My Knee - The Early Days, Part II

In December, 2004, I was ramping up my running in preparation for a marathon I had entered in 2/05. After a long run on a snowy day, I noticed I had quite a bit of swelling of my knee, along with swelling _behind_ my knee. I recognized this as a popliteal cyst (aka Baker's cyst). I was alarmed about the swelling, so I made an appointment with an orthopedic surgeon. He agreed this was a popliteal cyst, and suggested an MRI to evaluate further, since popliteal cysts usually indicate damage within the knee joint. I liked that idea, since the knee had been a little sore for a long time, so I figured it would be good to find out what was going on in there.

The MRI showed a full thickness defect in the articular cartilage of the trochlea (the groove in the femur bone where the patella (knee cap) fits. There was considerable swelling in the bone under the defect. It seemed to hurt more after I knew there was something seriously wrong...

I curtailed my running after this, although I continued to run a few times a week. If I ran more than about 5 miles, the knee would hurt. I saw a physical therapist to see if building up the muscles on the inner part of my thigh would help. It did not.

In February, 2006, I went on a ski vacation to Montana. Great snow, but my knee really didn't do well. A lot of swelling and some pain, too. Upon my return, I again consulted my orthopedic surgeon, and we decided to go ahead with an arthroscopy to definitively evaluate the knee and to see if there was anything that he could do to help. The arthroscopy confirmed the "hole" in the trochlear cartilage, and also showed considerable thinning of the articular cartilage on the underside of the patella. The surgeon removed some loose bits of cartilage and smoothed things out, but I didn't notice any improvement. I had another course of physical therapy with a more expert therapist, and I made an appointment with another orthopedist who specializes in cartilage repair. I had to wait a long time for the appointment (8 months), but I wasn't in a hurry since I knew that any surgery to try to repair the "hole" would be a big one.