{"id":4783,"date":"2016-05-11T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2016-05-11T06:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.uchealth.org\/today\/2016\/05\/11\/cyclist-back-on-track-after-hip-grafting-procedure-at-uch\/"},"modified":"2026-04-02T15:27:19","modified_gmt":"2026-04-02T21:27:19","slug":"cyclist-back-on-track-after-hip-grafting-procedure-at-uch","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.uchealth.org\/today\/cyclist-back-on-track-after-hip-grafting-procedure-at-uch\/","title":{"rendered":"Cyclist back on track after hip grafting procedure at UCH"},"content":{"rendered":"<div style=\"margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px;\" class=\"sharethis-inline-share-buttons\" ><\/div><p>David Rogers is 56, but he carries within him something far more youthful.<\/p>\n<p>Sure, he\u2019s young at heart, a necessary attribute of a guy who in middle age remains a competitive cyclist after nearly 30 years pushing the pedals. But more tangibly, Rogers carries a piece of youth in his right hip.<\/p>\n<figure style=\"width: 300px\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/uchealth-wp-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/1970\/01\/28144841\/EXT_051116_Cecilia20Pascual20Garrido.webp\" alt=\"Cecilia Pascual-Garrido, MD\" width=\"300\" height=\"200\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Cecilia Pascual-Garrido, MD, performed the state\u2019s first repair of damaged hip cartilage using a tissue graft of juvenile cartilage cells.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>The source is cells within minced pieces of cartilage from donors no more than eight years old. Orthopedic surgeon Cecilia Pascual-Garrido, MD, an <a href=\"https:\/\/uchealth-wp-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2017\/02\/28144838\/cartilage20preservation.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">expert in cartilage preservation<\/a>, transplanted them into Rogers\u2019 hip joint late last fall at University of Colorado Hospital.<\/p>\n<p>About six months after the graft, Rogers has relief from nearly two years of intense hip pain caused in large part by severe cartilage damage. On April 23, he rode the 52-mile <a href=\"https:\/\/www.road-results.com\/race\/7323\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Clasica de Rio Grande<\/a> bike race in Johnstown, Colo., finishing fifth in his classification and just 0.6 seconds off the winning time.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019m still not at 100 percent, but I\u2019m progressing with a balance of cycling, cross training, strength work and stretching,\u201d Rogers said in a phone interview. \u201cI have the occasional twinge with a few movements but overall the hip is pain free and I\u2019m riding with power on the right side.\u201d<\/p>\n<h2><strong>The craft of graft<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>The cartilage transplant procedure at UCH has helped David Rogers get back to the competitive biking he\u2019s done most of his adult life. (<em>Photo courtesy David Rogers.<\/em>)<br \/>\nThe procedure, dubbed the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.zimmerbiomet.com\/medical-professionals\/biologics\/product\/denovo-nt-natural-tissue.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">DeNovo NT Natural Tissue Graft<\/a>, from Warsaw, Ind.-based Zimmer Biomet, is used to restore and repair damaged cartilage, most often in knees and ankles. Rogers is the first patient in Colorado to have the procedure on a hip, Pascual-Garrido said. She used it to treat a lesion in the labrum, the cartilage that cushions the ball-and-socket joint of the hip.<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s an overuse injury, Pascual-Garrido said, that affects many cyclists, as well as hockey and soccer players. These athletes often have a cam impingement \u2013 a bony protrusion \u2013 that wears down the cartilage, she said.<\/p>\n<p>For people younger than 40, Pascual-Garrido typically performs either micro-fracture or micro-drill surgeries. Both involve removing a tissue flap of cartilage and drilling holes in the socket bone of the joint. Bone marrow cells come through the holes and combine with blood to create a covering on the bone that eventually heals as new, protective tissue, Pascual-Garrido said.<\/p>\n<p>However, those procedures are far less effective for people past the age range of 40 to 45, like Rogers, she added.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAs we become older, the capacity of healing after cartilage repair is greatly reduced,\u201d she said. The DeNovo graft procedure can change the equation. That\u2019s because the cells of juvenile cartilage \u201chave a great capacity for regeneration,\u201d Pascual-Garrido said. For someone like David Rogers, they can become a joint\u2019s fountain of youth.<\/p>\n<figure style=\"width: 250px\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/uchealth-wp-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/1970\/01\/28144839\/EXT_051116_Cam20Lesion.webp\" alt=\"Cam Lesion \" width=\"250\" height=\"200\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Pascual-Garrido used this image to identify the the cam (bump) lesion on Rogers&#8217; right hip before surgery (shown on the far left in this shot). The lesion wore away cartilage in the joint.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>The allograft procedure uses particles of natural cartilage with living cells packed in a small, sealed container. Unlike other repairs, it uses no water, which would wash the cells away, Pascual-Garrido said. Guided by arthroscopic imagery, she uses a catheter-like delivery device and miniature instruments to put fibrin glue in the lesion, followed by the cartilage cells, and then another layer of the glue to fix the cells in place \u201clike a sandwich.\u201d With time, new cartilage begins to grow.<\/p>\n<p>The entire transplant procedure takes only about 30 minutes, Pascual-Garrido said. The standard post-surgical regimen calls for the patient to stay non-weight-bearing for six weeks. Rogers hit the three-month mark \u201cdoing great,\u201d Pascual-Garrido said, although she confessed to worrying a bit about his aggressive efforts to get back to cycling.<\/p>\n<h2><strong>Back to the bike<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>Rogers readily acknowledges that he\u2019s pushed the recovery envelope. He said he&#8217;s\u00a0now ridden 100 miles at a time, including stretches in the mountains, sprinted at his top bike speed, raced in a pack and plans to continue to ride competitively. He knows he\u2019s walked a fine line, illustrated by the fact that he was at the gym the day after his procedure, exercising on a spinning bike.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt was a real morale boost to know going into this that cycling itself would be one of my primary modes of therapy and that I could be on a spin bike the day after to get the process started,\u201d he said, adding that in the ensuing weeks he progressed to other activities and weight-bearing exercises.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI have probably teetered at times on the side of being too motivated,\u201d Rogers said. \u201cI was diligent about progressing quickly, but I have a tendency to be overly aggressive.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>He knows, for example, that by pushing his recovery early, he increases the risk of the cartilage failing to knit properly. But he\u2019s encouraged by the positive results he\u2019s achieved thus far.<\/p>\n<h2><strong>The price of pedaling<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>If he strains against limitations, perhaps it\u2019s because he\u2019s come so close to losing something he loves. By day, Rogers works a job in health care, but outside of work, he enjoys the experience of riding with friends, training and competing.<\/p>\n<figure style=\"width: 300px\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/uchealth-wp-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/1970\/01\/28144839\/EXT_051116_Cam20Resection.webp\" alt=\"Cam Resection\" width=\"300\" height=\"194\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">During surgery, Pascual-Garrido transplanted new cartilage to Rogers\u2019 hip joint, but also removed the cam lesion (shown at the far left of image A) to prevent the cartilage from wearing away again. Image B shows the repaired joint, minus the bump.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>About two years ago, however, the physical toll caught up with him. It began with a popping sensation in his right hip that came and went. He raced a full season in 2014 and completed 23 events in 2015. But the pain worsened, and he had increasing difficulty flexing his right leg and even bringing it across the seat of the bike.<\/p>\n<p>Rogers is no stranger to pain from injuries and chronic overuse. He carries a plate and screws in his left hip and femur from a fracture sustained in a cycling crash 10 years ago and has suffered many other injures. But the right-hip discomfort eventually led him to treatment with CU Sports Medicine orthopedist <a href=\"https:\/\/www.uchealth.org\/provider\/omer-mei-dan-md-orthopedic-sports-medicine-surgery\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Omer Mei-Dan, MD<\/a>. Mei-Dan administered two rounds of cortisone shots, and later injected <a href=\"https:\/\/orthoinfo.aaos.org\/en\/treatment\/platelet-rich-plasma-prp\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">platelet-rich plasma<\/a> in the joint to promote healing.<\/p>\n<p>The procedures gave Rogers relief from the pain, and they helped him to get through the 2015 season. By the end of it, though, the effects had started to wear off. He explored surgery to repair the damage with Pascual-Garrido, who defined the extent of the injury with imaging. It showed that Rogers had a severely torn labrum, the result of the large bump on the head of the femur that prevented the joint from moving smoothly \u2013 the last thing a cyclist wants.<\/p>\n<p>Pascual-Garrido said she considered a micro-fracture procedure as an option when she began the surgery, but decided on the DeNovo graft because of the size of the lesion and Rogers\u2019 age. She noted that while the surgery went very well, the wear-and-tear on the joint could eventually progress to osteoarthritis and possibly require hip replacement. But the DeNovo graft doesn\u2019t close off any subsequent options for Rogers, including alternative stem cell procedures to rebuild cartilage.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIf it doesn\u2019t work, we haven\u2019t burned any bridges,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n<h2><strong>Toward the future<\/strong><\/h2>\n<figure style=\"width: 300px\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/uchealth-wp-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/1970\/01\/28144839\/EXT_051116_Minced20Cartilage20Arthroscopic20View.webp\" alt=\"arthroscopic view of the minced juvenile cartilage\" width=\"300\" height=\"194\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">An arthroscopic view of the minced juvenile cartilage that Pascual-Garrido transplanted to Rogers\u2019 hip.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>For now, the DeNovo procedure is considered experimental for hip repair, but Pascual-Garrido, who learned the technique doing knee surgeries, said there is reason for optimism.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThere have been no adverse effects of this procedure on the knees,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n<p>Rogers is focused on the future, and he credits Pascual-Garrido, herself an accomplished marathoner, and her team for getting his bike and his life back on track.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThey are a great team, communicate very well, and graciously answered all my questions immediately,\u201d Rogers said. \u201cAs a physician who is an elite athlete, Dr. Pascual-Garrido understands the mentality of another athlete. When you have a doctor who can relate to how you think and how you process good news and bad news and respond to adversity because they have been through it themselves, that makes the connection all the stronger,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019ve been very fortunate to have her in that regard,\u201d Rogers added. \u201cI\u2019ve never been anywhere near the top end of this sport but I have been a fan and a participant since I was 12 years old. It truly is part of who I am so to have the opportunity to continue is a gift.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>David Rogers is 56, but he carries within him something far more youthful. Sure, he\u2019s young at heart, a necessary attribute of a guy who in middle age remains a competitive cyclist after nearly 30 years pushing the pedals. But more tangibly, Rogers carries a piece of youth in his right hip. The source is [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2143,"featured_media":2635,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_relevanssi_hide_post":"","_relevanssi_hide_content":"","_relevanssi_pin_for_all":"","_relevanssi_pin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_unpin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_include_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_exclude_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_no_append":"","_relevanssi_related_not_related":"","_relevanssi_related_posts":"","_relevanssi_noindex_reason":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[183,39,565],"class_list":["post-4783","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-stories","tag-orthopedics","tag-transplant-services","tag-trauma-services"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v27.4 (Yoast SEO v27.4) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Cyclist back on track after hip grafting procedure at UCH - UCHealth Today<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"David Rogers is 56, but he carries within him something far more youthful. 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But more tangibly, Rogers carries a piece of youth in h...","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.uchealth.org\/today\/cyclist-back-on-track-after-hip-grafting-procedure-at-uch\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Cyclist back on track after hip grafting procedure at UCH","og_description":"David Rogers is 56, but he carries within him something far more youthful. Sure, he\u2019s young at heart, a necessary attribute of a guy who in middle age remains a competitive cyclist after nearly 30 years pushing the pedals. But more tangibly, Rogers carries a piece of youth in his right hip. 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