These meniscus functions to distribute your body weight across the knee joint.
Without the meniscus present, the weight of your body would be unevenly applied
to the bones in your legs (the femur and tibia). This uneven weight distribution
would cause excessive forces in specific areas of bone leading to early arthritis
of knee joint. Therefore, the function of the meniscus is critical to the health
of your knee.
The meniscus is C-shaped and has a wedged profile. The wedged profile helps maintain
the stability of the joint by keeping the rounded femur surface from sliding off the
flat tibial surface. The meniscus is nourished by small blood vessels, but the meniscus
also has a large area in the center of that has no direct blood supply (avascular). This
presents a problem when there is an injury to the meniscus as the avascular areas tend not to heal. Without the essential nutrients supplied by blood vessels, healing cannot take place.