Cartilage baldness – What is it?

Definition – What is cartilage baldness?

The term cartilaginous baldness is derived from the traditional bald head and describes a condition in which the cartilage on the joint no longer completely covers the bone. In the joint, the bone is normally covered by cartilage, so the bone is not directly rubbed off during joint movements, the cartilage acts much more as a protective sliding layer. The cartilage can be rubbed off by excessive load. If the body is not able to rebuild the lost cartilage, the cartilage layer first thins out, at some point it has completely disappeared in one place. If the bone in the joint is completely bare, this is called cartilage baldness.

How does cartilage baldness occur?

Cartilage baldness is caused by an imbalance between wear and tear and the formation of new cartilage. Cartilage is the body’s own material that is the hardest to replicate. In contrast to many other types of tissue, cartilage does not have its own vessels.

Therefore, the supply of the cartilage with oxygen and other nutrients does not take place through the blood as it usually does. Instead, the cartilage is nourished via so-called diffusion. The nutrients are thus located in the synovial fluid, for example, and must now be absorbed into the cartilage.

In this way, they only reach the deeper layers of the cartilage very slowly. On the one hand, this leads to the unique structure of cartilage, but at the same time means that cartilage is very difficult for the body to repair once it has been injured. Particularly in the case of permanent high stress on individual joints, the cartilage is gradually damaged.

Small defects can be quickly repaired by diffusion of the nutrients. However, if the wear and tear on the cartilage is greater than the body’s ability to rebuild the cartilage, an imbalance of cartilage build-up and breakdown occurs. Thus, the protective cartilage layer at the loaded area thins out more and more until finally no more cartilage lies over the bone. The bone itself is now located directly on the joint surface – a cartilage bald patch has developed.