Cartilage (known as articular cartilage or hyaline cartilage) is a highly advanced and crucial connective tissue found at all joint areas (where two or more bones meet).  Its main function is to provide a smooth, lubricated surface for the joints to glide over easily, without getting stuck or jammed.  Sometimes though, this smooth surface becomes damaged or degenerated and this is where problems can start to occur.

When the body senses an issue with a particular biological area, it can go into over-drive and what it thinks is helping you actually becomes destructive.  When we do activity (literally any form of activity) our body will get rid of old bone cells and also develop new ones to replace them.

Our body is designed to be strong and robust, however, our bone replacement system can sometimes break down and the replacement of these bone cells slows down, especially as we get older.  This is when we can start to experience pain.  On the other hand, sometimes our body can actually create TOO MANY bone cells at a joint and will begin to lay down excessive bone cells and this is when we get what are called ‘bony spurs’.  This can then affect the smoothness of the joint glide.

What is critical to understand here is that there are conservative solutions to these issues which will reduce your pain and get you back to a physically active lifestyle again.  So many people we have treated have come to Bodylogics after having unsuccessful surgery for this condition and we often spend a lot of time explaining and offering advice and education to these patients on what is now happening with their bodies and how they can best manage it.

It is important to state here that no matter how much Physiotherapy or other manual therapy you have, a degenerative cartilage will not repair itself. We work with you to slow the process down. Again, we cannot change this process as such, as depressing as it can be to hear, our work is designed to help you save as much of this healthy cartilage as possible. We do this through education and designing an appropriate exercise plan for you to help manage the condition.

In some cases though, our intervention may not be successful. This is where we may consider surgical intervention to help. In the cases of sub-chondral bone defects or chondral lesions, surgery may ne immediately required. However, successful outcomes from surgery are usually predicted by the level of function and strength that you have prior to having your operation. We help with this process to give you the greatest chance of success.

We are here and on hand to help.  If you wished to discuss how we can help you then please feel free to call us directly to speak with a member of our team or fill out our contact form on this page and we will have a member of our team get back to you as soon as possible.

We look forward to welcoming you to Bodylogics in the very near future.