The treatment of knee arthritis (KOA) for retired athletes has its special problems. This paper compares the efficacy and the prognosis of the knee arthroscopy and the conservative treatment of moderate and severe KOA for retired athletes. A prospective cohort study is designed, and a series of parameters from the two groups at 2 year's follow-up are compared. The results show that for the arthroscopic group, significant lower knee flexion contracture angle and reoperation rate are observed than for the conservative group, while the joint range of motion, and the Lysholm score are significantly higher than those for the conservative group, and there is no difference in the pain improvement between the two groups. For retired athletes with moderate to severe KOA, the arthroscopic surgery has better medium-term efficacy and outcome than the conservative treatment.

knee arthritis  /  retired athletes  /  arthroscopic surgery  /  cartilage injury  /  joint function