The joint in your knee is composed of cartilage, which protects the bones. Damage to knee cartilage can result in painful symptoms. It can result from overuse or acute sports injury. The seriousness of the damage will determine the appropriate treatment and recovery timetable. Cartilage damage in the knee can make it hard to do activities such as walking and running. You will have to deal with knee pain and recurring knee swelling. Because of this, you want to consider scottsdale cartilage repair as soon as possible.
Knee Cartilage Injury Causes
Your knee cartilage can get injured due to activities where you could fall or be in hard contact with someone. Such contact can impact your knee, which tears the cartilage inside. A knee cartilage injury can result from a hard hit to your knee, a traumatic knee twisting, and repetitive impacts to the joint in your knee. Sports such as football, running, soccer, skiing, and lacrosse are common causes of this injury.
Treatment Options
How your doctor will treat your knee cartilage damage depends on the kind of cartilage affected. Other determining factors include whether the damage is due to a tear or degeneration as well as your age and physical condition.
After an acute injury, you may be advised to rest, apply ice, and take over-the-counter anti-inflammatory medications to minimize swelling. Cartilage can take a long time to heal due to a lack of direct blood supply. Sometimes, surgery is necessary to help heal cartilage tears. Your doctor may also recommend physical therapy and stretching to strengthen joint muscles, improve stability, and help with recovery.
Surgery for Cartilage Damage
Arthroscopic surgery can treat articular cartilage for symptom relief and damaged cartilage restoration. Surgery can be performed to stimulate repair of cartilage or replace knee cartilage. In case of more serious cartilage damage, an arthroscopic surgery may be performed first, followed by a bigger repair surgery. These procedures have lengthy recovery times, which can take up to a year.
Cartilage Injury Prevention
Doing proper warm-up and maintaining a strong knee joint can reduce the risk of cartilage injury. Also, to prevent this injury, you can perform exercise and stretching to strengthen your knees. Make sure you take part in activities you are fit enough for. To minimize your risk of abnormal bending or twisting, focus on improving your athletic techniques. Finally, you can avoid damaging your knee cartilage by maintaining a healthy weight.
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