Mark Wahlberg won't be having surgery after suffering a knee injury

Mark Wahlberg won't be having surgery after suffering a knee injury.

The 52-year-old actor tore his meniscus - a piece of cartilage in the knee that acts as a shock absorber - on the first day of shooting his role as adventure racer based on athlete Mikael Lindnord in 'Arthur the King' but has chosen not to have an operation because he would prefer to do "corrective exercises" to deal with it.

He told this week's edition of People magazine: "I prefer to try to do corrective exercises versus surgery. It's not my thing

The Hollywood star explained that when shooting his role as the famed athlete - who memorably befriended a stray dog during the World Championships in 2014 in Ecuador - he was running along a hill when his knee "snapped and tore" but refused surgery for fear of what may happen when it heals.

He said: "[I was] running along a hill where we went up the embankment and just jumped off a little rock, landed on it wrong. I kind of snapped my knee back and it tore, but when I got it x-rayed, the doctor was pretty adamant about doing the surgery because what happens is, if it locks, it can lock in a bent and flexed position and then you cannot move your knee until they perform the surgery.

"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."