Chondromalacia patellae is damage to the cartilage at the back of the kneecap (patella). The usual treatment advised is to avoid overuse of the knee and. Almost all people have evidence of cartilage damage on kneecap. Vista Air Go Networks Palo Alto Ca more. Have symptoms. While the cartilage. Cartilage, that covers the knee cap bone is the.

The knee joint is very important in allowing people to go about performing almost any activity. The joint is made up of three bones: the femur (thigh bone), the tibia (shin bone), and the patella (knee cap). The surfaces of these bones within the joint are covered with a layer of cartilage. This important surface allows the bones to smoothly glide against each other without causing damage to the bone. The meniscus sits between the cartilage surfaces of the bone to distribute weight and to improve the stability of the joint. Overview The meniscus functions to distribute your body weight across the knee joint. Without the meniscus present, the weight of your body would be unevenly applied to the bones in your legs (the femur and tibia).

This uneven weight distribution would cause excessive forces in specific areas of bone leading to early. Therefore, the function of the meniscus is critical to the health of your knee. This presents a problem when there is an injury to the meniscus as the avascular areas tend not to heal. Without the essential nutrients supplied by blood vessels, healing of the meniscus cannot take place. Types The two most common causes of a meniscus tear are due to traumatic injury (often seen in athletes) and degenerative processes (seen in older patients who have more brittle cartilage). It is not uncommon for the meniscus tear to occur along with other damage inside the knee. Injuries commonly occur to structures including the (ACL) and the (MCL).

When all three of these injuries occur together, they are known as the ',' an injury pattern seen in sports such as football when the player is hit on the outside of the knee. Both the covering of the bone within the joint and the meniscus are made of cartilage--however, they are different ty.