Current Concepts for Rehabilitation and Return to Sport After Knee Articular Cartilage Repair in the Athlete.

The article considers acute and chronic injuries of the articular cartilage surfaces of the knee as a common ailment among athletes. Thirty-six percent of athletes experience full thickness chondral defects which are located predominantly in the patellofemoral compartment and femoral condyles, and less frequently on the tibial plateau. Cartilage injury has been reported to exist in 20% of professional American football players.