anyone have knee cartilage surgery: microfracture or newer replacement approach?

[wallymann]

having issues with a knee, affects my running not sure where this road may lead, but i'm curious what folks experiences have been with these approaches to address damaged cartilage.

[JWDR]

I had the outer third of my meniscus removed due to a bucket tear that I was unable to get timely surgery for.

I babied my knee for about a year due to the doctor saying I only had so many good miles left before I would need a total knee replacement. After awhile I decided to start running again.

I currently put about 25-30 road running miles on it a week. I had my last MRI about a year ago and there wasn’t really any extra wear on the bones.

Shoes wise I run in a pair of Hokas and two pairs of Nike Free knits. I pick up whatever is closer to the door and can tell any real difference in my 4-5 runs.

If you are talking about articular cartilage injury, I have no personal experience but can’t see there being any real difference.

[wallymann]

If you are talking about articular cartilage injury, I have no personal experience but can’t see there being any real difference.

this is for cases where one has a hole worn thru the load bearing surface of knee cartilage.

http://orthoinfo.aaos.org/figures/A00422F04.jpg

micro-fracture is one technique to address that using microscopic injury/healing to grow replacement cartilage in the affected area, but the new material isnt exactly the same as from the factory (not as durable). this technique has been around for maybe 15 years or so with limited long-term benefit.

a newer technique is using a cartilage graft to repair the damage using the patients actual cartilage (a small sample is cultured/grown to create a larger patch). the new cartilage is intended to be the same durable stuff as came from the factory. this is new, been in trials for 5 years or so and very promising.

[Mikej]

Check over on Slowtwitch forums, they have quite a bit of posting on meniscus tears.

[znfdl]

My wife had a combination of stem cells and PRP. Her meniscus healed itself and no more arthritis in her knee, but it took about two years to fully heal.

[sitzmark]

High-level ski buddy had microfracture procedure(s) - unfortunately didn't take. Had to scale back aggressiveness on snow.

He's hardcore mtn and road cyclist as well and still pounding the cranks like always. College-bound son has been high level competitor in area high school mtb/road competition and is just now beginning to take dad to task on key segments.

Good luck with chosen course of treatment. Hope you're back to 100% whatever you do.

[batman1425]

1 surgery and three separate tears to my meniscus. Depending on severity, conservative care is as effective as surgery. Also cartilage doesn't grow back so anything that removes material can lead to long term issues.


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[Rpoole8537]

I had microfracture surgery about 14 years ago. Somewhat successful, but it took 2-3 years to heal after the surgery. I had a good bit of pain from the "fracture". It was less pain than before the surgery. My doctor told me then that it would not last long term. I'm having some pain now, so I just dial back a bit on the miles and big climbs. My doctor told me about graphs and I'm glad to hear that it is becoming more mainstream. I would not look forward to replacement surgery.