How To Repair Knee Cartilage Naturally

Last updated on 16 October 2022

Dr Tan Chyn Hong, orthopaedic surgeon at Mount Elizabeth Novena Hospital, explains the treatments available to repair or regenerate damaged cartilage.

What is cartilage?

Cartilage is essentially a white shiny material that helps cushion and cover the surface area where the bones meet the joints. It serves equally a lubricating surface every bit well as a shock cushion. Cartilage damage can be seen as a hole or crater on the otherwise smooth surface of the articulation. If left untreated, the articulation can become stiff, bloated and painful. Information technology may even progress to a stage that requires a full joint replacement with metal and plastic components.

Cartilage regeneration is a procedure that attempts to restore damaged cartilage past harnessing the torso's cells to regrow or replace lost cartilage.

Most of these treatments can exist done by arthroscopy (more commonly known as keyhole surgery), providing benefits of less pain, less haemorrhage, and faster recovery. However, some injuries will still require a traditional open incision technique where a bigger cut is fabricated to expose the cartilage damage.

Talk to a specialist to learn more than about your knee or articulation pain and learn which treatments may be suitable for you.

half dozen handling options to repair damaged cartilage

i. Arthroscopic debridement

Arthroscopic debridement
For the less severely damaged cartilage, all that is needed is a 'clean up' process. During this procedure, a video photographic camera is inserted through a small incision and saline is introduced to wash out the joint. Washout expels whatsoever loose debris. Debridement involves removing the damaged cartilage, and this is often performed concurrently with the washout.

two. Microfracture

Microfracture is a surgical process to treat areas of damaged cartilage. Information technology is done to stimulate the growth of new cartilage in patients with a small-scale expanse of damaged cartilage. The procedure is often performed inside the knee joint, only may also be used to treat other joints such as, the hip, ankle, and shoulder.

For injuries smaller than 2cm², microfracture is the recommended procedure. It involves puncturing small holes in the hard interface between the cartilage and the underlying bone to create channels for the bone marrow cells to surface and fill the crater. The small holes grade a blood clot rich in stem cells and eventually remodels into fibrocartilage. Fibrocartilage is a tough, dumbo and elastic material that helps make full in the torn function of the cartilage, hence repairing the lesion.

3. Autologous chondrocyte implantation (ACI)

ACI is virtually frequently recommended for younger patients who have single defects larger than 2cm^two. This is a 2-stride process that takes several weeks to consummate. The first process involves extracting healthy cartilage cells from a non-weight bearing area of the knee through minimally invasive surgery. The cells are and then cloned and grown in the laboratory for 6 – 8 weeks. Thereafter, a surgical procedure is done to implant the newly grown cells into the damaged area.

4. Articular cartilage repair: Matrix-induced autologous chondrocyte implantation (MACI)

Matrix-induced ACI
This is a ii-pace procedure that repairs the articular cartilage impairment by using the patient'south own cultured cartilage cells. The first pace is similar to that in ACI where salubrious cartilage cells are extracted from a non-weight bearing expanse of the knee. The cells are and then cultivated on a membrane. Several weeks later, the membrane is placed into the defect. This helps the cartilage regenerate.

Articular cartilage is the smooth, white tissue that covers the ends of basic where they come together to form joints. The presence of cartilage in the joints helps in movement and allows bones to glide over each other with fiddling friction. Daily vesture and tear or an injury may issue in impairment to the articular cartilage.

5. Osteochondral autograft transplantation

In this one-stride procedure, the surgeon harvests a 'plug' of healthy tissue and bone from an unaffected, non-weight bearing expanse of the patient's own joint. The new graft is transferred to replace the damage area. When multiple 'plugs' are used, the result is like a mosaic blueprint, hence the term mosaicplasty.

6. Stem jail cell therapy

Stem cells, or more accurately mesenchymal stalk cells (MSC) have been used in a inquiry setting to repair and regenerate cartilage impairment. MSCs are establish in multiple human developed tissues including os marrow and adipose tissues. They have the power to differentiate into bone, cartilage, muscle, and adipose tissue. Human clinical trials have been published showing promising results but long term studies are needed earlier it tin can be utilised routinely in the normal clinical setting.

Post-operative care and recovery fourth dimension

Post-operative care
After the cartilage repair procedure, there is normally a flow (6 – eight weeks) during which the patient is required to utilize crutches. This is to reduce pressure on the healing cartilage. The time taken for consummate recovery could be up to 3 – half-dozen months.

Consult a specialist nigh your knee or joint hurting and the treatments available.

Article contributed by Dr Tan Chyn Hong, orthopaedic surgeon at Mount Elizabeth Novena Infirmary

References

Articular Cartilage Restoration (northward.d) Retrieved September 21, 2022, from https://orthoinfo.aaos.org/en/treatment/articular-cartilage-restoration

Microfracture Surgery for Cartilage Harm (2020, January thirty) Retrieved September 21, 2022, from https://www.verywellhealth.com/microfracture-2549485