Lindsey Vonn
 

Wow. Age 40, and she's back with a bionic knee now.

https://apnews.com/article/lindsey-v...86f2c17bd76942

If she continues to have success, I think that type of titanium knee replacement may become the new go-to knee surgery for aging athletes.

if health insurers will agree to pay the cost of a state of the art implant product that is needed by a retired accountant or school teacher and not a professional skier.

A friend of mine worked for a company that had a method for regrowing cartilage, especially in knees. He explained it, but thought it was wildly expensive. 30K in the late 90's.

I told him that was incredibly underpriced if it worked as claimed. With athletes making millions a year, the ability to recover from a worn joint and extend a career by another year or more was a very easy investment.

I haven't followed it since, but you don't really hear about athletes retiring with worn cartilage problems anymore.

When I was skiing a lot a different friend knew the local college ski team. Their turnover from knee injuries was very daunting. Like nearly the whole team from one year to the next.