Debating Microfracture Surgery--Please Help

and i'll echo Augur -

had my MF last Sept - almost 6 months to the day today. My OS indicated
6 months to a year and we'd know the outcome and whether i could continue
my ultradistance running.

started running at 4 months - though only 2 miles every other day and with
alot of discomfort and some swelling.

At 6 months i'm up to 10 mile long runs on rolling hills, i can run up and down
hill fairly comfortably, hike, and any/all yardwork around the house. Fairly
minimal pain and no swelling. Some days are better then others. No swelling
though which is a good sign.

I can definitely feel the weakness spoken of by NBA players who claim they've
lost their explosiveness. Trying to run fast is not possible - due to weak and
shortened muscles, particularly the hamstring on that leg. Lots of stretching
is needed

But - for now it's work out better then i had expected. I've definitely pushed
the envelope though in recovery and we'll see how that works out in the long
term. But as i get stronger the results get better.

Good luck in your decision. It's definitely a long-term commitment but as Augur
states - do the right things and your chances improve greatly.

Thanks to all who posted. I've scheduled surgery for late June, but I may still opt out :-) I will look into those injections, though.

Best of luck to all.

Hi,
I’ve had an absolute nightmare (blood clots, extreme pain) of an experience with MF, and still almost a year later can’t walk. It was on a weight baring region, whereas it sounds like yours is not. I’m saying this b/c you mentioned being NWB for 2 weeks, whereas mine was for 8 weeks (and has not stopped). My experience is not typical, and even though I’ve lost all activity I could do prior to surgery e.g. walking, skiing, stairclimbing, limited running, cycling, etc. . I’ve meet a decent number of people in PT who have had success.

There are multiple factors involved in it working, age, dedication to rehab, etc, so I’d try to pin my OS down to an exact percent he believes it would work in your case. It is not a very technically difficult procedure from an OS point of view, but the recovery is hit or miss, and complications are possible.
Also 6-8 weeks IMO is not near enough time to determine to recover (more like 6months), plus it’s not like you one day are done, if it does work it’s a lengthy recovery process. So if you prepared for it, and understand it might fail no matter how dedicated you are to rehab, and can live with that I’d say go for it. There is a good chance it could improve your quality of life.

One thought, is to try the gel injections before micrFX. They can provide immediate relief in an outpatient environment. They are temporary, but work for like 5 months or so. If they do the trick, I hold off on micro for the time being.
GL . .

Hi to all loyal posters,

I have read many of these threads, and it seems as though MF is a HUGE ordeal, which I am not really prepared to go through. I am almost 40, female, with three children under 8, making the NWB and no driving recovery very daunting. I have always been athletic, played basketball in high school and water polo in high school and college, and in the past 15 years have been extremely active at the gym. I work out 3 hours/day in the gym on the Airdyne bike, Elliptical machine, VersaClimber (like a StairMaster but with arms that move) and swimming, plus hiking, road biking and skiing on top of that. My right knee has been hurting with squatting, skiing and going up stairs for several years, but in the past few months it had gotten significantly worse--enough that I am considering putting the skis away for the winter, which is unheard of for me. As it is, I can only tolerate soft powder and groomed runs. I also recently developed numbness on the right side of the knee, which we believe is being caused by inflammatory pressure on a nerve.

My OS has always just told me to do PT, which I did half-heartedly--he said there was no sugical issue. Until now. In December I had an MRI and the official report was "Significant chondromalacia of the patella, otherwise unremarkable"; my OS says signs suggest to him that I have a patch of no cartilage to the bone. He thinks that if he goes in to scope, he will almost certainly find those conditions and has recommended an MF procedure. He made it sound like the recovery is no big deal, 2 weeks NWB, then another 6 in a brace, limited if any time on the machine that moves the knee. he even said I could expect to travel after 2 weeks (on a plane), but after reading these posts, that all seems overly optimistic!

My questions is this: What is the real goal of having an MF done? I am in significant pain when I ski, and I live in a ski town so that is problematic. I also really cannot do stairclimbing machines or uphill hikes without pain any more. But other than that, I can bike, walk, run (I'm not a runner, but I can run to catch a bus just fine), swim and play with my kids without any significant pain, often without any pain at all. I am very worried about losing more ground than I have now after surgery. I would be OK with a 6-8 week recovery if I knew that then I'd be back to "normal," and pain free, but it appears most people need 6-12 months just to be able to walk normally for more than 1/2 mile! That would make me nuts, but it also doesn't seem worthwhile, given my current level of discomfort.

If I opt to just have a simple scope to clean out the messy cartilage in the knee, what am I risking? Is there a reason to do MF beyond "I can't live with this pain anymore"?

Thank you ALL so much!!

Melanie