Better news than expected at the orthopedist today

I rocked the paper shorts (and Christmas socks) again.

I had my orthopedist follow up today. I was expecting him to tell me I had a meniscus tear and I needed surgery. The good news: I don't and I don't! Yay!

The bad news, from the radiologist's report: "Patellofemoral joint: Abnormality of lateral patellar facet. There is moderate subarticular marrow edema in inferolateral patella. There is probably a small overlying deep chondral fissure or defect."

Apparently, it means something called "chondral fissure."

What does that mean? My doctor explained to me that the first part is swelling (duh) and the second part means there's a crack or a tear or something in my knee cartilage. I don't know why that means sometimes I get pain in the back of the joint or suddenly can't bear weight, but he confirmed that it all goes together. When Googling "chondral fissure" I discovered symptoms are often very similar to that of meniscus tears.

So the bad news is that unlike a tear that can be repaired or a bone break that will heal, cartilage doesn't regenerate. So for now, my best bet is physical therapy to get everything strong and to make sure my patella and bones are tracking correctly, both of which will relieve stress on the joint. My doctor commented again on how tight my IT bands and hamstrings are, so I likely have some flexibility work in my future, too.

If that doesn't work, we can look into treatments such as having chicken cartilage injected into my knee (I didn't know this was a thing!!!), taking fat from elsewhere in my body and putting it in my knee (I could be OK with this), or stem cell treatments, but that is way down the line. He offered me a   cortisone shot but I didn't think that was necessary.

I can bike and swim (more bad news, haha) and do anything that doesn't hurt and doesn't bend my knee more than 90-ish degrees or pound my knee. So, that means running is off the table for a bit longer. But honestly, I can't imagine running feeling good right now, so I'll continue to hold off and let everything calm down.

We'll see what happens after I start PT. Hopefully I will be back on my feet, literally, again soon.