Cartilage is tough, flexible connective tissue that’s not as hard as bone nor as soft as muscle. It covers the end of bones at a joint and gives your ears, nose and throat their shape. Cartilage also provides support to your rib cage and spine.
You have different types of cartilage in your body, particularly:
- elastic cartilage ~ ear, nose, throat
- fibrocartilage ~ knee meniscus, vertebral disk
- articular aka hyaline ~ covers bone ends at joints
These cartilage vary as to their structure, elasticity and strength.
Joint cartilage prevents bones from rubbing, thus allowing you to move because bones can glide past each other. And joints are the site for which most cartilage problems arise.
A health problem with a joint cartilage is often due to an injury, frequently a sports injury, that cause your cartilage to be torn, stretch or inflamed. Also, joint cartilage can be worn down as is the case with osteoarthritis.
There are other types of injuries and cartilage diseases (chondropathy) that cause problems as well, such as:
- hallux rigidus
- perichondritis
- enchondroma
- hip labral tear
- polychondritis
- torn meniscus
- costochondritis
- chondrosarcoma
- chondromalacia patella
- osteochondrodysplasias
- osteochondritis dissecans
With a joint cartilage problem you’ll often experience pain and movement limitations. Healing cartilage problems, be it a joint cartilage or cartilage disease, is a slow process because cartilage does not contain blood vessels. Standard forms of treatment for cartilage problems include:
- arthroscopy
- joint replacement
- supportive device ~ cane, brace
- exercises strengthening muscles around joint
- NSAID anit-inflammatory, pain reliever ~ aspirin, ibuprofen
- take glucosamine supplement ~ evidence is mixed as to benefit
- refrain from activity that puts pressure on affected joint cartilage, diseased cartilage
In some cases, a full recovery from a joint cartilage problem or cartilage disease is not possible. In this instance, pain management may be as good as it gets.