I haven't played serious tennis in over year, and haven't hit a ball in about 2 months.
A few years back, I had knee pain and swelling. MRI led to arthoscopy, and the doctor found a small lesion and performed microfracture. Seemed to get better.
More recently, swelling returned. Doctor advised another arthoscopy. I decided to lose some weight, be conservative. It got better, then got worse.
A month ago, went in for the arthoscopy. Doctor found that I had a grade 4 cartilage lesion (the worst grade) below the kneecap in the trochlea, as well as one on the inside top of the femur. In his words, it was so bad he didn't know how I could even walk.
He's now advising that short of a knee replacement, my only option is to do ACI - a procedure where they grow tissue in a lab, open the knee up, and stitch a patch over the lesion, injecting the new tissue in there.
This doctor is world renowned (ortho for the SF Giants) and has performed many of these ACI procedures.
I'm obviously going to get a second opinion, but I'm also thinking of checking out the Egoscue clinic in SF, since buying the book alone didn't help much (I confess, I never made it past page 5).
Has anyone else had this ACI procedure? What's worse than the ACI is this - he's suggesting that unless we correct my bone alignment, the repair will eventually wear away too, so he wants to "shave" down part of the bone as well. This sounds incredibly unpleasant...
A few years back, I had knee pain and swelling. MRI led to arthoscopy, and the doctor found a small lesion and performed microfracture. Seemed to get better.
More recently, swelling returned. Doctor advised another arthoscopy. I decided to lose some weight, be conservative. It got better, then got worse.
A month ago, went in for the arthoscopy. Doctor found that I had a grade 4 cartilage lesion (the worst grade) below the kneecap in the trochlea, as well as one on the inside top of the femur. In his words, it was so bad he didn't know how I could even walk.
He's now advising that short of a knee replacement, my only option is to do ACI - a procedure where they grow tissue in a lab, open the knee up, and stitch a patch over the lesion, injecting the new tissue in there.
This doctor is world renowned (ortho for the SF Giants) and has performed many of these ACI procedures.
I'm obviously going to get a second opinion, but I'm also thinking of checking out the Egoscue clinic in SF, since buying the book alone didn't help much (I confess, I never made it past page 5).
Has anyone else had this ACI procedure? What's worse than the ACI is this - he's suggesting that unless we correct my bone alignment, the repair will eventually wear away too, so he wants to "shave" down part of the bone as well. This sounds incredibly unpleasant...