Abstract
Symptomatic unicompartmental osteoarthritis (UCOA) is a substantial orthopaedic problem representing one-third of patients with osteoarthritis (OA) of the knee. Total knee arthroplasty is the treatment of choice for multicompartmental OA in older, less active patients, but less invasive treatment strategies may be beneficial for active patients with UCOA under the age of 60. One less invasive option, osteotomy about the knee, aims to transfer stress away from the involved compartment to healthy areas of the knee unaffected by disease, thereby decreasing pain and increasing function. Favorable results have been reported in biomechanical and clinical studies for isolated lateral tibiofemoral OA, isolated medial tibiofemoral OA, and patellofemoral OA. Osteotomies preserve intra-articular structures and do not involve intra-articular implants, which allows for unrestricted loading and activity postoperatively. Osteotomies thus can provide functional advantages over arthroplasty options for younger, more active populations. © The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2023.