No clue if I grew cartiledge.  Never had the pain diagnosed.  Likely a good thing I didn't, 'cause the pros might've simply put me on pain killers and I'd never know.

I've had so many misdiagnosis...far more than ones that've determined root cause and fixed the problem (other than surgeries to fix torn ligaments).  Another example was I used to struggle with lower back pain.  Went to the spine group in Golden.  This was back around 2000.  They said I had degenerative discs and they suggested going under the knife.  The stories of what a person was like after those surgeries scared me, so I declined.  Figured out it was simple muscle spasms, and now (albeit rarely), anytime I feel a tightness growing in my lower back, I know how to simply relax it and make it go away.

BTW...a good diet's worth the tiny effort to learn.