The acute and repetitive impact and torsional joint loading that occurs during participation in sports can damage articular surfaces causing pain, joint dysfunction, and effusions. In some instances, this articular surface damage leads to progressive joint degeneration. Three classes of chondral and osteochondral injuries can be identified based on the type of tissue damage and the repair response: (1) damage to the joint surface that does not cause visible mechanical disruption of the articular surface, but does cause chondral damage and may cause subchondral bone injury; (2) mechanical disruption of the articular surface limited to articular cartilage; and (3) mechanical disruption of articular cartilage and subchondral bone. In most instances, joints can repair damage that does not disrupt the articular surface if they are protected from additional injury. Mechanical disruption of articular cartilage stimulates chondrocyte synthetic activity, but it rarely results in repair of the injury. Disruption of subchondral bone stimulates chondral and bony repair, but it rarely restores an articular surface that duplicates the biologic and mechanical properties of normal articular cartilage. In selected patients, surgeons have used operative treatments including penetrating subchondral bone, soft tissue grafts, and cell transplants and osteochondral autografts and allografts to restore articular surfaces after chondral injuries. Experimental studies indicate that use of artificial matrices and growth factors also may promote formation of a new joint surface. However, an operative treatment of an articular surface injury that will benefit patients must not just provide a new joint surface, it must produce better long-term joint function than would be expected if the injury was left untreated or treated by irrigation and debridement alone. Therefore, before selecting a treatment for a patient with an articular cartilage injury, the surgeon should define the type of injury and understand its likely natural history.
This research output has an Altmetric Attention Score of 6. This is our high-level measure of the quality and quantity of online attention that it has received. This Attention Score, as well as the ranking and number of research outputs shown below, was calculated when the research output was last mentioned on 31 July 2024.
All research outputs
#7,582,403
of 34,364,397 outputs
Outputs from Clinical Orthopaedics & Related Research
#1,751
of 9,302 outputs
Outputs of similar age
#17,299
of 73,444 outputs
Outputs of similar age from Clinical Orthopaedics & Related Research
#6
of 32 outputs
Altmetric has tracked 34,364,397 research outputs across all sources so far. This one has received more attention than most of these and is in the 73rd percentile.
So far Altmetric has tracked 9,302 research outputs from this source. They typically receive a little more attention than average, with a mean Attention Score of 5.6. This one has done well, scoring higher than 75% of its peers.
Older research outputs will score higher simply because they've had more time to accumulate mentions. To account for age we can compare this Altmetric Attention Score to the 73,444 tracked outputs that were published within six weeks on either side of this one in any source. This one has gotten more attention than average, scoring higher than 61% of its contemporaries.
We're also able to compare this research output to 32 others from the same source and published within six weeks on either side of this one. This one has gotten more attention than average, scoring higher than 62% of its contemporaries.
