It is technically possible to do an arthroscopic examination of almost every joint, but is most commonly used for the knee, shoulder, elbow, wrist, ankle, foot, and hip.

Arthroscopic knee surgery is one of the most common orthopaedic procedures, performed approximately 2 million times worldwide each year.

[11][12] The BMJ Rapid Recommendation includes infographics and shared decision-making tools to facilitate a conversation between doctors and patients about the risks and benefits of arthroscopic surgery.

Arthroscopic surgery, however, does not appear to result in benefits to adults when performed for knee pain in patients with osteoarthritis who have a meniscal tear.

[2] Professional knee societies, however, highlight other symptoms and related factors they believe are important, and continue to support limited use of arthroscopic partial meniscectomy in carefully selected patients.

Hip conditions that may be treated arthroscopically also includes labral tears, loose / foreign body removal, hip washout (for infection) or biopsy, chondral (cartilage) lesions, osteochondritis dissecans, ligamentum teres injuries (and reconstruction), Iliopsoas tendinopathy (or 'snapping psoas'), trochanteric pain syndrome, snapping iliotibial band, osteoarthritis (controversial), sciatic nerve compression (piriformis syndrome), ischiofemoral impingement and direct assessment of hip replacement.

Hip arthroscopy is a widely adopted treatment for a range of conditions, including labral tears, femoroacetabular impingement, osteochondritis dissecans.

"Keyhole surgery" of the shoulder as it is popularly known has reduced inpatient time and rehabilitation requirements and is often a daycare procedure.

Many invasive spine procedures involve the removal of bone, muscle, and ligaments to access and treat problematic areas.

In some cases, thoracic (mid-spine) conditions require a surgeon to access the problem area through the rib cage, dramatically lengthening recovery time.

Recovery times are greatly reduced due to the relatively small size of incisions, and many patients are treated as outpatients.

[27] Professor Kenji Takagi in Tokyo has traditionally been credited with performing the first arthroscopic examination of a knee joint, in 1919.

The Danish physician Severin Nordentoft reported on arthroscopies of the knee joint in 1912 at the Proceedings of the 41st Congress of the German Society of Surgeons at Berlin.

[28] He called the procedure (in Latin) arthroscopia genu, and used sterile saline or boric acid solution as his optic media, and entering the joint by a portal on the outer border of the patella.

Torn knee cartilage or ligaments previously would require an arthrotomy procedure and might mean a year or more of rehab or the end of a career.

[39] While many were skeptical at first, Jackson's efforts to develop, teach and popularize the procedure helped to prolong the careers of athletes such as Bobby Orr, Willis Reed, Joan Benoit and Mary Lou Retton.

[40][41][42] Commonly, irrigation fluid may leak (extravasates) into the surrounding soft tissue, causing edema which is generally a temporary phenomenon, taking anywhere from 7–15 days to completely settle.