"Knee pain in active patients over  is often difficult to treat but according to researchers presenting their work today at the American Orthopaedic Society for Sports Medicines AOSSM Annual Meeting in San Diego utilizing a special kind of allograft may be a step in the right direction.  Our findings note that patients older than  may benefit from using a fresh osteochondral allograft transplantation to treat focal cartilage defects a common cause of knee pain in adults said lead author Dennis Crawford MD PhD from the Oregon Health and Science University in Portland Oregon.  Crawford and his colleagues looked at a total of  patients broken into two groups. The study group consisted of  patients  women and  men who were at least  years of age and a control group with  patients  men and  women who were  years of age or younger. A statistically significant improvement for both groups was noted for the final followup for IKDC and all five KOOS subscores. Greatest changes were seen in the ability of patients to perform Sports and with improvement in healthful daily activity. Previous surgical treatment was performed on  of  knees in the study group and  of the  knees in the control group.  This type of osteochondral allograft transplantation has traditionally been used in younger active patients with cartilage disorders. However seeing this type of success allows sports medicine physicians another option in older patients and serves as a predictable biologic joint preservation technique said Crawford.   The American Orthopaedic Society for Sports Medicine AOSSM is the premier global sports medicine organization representing the interests of orthopaedic surgeons and other professionals who provide comprehensive health services for the care of athletes and active people of all ages and levels. We cultivate evidencebased knowledge provide extensive educational programming and promote emerging research that advances the science and practice of sports medicine. AOSSM is also a founding partner of the STOP Sports Injuries campaign to prevent overuse and traumatic injuries in kids."