London Cartilage Clinic
Explore expert articles on cartilage care, regenerative treatments, and practical recovery advice from our specialist team.
OATS generally offers more durable preservation than microfracture for symptomatic focal knee cartilage defects, because it restores native hyaline cartilage on bone rather than fibrocartilage repair tissue. When varus or valgus malalignment is driving overload, high tibial or distal femoral osteotomy is often the key corrective step.
Lipogems knee injections usually cause a few days of local swelling, tenderness or bruising at the knee and fat-harvest sites. Symptom improvement, when it occurs, tends to build over months, with pain and function often improving by 6 to 12 months rather than in the first week.
Knee osteoarthritis usually develops through gradual pain, stiffness and reduced movement, while a partial ACL tear more often follows a twist or pivot and leaves the knee feeling unstable or likely to give way. Non-operative ACL rehab usually takes at least three months, with persistent instability signalling a need for reassessment.
One-sided lower back and hip pain is common, caused by muscle imbalances, injuries, sciatica, or medical conditions like disc bulges. Factors such as posture, lifestyle, and gender-specific issues can contribute. Home relief includes targeted stretches and proper sleeping positions to reduce pain and strengthen supporting muscles. Professional evaluation is vital for severe symptoms like numbness or persistent pain, often involving imaging like MRI for diagnosis. Prevention focuses on maintaining posture, regular exercise, and early intervention to support long-term recovery. Consult healthcare professionals for personalized care and management.
Cartilage repair can delay knee replacement when damage is limited to a focal symptomatic defect rather than spread across the joint, with MACI carrying the strongest long-term evidence — only 7.4% progressing to total knee arthroplasty in a 10+ year systematic review. Other techniques such as ChondroFiller and single-stage cartilage repairs show encouraging short-term gains in small series but less mature long-term data. Age, defect size, alignment, meniscus status and activity goals all shape whether preservation is realistic, and established end-stage arthritis is a different clinical problem that usually points towards replacement rather than restoration.
Cortisone is the more predictable option for hip osteoarthritis when the goal is short-term relief of a flare, with benefit usually lasting up to about 12 weeks and no clear advantage by 6 months. PRP sits outside routine care and is more often considered in earlier or mild-to-moderate disease; evidence is mixed, with some trials favouring it over hyaluronic acid while a placebo-controlled trial in grade 2 or 3 hips found no meaningful difference from saline. Neither injection is cartilage regrowth, neither reliably fixes advanced bone-on-bone arthritis, and the choice depends on speed of relief, stage of disease, tolerance for uncertainty and the recovery plan.
