The crunching crackle you hear is not your Cineplex seat neighbor gnashing popped kernels. It’s not the sound of a commercial freight truck rolling up a cobble-stoned back alley at dawn. That’s the sound of Dwyane Wade’s knees every time he bends deeply for a fadeaway. Wade has been a hull of his former self, while relying on creaky legs that, for two years, spelled playoff suspense for his fans, and may have caused the departure of his bestie/teammate LeBron James. Wade has been serviceable for the Miami Heat
averaging 21.4 points, 3.7 rebounds, 5.4 assists on 52 FG% and 38 3p% in 32.4 minutes.
It may not be the final chapter for him, however, based on an innovation from Columbia University Medical Center that replaces lost meniscus tissue. In the video above, Dr. Jeremy J. Mao explains:
What we did was take MRI scans of a sheep meniscus, and with these [scans] we could synthesize a 3D printed meniscus scaffold. This could be made exactly as the dimensions of the meniscus that needs to be replaced. And then we delivered two proteins to stimulate the body’s internal stem cells, to regenerate the meniscus.
He goes on to detail the surgical process by which those sheep who had the same nagging arthritic knees were fitted with the 3D scaffold, and proudly notes that they were able to bear weight on the damaged joints. Hear that,
Amare Stoudemire and
Dwyane Wade? There’s hope for us yet.
