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Knee Conditions
Tear of the Anterior Cruciate Ligament (Blown Out Knee) The anterior cruciate ligament of the knee is one of four principal knee ligaments. However, it seems to be the most important ligament in terms of a sense of well-being and stability of the knee. When torn, it is now routinely rebuilt utilizing: a cadaver allograft or portion of the patellar tendon or hamstrings tendons as a donor source. I utilize an arthroscopically aided approach in my cruciate reconstructions, and find that with proper postoperative rehabilitation, the prognosis is quite good for returning to competitive sports. Arthritis of the Knee Arthritis is a gradual wearing down of the smooth gliding surfaces of the knee joint. When this occurs, raw bone becomes exposed within the knee joint which becomes painful with activity. There is a gradation of treatments available to today's well trained orthopedic surgeon, and treatment protocols should be tailored to the specific conditions, age, and demands of the patient. Meniscal Cartilage Tear Meniscal Cartilages are the "shock absorbers" between the femur and the tibia bone at the knee joint. A torn cartilage is the most common condition of the knee which ends up requiring surgical intervention. This is an outpatient arthroscopic surgical procedure and patients almost always go home the same day. Patients are usually allowed to walk on the leg as soon as it feels comfortable, and a short course of physical therapy is of benefit. Advise on the amount of time away from work is highly dependent of the nature of my patient's work. For example, an accountant or lawyer undergoing arthroscopic surgery on a Friday can usually be on the job Monday (if they really want to), however an unskilled farm laborer under workman's compensation many times will require much more time to recover before feeling up to returning to the rigors of walking up and down tomato fields. Various Runners' Conditions Affecting the Knee There are a number of various overuse type syndromes affecting the knee. The more serious conditions frequently are surgical problems and are covered in the topics above. Other conditions can occur from a multitude of reasons such as poor training practice, old running shoes, and well as running surface issues. Iliotibial Band Syndrome is an inflammatory condition affecting the outside of the knee and presents with pain particularly when running downhill. Pes Anserine bursitis is a similar condition on the inner half of the knee and would also be classified as an inflammatory disorder. Limited Cartilage Defects of the Knee Frequently injuries can occur to the articular cartilage of the knee which are focal in nature. Past surgical treatments of these injuries have included drilling of the defect, abrading the defect, or even cutting the bones to change the weight bearing surfaces so as to lessen the forces affecting the cartilage defect. New treatments are evolving and currently the Carticel articular cartilage regeneration is gaining increasing interest amongst orthopedic surgeons. This procedure has been utilized in Sweden for about eight years and has only been clinically introduced into the United States in 1995.
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