Mr Matthew Dawson

Matt Dawson is a Specialist Knee Surgeon who specialises in sports injuries and degenerative conditions affecting the knee. He is one of the leading authorities on osteotomy surgery in the UK. c

Mr Dawson performs a wide range of knee procedures including arthroscopy, femoral and tibial osteotomy, total and partial knee replacement, articular cartilage surgery, single and multiple ligament reconstruction, patella realignment and stabilisation and a range of combined complex procedures for deformity and instability. Mr Dawson has developed one of the largest UK practices in osteotomy with around 500 cases to date.

Mr Dawson believes in the principle of joint preservation in order to prolong knee activity and knee function to the highest level. His philosophy is to individually assess patients with the appreciation that alignment and stability of the knee are the bedrock to successful knee function and successful surgery.

Having completed his Orthopaedic training in London and a sports knee fellowship in Dublin, Mr Dawson joined North Cumbria University Hospital in 2001.

Mr Dawson is committed to the education of healthcare professionals. He hosts a successful fellowship in Osteotomy and Knee surgery at North Cumbria University Hospital and lectures locally, nationally, internationally and has published in peer-reviewed journals on the subject of osteotomy.

In June 2015 Mr Dawson launched the annual Northern Osteotomy Masterclass. This acclaimed course attracts experts from around the globe and provides high-quality training for consultants and the surgeons of tomorrow. He is a co-convenor of the Basingstoke Osteotomy Masterclass and founder member of UKKOR, the world’s first national osteotomy registry.

In 2017 Mr Dawson became the Vice Chair of the leading European Sports Knee Surgery and Arthroscopy Society, ESSKA’s Osteotomy Committee.

Mr Dawson is working at the leading edge of knee osteotomy surgery with device technologies, surgical applications, and teaching techniques. He is a driver in several research projects in the field. Currently Mr Dawson is collaborating with a leading American company and European colleagues with a groundbreaking technology aimed at increasing accuracy of osteotomy surgery. This innovative technology permits correction of alignment to occur under precise post-operative control using a magnetic remote control device. Mr Dawson is the first UK surgeon to perform this surgery.

Outside of work Matt has been married to his wife Jo for over 20 years and together they have four children. He is a long-suffering lifelong Newcastle United fan. He enjoys family life, cycling, all sports and walking Walter the dog!

Mr Dawson consults privately in Carlisle, Penrith and Lancaster. He operates privately at The Lancaster Hospital.

• All knee-related problems including realignment, stabilisation and replacement.


• Matt has an interest in soft tissue procedures in children and adults performing more then 50 ligament reconstructions per annum. He has developed one of the largest UK practices in osteotomy surgery around the knee and is involved in an annual master class as a UK faculty member joining internationally recognised experts. Matt has one of the largest unicondylar knee replacement practices in the Northern region and a high throughput total knee replacement practice. The arthroplasty implants he uses are ‘gold standard’ and have the longest survivorship follow up data available for any current knee prostheses. Matt performs a lot of patello-femoral surgery - both stabilisations with Medial Patello-Femoral Ligament Reconstruction and realignment operations. He has driven local policy on enhanced recovery for joint replacement (Caledonian Technique) and has presented his results at a national Pain Conference in Chester in 2011.

• British Medical Association


• British Orthopaedic Association


• Medical Defence Union