A REVOLUTIONARY new treatment is helping keen sportsman Jonathan Coombes get back on the football pitch after a knee injury.

Jonathan, aged 31, of Blacksmiths Fold, Atherton, thought his playing days were over when he badly damaged the cartilage in his right knee during an awkward tackle.

But now he is set to become the first person at the Royal Bolton Hospital to undergo a pioneering procedure to grow his own cartilage cells in a laboratory and re-implant them.

Royal Bolton Hospital consultant orthopaedic surgeon Gordon Shepard is one of a handful of doctors in the country trained in the new technique, which is currently the subject of clinical trials in Britain.

Six weeks ago he took a tiny piece of Mr Coombe's damaged cartilage, the material which prevents joints rubbing together and it was taken by courier to a laboratory in Denmark.

There they succeeded in growing the three to four million cells into 10 to 20 million, enough to cover the four square centimetre gap in Mr Coombe's cartilage.

In an operation last week, Mr Shepard replaced the cells and, with physiotherapy for the next few months, expects Mr Coombes to be back on the football pitch within 12 months.

"It is a fascinating new branch of orthopaedics," said Mr Shepard.

"Normally we are taking things out and replacing them. This is the first technique where we can replace the original structure."

He said the technique was especially suitable for younger people and is effective in helping to prevent the onset of osteoarthritis, which can follow cartilage damage.

While the procedure is not cheap, at around £3,000, it can mean not having to carry out knee replacements at a later date, as well as sparing patients discomfort and pain.

For Mr Coombes, who is a supervisor with transport company First, the opportunity to be able to walk again without pain cannot come soon enough.

"I played football three times a week, and squash. Just to be able to take part in anything would be a bonus," he said. "I'll be officially bionic."