Rehabilitation, Restrictions, and Return to Sport After Cartilage Procedures

The ability to return to sport (RTS) after articular cartilage injury is of vital importance to athletes. Discussing the likelihood of returning to sport with patients is necessary, yet patients should be informed of the heterogeneous nature of the variables associated with successful RTS and the methodologic limitations behind current RTS rate estimates. Patient-specific factors affecting RTS are numerous and, in most cases, their isolated effect on RTS rates have yet to be examined and will remain difficult to do so. The purpose of this review is to discuss current RTS rates, explore factors leading to successful RTS, and examine the variability in physical therapy protocols after cartilage procedures, including microfracture, osteochondral allograft transplantation (OCA), autologous chondrocyte implantation (ACI), and meniscal allograft transplantation (MAT). The senior author's postoperative protocols will also be presented, as with a discussion on using RTS as a metric of patient and procedural success. Overall, there is significant variation in reported RTS rates among procedures examined, and providers must continue managing patient expectations when discussing treatment options.