Eyeballing the meniscus

Hang onto your natural joints. Orthopedic carpentry may have been a good option when there wasn't another option, but repairing knee cartilage and bone will eventually be waaay better than replacing it with teflon and titanium.

True, repair is not all the way here yet, and this article does save the worst for last:

But the scaffolds aren’t appropriate for everyone, Dr. [Bert] Mandelbaum said: “The problem is that sometimes they don’t integrate with the surrounding bone.”

One solution is to consider surgical intervention earlier in life and in the development of the problem being treated. “A 16-year-old will respond well to our interventions, but a person who has had a problem for 16 years might respond differently,” Dr. Mandelbaum said. “Every cartilage repair technique works better in the young.”

C'mon, I need a repair technique that works in middle age. (And since I'm a boomer, it's all about me, right?) Meanwhile, I'm sticking with glucosamine and ibuprofen.