Lead Stories: Saturday, July 5, 2008
Posted September 10th, 2007 at 8:00 PM by Lisa Cieplechowicz
As every athlete knows, properly functioning knees are a critical aspect of virtually any form of exercise. Walking, running, lifting, kicking - seems obvious to say, but without your knees your body would be at a severe loss. So what do you do when you sustain an injury to your knee?
Though accidents and injuries are an unavoidable part of the world of sports, certain types are undeniably worse for your body to endure. Take, for instance, damage caused to knee cartilage. Cartilage, once damaged, can never heal. Rather, it continues to break down until it is completely gone, leaving the knee in constant pain and the person unable to participate in many normal activities.
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Posted September 4th, 2007 at 9:35 AM by Hariz Siddiqui
The ends of bones are soft, so they must be covered with a thick white gristle called cartilage. Many people suffer from knee pain because the cartilage is damaged. They may have osteoarthritis in which the cartilage wears away, or they may have damaged cartilage in an accident or by playing sports. Once damaged, cartilage can never heal; the person spends the rest of his life losing cartilage until the cartilage is completely gone and the knee hurts 24 hours a day.
Until recently, the only effective treatment has been to cut out the ends of the bones of the knee and replace the entire knee joint. Now for some people, a simpler procedure may be effective: partial knee replacement, called unicompartmental knee arthroplasty. The surgeon removes just part of the cartilages and bones on the upper and lower legs on one side of the knee.
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