Arthritis Knee TreatmentKnee arthritis can dampen your ability to do activities you love. When the degeneration of arthritis interferes with your life, there is an arthritis knee treatment that can get you back to doing what you love. Regenerative Orthopedics are treatments that can repair the arthritic knee without surgery.
If you have knee arthritis, you most likely have already tried over-the-counter medications to help with the symptoms. You may even be bracing. Or you’ve received cortisone injections to relieve the pain and swelling.
Your physician may have even recommended surgery. You may have already had surgery! But unfortunately, even after all of these treatments, you continue to experience symptoms that are interfering with your life.
What can you do now that you’ve tried all kinds of treatments that you thought would help but didn’t? The good news is, Regenerative Orthopedics is a treatment that can repair the knee and boost function and mobility. Plus, it’s non-surgical!
Arthritis in the knee is one of the most common complaints that patients present to us at OrthoRegen®. More often than not, the people who reach out to us have experienced years of traditional care for knee pain, like NSAIDs, cortisone, and PT. They may have even been told that surgery is the only answer. But is that true? Very often, Regenerative Orthopedics can help patients avoid a knee replacement.
Prolotherapy is an excellent alternative to surgery because it addresses the root cause of what started the arthritic progression and the soft-tissue structural damage that leads to degenerative changes in the knee. The journal Orthopedic Reviews says this about Prolotherapy: “Numerous clinical trials show significant improvement of osteoarthritic pain of the knee without any significant side effects reported following the use of prolotherapy. Although there is heterogeneity between studies concerning study variables, the results consistently show significant improvement in radiographic outcomes, pain scores, and quality of life with prolotherapy treatment.” (1)
The journal Clinical Rehabilitation says, “Compared with placebo injection and noninvasive control therapy, dextrose Prolotherapy had favorable effects on pain, global function, and quality of life during the overall follow-up.”(2)
Another study from Taiwan concluded, “In this study, after receiving hypertonic dextrose prolotherapy, the osteoarthritis patients clearly demonstrated a significant improvement in WOMAC index and increasing tendency in the medial minimum joint space width after intervention. (3)
In terms of pain relief, a 2024 study in the journal Health Science reports, “dextrose prolotherapy has been found to be more effective in reducing pain compared with other treatments including saline, exercise, local corticosteroid injections, PRF therapy, HA injections, and physical therapy (PT).” (4)
Prolotherapy is not a new treatment. It’s been around for decades. As a non-surgical regenerative injection therapy, Prolotherapy treats joints, ligaments, and other joint structures and promotes the repair of these tissues. It is simple yet highly effective! Arthritis is a degenerative disease that progressively destroys the knee joint. Prolotherapy is an answer for many because this arthritis knee treatment repairs and regenerates the knee.
Stem Cells Are an Effective Knee Arthritis Treatment
Following a trauma, ligaments become injured, loose, and relaxed. If left untreated, joint instability and abnormal joint motion occur with continued joint use. This ultimately leads to continued degeneration of the knee changes and knee arthritis. The degenerative cycle can be interrupted if action is taken to treat the injury and abnormal motion using Regenerative Orthopedics.
These regenerative treatments can be used and are effective for arthritic joints. In cases where arthritis in the knee is more severe, PRP and Stem Cells may be recommended. Fortunately, at OrthoRegen®, we have years of experience using the Gold Standard in Stem Cells to repair arthritic knees.
What does the research show about PRP and Stem Cells as treatments for knee arthritis? A study out of England showed that PRP significantly lowered pain symptoms and is an effective treatment for knee osteoarthritis. (5) Researchers showed that BMAC (bone marrow concentrate) is safe to use and is a reliable and viable cellular product. (6)
OrthoRegen® offers stem cell therapy utilizing mesenchymal stem cells from bone marrow and adipose. The Gold Standard in Stem Cell Therapy includes two types of Stem Cells: Plus, PRP to augment the stem cells and Prolotherapy to treat the entire knee comprehensively. The Gold Standard offers the best opportunity for healing the knee. These non-surgical regenerative treatments stimulate natural healing repair in the knee and rebuild the injured tissue. (7)
Our clinicians will recommend the best regenerative therapy for your particular case to strengthen, stabilize and repair your knee.
Regenerative Orthopedics, such as platelet-rich plasma, Stem Cells, and Prolotherapy, stimulate tendon, ligament, and cartilage repair. These treatments are non-surgical, in-office procedures that are much less invasive than surgery and, therefore, require minimal downtown. These therapies are safe and conservative arthritis knee treatments that help relieve the disabling symptoms of knee arthritis.
(1) Zhao AT, Caballero CJ, Nguyen LT, Vienne HC, Lee C, Kaye AD. A Comprehensive Update of Prolotherapy in the Management of Osteoarthritis of the Knee. Orthopedic Reviews. 2022 May 31;14(4):33921.
(2) Chen YW, Lin YN, Chen HC, Liou TH, Liao CD, Huang SW. Effectiveness, Compliance, and Safety of Dextrose Prolotherapy for Knee Osteoarthritis: A Meta-Analysis and Metaregression of Randomized Controlled Trials. Clinical Rehabilitation. 2022 Jun;36(6):740-52.
(3) Pan PJ, Wang JC, Tsai CC, Kuo HC. Identification of early response to hypertonic dextrose prolotherapy markers in knee osteoarthritis patients by an inflammation-related cytokine array. J Chin Med Assoc. 2022 Jan 11. doi: 10.1097/JCMA.0000000000000693. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 35019866.
(4) Khateri S, Nejad FB, Kazemi F, Alaei B, Azami M, Moradkhani A, Majidi L, Moradi Y. The effect of dextrose prolotherapy on patients diagnosed with knee osteoarthritis: A comprehensive systematic review and meta‐analysis of interventional studies. Health Science Reports. 2024 Jun;7(6):e2145.
(5) Zhang B, Yu J, Fan D, Bao L, Feng D. Effect of Intraarticular Injection of Platelet-Rich Plasma on Knee Osteoarthritis: A Multicenter Retrospective Clinical Study. J Healthc Eng. 2022 Jan 7;2022:1788153. Doi: 10.1155/2022/1788153.
(6) Shapiro SA, Kazmerchak SE, Heckman MG, Zubair AC, O’Connor MI. A Prospective, Single-Blind, Placebo-Controlled Trial of Bone Marrow Aspirate Concentrate for Knee Osteoarthritis. Am J Sports Med. 2017 Jan;45(1):82-90. Doi: 10.1177/0363546516662455. Epub 2016 Sep 30. PMID: 27566242.
(7) Hauser RA, Orlofsky A. Regenerative injection therapy with whole bone marrow aspirate for degenerative joint disease: a case series. Clinical Medicine Insights: Arthritis and Musculoskeletal Disorders. 2013 Jan;6:CMAMD-S10951
