducting research and how new research findings are effectively communicated with the broader scientific community.”

“I learned that research is rarely a straightforward process, often requiring persistence and creative problem solving during the course of a research project,” Buchalter said. “I believe our results help demonstrate the power of Floquet engineering for realizing quantum systems with highly-tunable properties, paving the way for further research into periodically driven quantum matter and the development of its applications.”

Buchalter plans to begin a Master of Science program in materials science and engineering at the University of Washington in the fall, where he will focus on experimental studies of quantum matter. He is also considering a future career at a national laboratory working on quantum device development.

“I initially took on the project due to my interest in condensed matter physics, however, I became fascinated with the field of quantum materials through my experience,” Buchalter said. “I am very interested in continuing to study quantum matter and helping develop its applications in electronic and photonic devices.”

In a 2024 interdisciplinary study published in the Journal of Travel Research, ECU researchers applied the theory of entropy to tourism, proposing that positive travel experiences may support physical and mental health in ways that could help slow some signs of aging. The work does not suggest that travel can stop aging, but it frames tourism as more than a break from routine. It may be a way to help the body maintain balance, resilience, and repair.

How Travel Could Influence Aging

Entropy is often described as the universe’s movement toward disorder. In the context of health, the researchers suggest that experiences can either support or disrupt the body’s ability to stay organized and functioning well. Positive travel experiences may help reduce that drift toward disorder, while stressful or unsafe travel may push the body in the opposite direction.

“Aging, as a process, is irreversible. While it can’t be stopped, it can be slowed down,” ECU PhD candidate Ms. Fangli Hu said.

According to Ms. Hu, travel may improve well being by placing people in new environments, encouraging movement, increasing social interaction, and creating positive emotions. Those same ideas already appear in areas such as wellness tourism, health tourism, and yoga tourism.

“Tourism isn’t just about leisure and recreation. It could also contribute to people’s physical and mental health,” Ms. Hu added.

Travel Therapy and the Body’s Defense Systems

Viewed through an entropy lens, travel therapy could become a meaningful health intervention, Ms. Hu said. The idea is that positive travel experiences, as part of a person’s environment, may help the body maintain a healthier low entropy state by influencing four major body systems.

Travel often combines unfamiliar surroundings with relaxing experiences. New settings can stimulate the body, raise metabolic activity, and help activate self organizing processes that keep biological systems working smoothly. These experiences may also prompt the adaptive immune system, which helps the body recognize and respond to outside threats.

Ms. Hu said that this reaction improves the body’s ability to perceive and defend itself against external threats.

“Put simply, the self-defense system becomes more resilient. Hormones conducive to tissue repair and regeneration may be released and promote the self-healing system’s functioning.”

Stress Relief, Movement, and Healthy Aging

Relaxing travel activities may also help reduce chronic stress and calm an overactive immune response. Recreation can ease tension and fatigue in the muscles and joints, supporting metabolic balance and strengthening the body’s ability to resist wear and tear.

This matters because travel is rarely just sitting still. Trips often include walking through cities, hiking trails, climbing, cycling, or simply spending more time on your feet than usual. That physical activity can increase metabolism, energy use, and nutrient movement throughout the body, all of which may support the systems that keep the body repaired and resilient.

“Participating in these activities could enhance the body’s immune function and self-defense capabilities, bolstering its hardiness to external risks. Physical exercise may also improve blood circulation, expedite nutrient transport, and aid waste elimination to collectively maintain an active self-healing system. Moderate exercise is beneficial to the bones, muscles, and joints in addition to supporting the body’s anti-wear-and-tear system,” Ms. Hu said.

A Field That Is Still Taking Shape

Since the 2024 study, related work has continued to explore travel therapy as a possible health and wellness approach. A 2025 research note by Hu and colleagues described travel therapy as an emerging approach in which positive travel experiences may promote well being, while also emphasizing the need to weigh benefits against risks.

Another 2025 paper called for closer collaboration between travel medicine and tourism, reflecting a growing interest in how vacations, health risks, preventive care, and traveler well being overlap. A 2025 systematic review also found that tourism and healthy aging is becoming an important interdisciplinary research area, but remains underexplored and in need of stronger methods and clearer future research directions.

Together, these newer findings support a careful interpretation: travel may offer real health related benefits, especially when it includes movement, social connection, novelty, and restoration, but researchers are still working to understand how strong those effects are and who benefits most.

The Risks Behind the Benefits

The same research also cautions that travel is not automatically healthy. Tourists can face infectious diseases, accidents, injuries, violence, unsafe food or water, and other risks linked to poor planning or unsuitable travel choices.

“Conversely, tourism can involve negative experiences that potentially lead to health problems, paralleling the process of promoting entropy increase. A prominent example is the public health crisis of COVID-19.”

The central message is not that any trip will slow aging. Rather, positive travel experiences may help the body and mind function better by combining novelty, relaxation, physical activity, and social connection. When travel is safe, restorative, and active, it may do more than create memories. It could help support healthier aging from the inside out.