Hi,

Many thanks for your reply, it was extremely informative and provided me with a greater level of input on the issue than I ever expected I would receive on an online forum!
I have attached a picture of the scope, it is probably not of the greatest quality but you can certainly see a considerable amount of osteochondral damage.
One important aspect is it seems to be only a singular defect in the cartilage, there isn't multiple defects in different areas. I will admit though, and it has been outlined by the surgeon that the one defect in question is quite large, to the point that he deemed microfracture to be an inadequate option. I'm happy about this however as microfracture seems to be flawed judging by the literature.
My physiotherapist did also note that OATS whereby a plug of cartilage is taken from one part of the knee and placed into the defect can lead to issues down the line such as donor site morbidity, and it does tend to be more effective for smaller lesions. I am hoping that my surgeon in this case will pursue with AMIC instead, as I would be quite concerned if I woke up after anesthetic to be told that I had OATS performed.

'I say this as bone loves to form in areas of high load. And we do not want unnecessary annoying osteophytes growing in the cartilage repair.'

Would it be possible that you could elaborate on the above? I understand that you're saying that I take a considerable amount of time out from football (high impact sports), and I use that time to rebuild my strength in quads, hamstrings glutes etc. But I just don't understand what you mean by the above sentence, any input would be appreciated

Finally, just one other quick question also as it's been playing on my mind the past number of months. I'd be an avid gym lover, and would have always used the gym to enhance my sporting performance, but I'm strongly considering ripping up my current programme and tailoring and future plans to account for this current defect (and the regenerative cartilage that will be there in a months time. More specifically, I feel loading up on squats mightn't seem to be the most intelligent thing to do if I want to continue to play sport and have a fully functioning knee down the line. Do you have any knowledge on this area as research seems to be limited? I still obviously want to incorporate strength training to rebuild leg muscle and to improve sporting performance so maybe just drop the weight? Or just cut out squats completely?

Many thanks for your help