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I found this story in the Chicago Tribune about the apparent decline of microfracture. I thought it was interesting because the procedure involves current and past NBA players particularly Amare Stoudemire.
It's best to read the whole article but here are some excerpts.
While Amare had some success after microfracture, he stresses how difficult it is to recover.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/sport...surgery-amare-stoudemire-20180706-story.html#
It's best to read the whole article but here are some excerpts.
Now, many doctors are trending away from the surgery. According to data kept by the sports medicine and analytics research team (SMART), 14 players had microfracture surgery between 2003 and 2010, including Stoudemire. For many of the players who underwent microfracture surgery, the procedure hastened the end of their career. Penny Hardaway, Chris Webber, Allan Houston and Ron Harper were never the same. Since 2010, only five players have had it.
A 2018 study found that the failure rate of microfracture surgery was 66 percent, compared with 51 percent in patients that had OAT surgery — a procedure in which cartilage is transplanted from a cadaver or another joint in the body. The study defined failure as scoring less than 65 on the Lysholm scale, which measures a patient’s pain, instability, locking, swelling, limp, stair climbing and squatting. This was one of the first studies to compare the two procedures.
“The problem is, initial results were good, but when you start to carry those results out further, the results deteriorated,” Douoguih said. “The player might be able to play at the one-year or two-year mark, but then at the four-year or five-year mark, things went downhill. And you took a closer look and found that yeah, those players were able to play — they were on the court — but maybe their numbers weren’t quite what they were before. And there were some cases where the player didn’t get back to play.”
While Amare had some success after microfracture, he stresses how difficult it is to recover.
While Stoudemire says he doesn’t harbor anger about his microfracture, he regrets getting the surgery and advises young players who call him asking for advice to avoid it.
“I get calls all the time from players who are recommended (to have) the microfracture,” Stoudemire said. “I just tell them, ‘Listen, man, I was able to bounce back from it, but not everyone can. It’s an excruciating recovery.’ I told the same thing to Chandler Parsons when he was in Dallas. Getting the microfracture is one thing, but the recovery is another. It takes dedication, focus and a lot of perseverance to get over that hump.”
http://www.chicagotribune.com/sport...surgery-amare-stoudemire-20180706-story.html#
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