Joint pain is not "just a part of life" or even the "normal aging process." Rather, joint pain is your body's "warning light" mechanism. In your car, you should find the source of the problem causing the warning light to activate.

With your knee, you should seek to find the cause of the pain and not merely take pain medication to mask it. The problem could be a small one which responds quickly to an exercise program, or a more involved process requiring surgery.

Simply ignoring the warning is the wrong approach.

Cartilage problems are the most common source of knee pain. Over 2 million people in the United States suffer with some type of cartilage problem annually. The cause may be an obvious injury or it may develop gradually without trauma. Whatever the cause, areas of damaged cartilage can lead to pain and at times swelling, both of which make it difficult to maintain the active lifestyle you deserve. Fortunately, there are several new treatment options for damaged cartilage--many only recently available.

The Cartilage Center was founded by Dr. Jack Farr, in 1998. It was further developed in conjunction with the Orthopaedic Research Foundation and orthopaedic surgeons from OrthoIndy. The Center's goal is to offer a full range of contemporary options for cartilage problems (predominantly at the knee). These options include both the non-operative Cartilage Care Center and the latest repair/restorative procedures through the Cartilage Treatment Center, including arthroscopic and tissue sparing approaches. Sharing information on a regular basis with other centers throughout the world, the Cartilage Center's surgeons and research assistants are committed to advancing cartilage repair and restoration and are actively participating in new clinical research.

This website reviews normal anatomy, outlines the surgical management of the cartilage problems under the section entitled "Cartilage Treatment Center" and the non-operative options for cartilage follow under the title "Cartilage Care Center".

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