Joint impact trauma has been shown to cause fissures, fibrillation, and other structural
damage of the cartilage or subchondral bone. Previous studies used impact energies
sufficient to fracture the underlying bone. Under these circumstances, the initial influence of
impact trauma on cellular components and cartilage structure is unknown. The goal of this
study was to determine whether an impact trauma first causes cellular or structural damage
to a cartilage layer. Such damage might be the starting point of degenerative changes found …