Written by Laura Dyrda
Orthopedic injuries are a hazard of the job for professional athletes. Yet, most athletes are able to undergo treatment — sometimes surgery — and then return to an elite level of play.
This past week, New York Knicks All-Star Carmelo Anthony underwent a patella tendon debridement and repair after suffering chronic issues with his knee. Answorth Allen, MD, performed the procedure and Mr. Anthony could spend a few months in rehabilitation.
“The patellar tendon was too damaged to repair on its own. The procedure was to remove the damaged portion of the patellar tendon and then repair the rest,” says Derek Ochiai, MD, an arthroscopic surgeon and sports medicine physician in Arlington, Va. “The knee cap tendon is degenerative, so they cleaned out the degenerative part of the tendon and attached the graft to the knee cap.”
There is some new innovation in tendon repair, the FAST procedure — focused aspiration of scar tissue — that has been performed successfully on other professional athletes with a similar condition. This office-based procedure uses a needle with high energy untrasonic energy at the tip to debride the tendon without cutting it.
While the Knicks’ season may continue a downward slope after losing their star player indefinitely, there’s little to fear. The injury is relatively common in basketball players; in fact, its nickname is “jumper’s knee” and while a vast majority of these types of injuries are treated non-surgically, surgical intervention is required.
There was some criticism thrown at Mr. Anthony’s decision to undergo surgery mid-season. Mr. Anthony announced he would play in the 2015 All Star game last weekend before undergoing surgery, which some fear could put him at higher risk of additional injury. But, there really wasn’t much to fear.
