Effects of Unloader Bracing in Clinical Outcome and Cartilage Physiology Following Microfracture of Chondral Defects

The study will examine clinical and radiographic outcomes of microfracture surgery (a common technique to address isolated areas of cartilage loss) in the knee used with or without unloader bracing. Randomly selected patients will wear an unloader brace, which is designed to take pressure off the area of the knee which underwent repair, for several weeks after surgery. Our hypothesis is that bracing may improve clinical and or radiographic outcomes. The surgery performed will be the same for all patients The length of follow up and schedule of post-operative MRI will be the same for all patients. The only difference in groups will be presence of absence of brace wear.