Patellofemoral joint pain is sometimes due to articular cartilage loss either on the patellar aspect or the femoral aspect of the knee joint. Careful physical therapy with manual hands-on treatment, exercise programs, viscosupplementation by joint lubrication, glucosamine, weight loss, and strengthening programs are all extremely helpful in treating patellofemoral joint problems.

When surgical intervention is necessary, treatments fall into three major categories:

Arthroscopy
Arthroscopic clean-up of damaged articular cartilage is performed followed with a careful rehabilitation program.

Articular Cartilage Paste Graft
Articular cartilage repair is performed, usually by articular cartilage stem cell paste grafting in which we take articular cartilage and stem cells from the intercondylar notch of the femur, smash them into a paste, and impact it into the damaged area on the trochlear aspect of the patellofemoral joint


Patellofemoral Partial Knee Replacement - Robot Assisted
When there is more severe patellofemoral arthritis and loss of cartilage, we do an isolated patellofemoral joint replacement using a MAKO robot to precisely place a patellar button in a trochlear cap. This is an extremely successful outpatient procedure that has the potential to remove all of the pain and permit the patient to return to full sports.