Cartilage Damage
Focal cartilage injuries — caught early, they can be treated. Ignored, they become arthritis.
Overview
Understanding cartilage damage
Articular cartilage is the glass-smooth surface that caps the ends of your bones. Unlike most tissue, it has almost no blood supply — which means an injured patch cannot repair itself. A focal defect in an otherwise healthy knee is a different problem from widespread arthritis, and it has different solutions.
Cartilage restoration is a rapidly advancing corner of orthopedics. The right procedure depends on the size and location of the defect, your age and activity, and the alignment of your leg.
Symptoms
What it feels like
- Localized pain with activity, often deep in the joint
- Recurrent swelling after sport or exertion
- Catching or grinding sensations
- Pain out of proportion to what X-rays show — plain films are often normal
Common causes
Why it happens
- Acute trauma — a hard pivot, dashboard injury, or kneecap dislocation
- Repetitive high-impact loading
- Osteochondritis dissecans in younger patients
- Untreated ligament instability that overloads one surface
Diagnosis
How it's diagnosed
MRI with cartilage-specific sequences maps the defect's size, depth, and location. Because focal defects hide from X-rays, patients often arrive after months of "normal" imaging — a targeted MRI and an exam that reproduces the symptoms usually settle the question.
Treatment
The full range of options
Non-surgical
Load management & strengthening
Small, stable lesions can remain quiet for years with smart training and strong supporting muscle.
Injection therapy
Anti-inflammatory or orthobiologic injections can calm symptoms while you and Dr. Johnson monitor the lesion.
Surgical
Chondroplasty & debridement
Smoothing unstable cartilage flaps arthroscopically to relieve mechanical symptoms.
Marrow stimulation (microfracture)
Perforating the bone beneath small defects to recruit healing cells — best suited to small lesions in lower-demand knees.
Osteochondral transfer & cartilage transplantation
Moving healthy cartilage-and-bone plugs into the defect, or implanting matrix-grown cartilage cells (MACI-type procedures) for larger lesions in younger, active patients.
Recovery
The road back
Cartilage procedures reward patience. Restored tissue matures over months, so recovery involves a protected weight-bearing phase, motion work, then graduated loading — commonly six to twelve months before full return to impact sport, depending on the procedure.
Dr. Johnson's approach
Dr. Johnson matches the procedure to the lesion — and to the person. Small defect in a lower-demand knee? Often the smallest intervention wins. Large lesion in a 28-year-old athlete? That's a restoration conversation. Alignment, stability, and the meniscus are always evaluated together, because cartilage work fails when the environment around it is ignored.
Straight answers
Frequently Asked Questions
The information on this site is for education only and is not a medical diagnosis or a substitute for professional medical advice. Every patient is different — please consult Dr. Johnson or a qualified provider about your specific condition.
Ready when you are
Take the first step past cartilage damage
A focused evaluation, an honest conversation, and a plan built for your goals.