Osteotomy of the knee joint involves cutting the bone of the tibia or of the femur and angling it open in order to correct either bow legs or knock knees. The procedure is usually performed when there is too much force being generated on one side of the knee or the other. Traditionally, osteotomies are performed for the treatment of osteoarthritis or joint pain.

However, at The Stone Clinic we focus on treating the cartilage problem by addressing the loss of cartilage inside the knee rather than the biomechanical abnormality created by the malalignment - unless the malalignment is greater than 10°.

The reason for this is that by treating the primary problem inside the knee, usually loss of articular cartilage or loss of meniscus cartilage, we can provide a direct solution to the problem of cartilage damage and pain during an outpatient, arthroscopic procedure with a relatively rapid recovery time. Osteotomy generally involves a considerably longer rehabilitation program, and therefore, we reserve this procedure for when malalignment is significant or when other procedures are not appropriate. Often, when we need to perform an osteotomy, we will almost always combine it with a replacement of the meniscus cartilage (the shock absorber) or the articular cartilage (the bearing surface of the joint).