University of Florida Quarterback Anthony Richardson had become accustomed to playing with a sore knee, the result of an injury while he was in high school.
So, when he exacerbated the injury during a game against Florida State his freshman year, he did not hesitate. After all, he had managed to return in the second half of the Florida State game and helped lead the Gators to a 24-21 victory.
“I told them I was good. I was going to play. I wasn’t going to miss [the Gaspirilla Bowl],” he said. “But I was told it wasn’t an option.
During the Florida State game, Anthony had suffered a large meniscus tear in his knee, called a bucket handle tear. The meniscus is the cartilage in the knee joint that functions to help distribute force across the joint. A bucket handle meniscus tear is a serious injury that occurs when the meniscus tears and tends to flip over into the joint.
As a result, the flipped meniscus was severely limiting Anthony’s motion. To repair it, Anthony’s surgeon used the Arthrex FiberStitch™ implant, an innovative all-inside meniscal repair system that replaces hard plastic implants with soft suture sheaths. All-inside meniscal repair is completed arthroscopically through two small incisions. This is compared to an inside-out meniscus repair technique that requires a large incision and is not completed entirely arthroscopically. The patient benefits from an arthroscopic all-inside meniscus repair because there are much smaller and fewer incisions.
Following his repair, Anthony was in a brace for six weeks. With rehabilitation, he was back to playing football the week before spring practice began.
“When I woke up from surgery and [my surgeon] told me he was able to repair my knee and that I was going to have nothing to worry about, I started crying,” he said. “Before surgery, I had a hard time bending my knee. Now, I am able to bend it. It feels great.”
Going into his sophomore year as the Gators’ starting quarterback with his meniscus repaired, Anthony stunned a crowd of 90,000-plus, completing 274 total yards and three touchdowns as the Gators upset No. 7 Utah 29-26.
“I feel more and more confident about my knee,” he said. “And now, when I play, it feels so much better.”
This patient was skeletally mature at the time of surgery. The FiberStitch™ device may not be suitable for skeletally immature patients and physicians should carefully assess pathology and soft tissue quality before performing orthopedic surgery. The FiberStitch meniscal repair device is not intended for use where one or more of the following conditions exist: pathological conditions in the soft tissue that would prevent secure fixation; any active infections; conditions which tend to limit the patient's ability to follow postoperative care instructions; and tears to the white zone of the meniscus. Only tears to the red zone of the meniscus or at most to the transitional zone between red and white, would be candidates for repair. This is not medical advice and is not meant to be a substitute for the advice provided by a surgeon or other qualified medical professional on the use of these products. You should talk with your physician or health care provider for more information about your health condition and whether Arthrex products might be appropriate for you. The surgeon who performs any surgical procedure is responsible for determining and using the appropriate techniques for surgical procedures on each individual patient. Arthrex recommends that surgeons be trained on the use of any particular product before using it in surgery. A surgeon must always rely on their own professional medical judgment when deciding whether to use a particular product when treating a particular patient. A surgeon must always refer to the package insert, product label, and/or directions for use before using any Arthrex product. Postoperative management is patient-specific and dependent on the treating professional’s assessment. Individual results will vary and not all patients will experience the same postoperative activity level or outcomes. Products may not be available in all markets because product availability is subject to the regulatory approvals and medical practices in individual markets. Please contact Arthrex if you have questions about the availability of products in your area.
This real patient was compensated for the time he took to share his personal experience with the FiberStitch™ Meniscal Repair Device.