Mark Wahlberg Explains Why He Prefers ‘Corrective Exercises’ Over Surgery to Heal Torn Meniscus

Mark Wahlberg revealed some gruesome details of his torn meniscus injury to People, but stipulated that he wouldn’t be having surgery to fix the issue. True to form, Wahlberg is relying on exercise to cure his ills.

“I prefer to try to do corrective exercises versus surgery. It's not my thing,” he revealed.

Wahlberg tore his meniscus on the first day of filming his new inspirational adventure movie, Arthur the King, which is in cinemas now. The film follows a team of adventure racers who are buoyed and encouraged by a stray pup.

“All my training went out the window," Wahlberg told Entertainment Tonight last month of his injury. "Then it's basically just about getting through it…I got to understand the suffering a little bit more than I wanted to.”

Wahlberg told People that it never occurred to him to stop filming the movie, which he also produced, to allow recovery time. The Boogie Nights star was nervous about shutting the film down, fearful that he’d be responsible for the cast and crew being out of work if they couldn’t mount the production again.

"I just said, ‘You know what? I got to kind of try to tough it out and see if I can get through the movie,’” he recalled.

But that didn’t mean the crew went easy on him. Wahlberg recalled a day in which he had to zipline across a steep ravine with absolutely no preparation.

“I remember coming back from a trip home, and the first day I was back I just walked up on this platform,” Wahlberg explained, “and I hadn't seen the zip line before, and they were like, ‘All right, you're going to go out with the cameraman.’

“And I was like, ‘What?’ I hadn't seen anybody else do it, and I hadn't been on it yet, and that was pretty nerve-wracking,” Wahlberg admitted.

In a strange twist, Wahlberg’s Arthur the King co-star Simu Liu recently revealed that he performed “I’m Just Ken” at last weekend's Oscars with a torn Achilles tendon. It seems he learned something from Wahlberg about toughing it out for the sake of art.

Arthur the King is directed by Simon Cellan-Jones, who also helmed Wahlberg’s December release, The Family Plan. Arthur the King has gotten mixed reviews, with The New York Times calling it “part gooey dog drama, part survivalist joyride.” It’s in cinemas everywhere today.