As a 62 year old runner with some knee pain I see one major problem. They are talking 18 months off. I don't know of any athlete that wants to wait 18 months as that is an eternity. Even with a full replacement a buddy of mine is back to running gradually after about 6-8 weeks after surgery. If I was going to stop running or too young for replacement this might make sense, but I think it may have limited appeal due to the recovery period.