I had patellofemoral arthroplasty done on my left knee with Arthrosurface Hemicap Wave Kahuna implant on the morning of 4/2. The surgeon also did arthroscopic lateral meniscus debridement and lateral retinacular lengthening.
First, a bit background about myself. I am a 52-year-old male, and am a runner/climber/skier/cyclist. Over the years, I ran several full marathons, with the latest being 2015 Boston marathon. I climbed a lot in PNW, summitted Rainier over a dozen times, and climbed Denali in 2017. I also ski 30-40 days a season, and bike regularly, including a couple of 1000+ miles bike tours.
In fall of 2017, I started to develop pain around my left kneecap. This forced me to stop running and climbing. I kept on skiing and biking. In spring of 2019, after a 60-day ski season, the condition of my left knee deteriorated quickly. While X-Ray still looked normal, MRI showed a small full-thickness cartilage defect under my kneecap. I then rested for 2 years, with walking, moderate biking, and knee related PT as the only regular exercises. I also had a PRP injection at the end of 2019.
All these effort did not really improve the condition of my knee. What finally made me decide to get surgery is my skiing experience early in December of 2020. After skipping the while ski season last season, I put on ski boots again, only to find that I felt quite a bit of pain on both my knees on every turn, left knee being worse than the right. I ended up only skiing for 2 hours that day and had pain walking up and down stairs the following 5-6 days. I went skiing again, the same thing repeated.
Over the last 3-4 years I did a lot of research on treatment of patella cartilage defect. After talking to 3 different orthopedic surgeons, I decided to go with patellofemoral arthroplasty with Arthrosurface Hemicap implant.
I did pre-op strengthening as suggested by some forum members. Interestingly, my symptom actually improved a bit after the month long pre-hab. I even had a slight hesitation about the surgery but convinced myself that surgery was still a better choice given my active lifestyle.
First, a bit background about myself. I am a 52-year-old male, and am a runner/climber/skier/cyclist. Over the years, I ran several full marathons, with the latest being 2015 Boston marathon. I climbed a lot in PNW, summitted Rainier over a dozen times, and climbed Denali in 2017. I also ski 30-40 days a season, and bike regularly, including a couple of 1000+ miles bike tours.
In fall of 2017, I started to develop pain around my left kneecap. This forced me to stop running and climbing. I kept on skiing and biking. In spring of 2019, after a 60-day ski season, the condition of my left knee deteriorated quickly. While X-Ray still looked normal, MRI showed a small full-thickness cartilage defect under my kneecap. I then rested for 2 years, with walking, moderate biking, and knee related PT as the only regular exercises. I also had a PRP injection at the end of 2019.
All these effort did not really improve the condition of my knee. What finally made me decide to get surgery is my skiing experience early in December of 2020. After skipping the while ski season last season, I put on ski boots again, only to find that I felt quite a bit of pain on both my knees on every turn, left knee being worse than the right. I ended up only skiing for 2 hours that day and had pain walking up and down stairs the following 5-6 days. I went skiing again, the same thing repeated.
Over the last 3-4 years I did a lot of research on treatment of patella cartilage defect. After talking to 3 different orthopedic surgeons, I decided to go with patellofemoral arthroplasty with Arthrosurface Hemicap implant.
I did pre-op strengthening as suggested by some forum members. Interestingly, my symptom actually improved a bit after the month long pre-hab. I even had a slight hesitation about the surgery but convinced myself that surgery was still a better choice given my active lifestyle.