Why do athletes lose explosiveness from a microfracture surgery?

Muscle strength loss: The many muscles involved in running and moving quickly from point "a" to point "b" are responsible for explosiveness (acceleration). Rehabilitation that is sports-specific is usally required to regain maximal functional recovery after any knee surgery, including microfracture.

Arthritis: The main reason for the loss of explosiveness is due to the fact that in essence a microfracture is arthritis of the knee. That leads to protective mechanisms to avoid pain. This is manifested in loss of the edge that elite atheletes possess. In the future, live cartilage transplant may hopefully replace this procedure.