The athlete with early knee arthritis.

Athletes participating in contact sports or activities, such as excessive running, are at higher risk for the development of knee osteoarthritis. Newer minimally invasive, nonsurgical treatment options, and medications in the management of knee osteoarthritis, have enabled many athletes with knee osteoarthritis to regain most of their mobility. These new treatments have no down time and, when combined with proper rehabilitation protocol, have helped patients to regain and maintain their mobility gains and overall quality of their life. In the years to come newer technologies, such as autologous cultured chondrocyte implantation, tissue engineered cartilage, growth factors, and acellular matrices, may play an important role in the management of knee osteoarthritis.