Knee Cartilage

[Lonnie]

Does anyone know, if all or most of the knee Cartilage was taken away, what would be the effect on the kneecap?. Thanks,

[Hamish]

There are several areas in the knee which have cartlage on them. If you are talking about the cartlage on the femur - main prob would be with the femur - extreame pain, scar growth etc, unless an alternative was put in the cartalages place. As to the knee cap - not sure. Why are you asking the q?

[Peghead]

My dad banged his knee really hard and it turned the cartilage to pulp. He was in a lot of pain and was in plaster for a few months from hip to toe, so thats what happens when you damage it. Not sure what the effect of having it removed would be though.

Hope this has helped a little bit!

[Lonnie]

Hi Hamish, I had a torn cartilage, the surgeon cut round the tear, but because it was a big one, quite a lot of cartilage was taken away, since then, (eight weeks ago), i've been in pain accross the top of the kneecap whenever I stand from a sitting position, can't crouch, and the kneecap feels really wobbly, My GP put me through some exercises, but won't let me go back to work, because of public safety.

[dancealot13]

Cartilage protects the bones from rubbing against eachother. If there isn't any cartilage there will be incredible pain (eventually you would be unable to walk). Pain isn't the only concern, but also the friction that would occur without cartilage would lead to sever bone loss, and eventually deformaty of the knee cap. But there are a lot of procedures to fix knee problems. They can take cartilage from other parts of your body etc.

[Belle Fast]

I think this may not be as bad as you think, but you should get your surgeon or your GP to refer you to a physiotherapist to discuss it and get an exercise programme.

The surgeon saying he took 'quite alot of cartilage' could mean anything. The impact of the loss of this depends on where it was removed from and your surgeon or physio would help you work this out.

After a knee injury or operation your body naturally protects the injured knee by putting more weight on the good one. This weakens the muscles of the injured knee and can cause pain. This is why rehab exercises are so important.

You may already know this stuff but hope it helps.

[Lonnie]

Thanks for your answers, they explain a lot, I think after reading them, that the main problem may be not the right physio, this was done privately, my firm paid for it, but all the physio I got, was instructions to lay down, bend and straighten the knee, no backup or hands on, because of the amount of money the firm paid out.