Surgery Doesn't Have To Be The Only Option

Knee Pain

Non-Surgical Knee Pain Treatment Options

Knee Pain

In our over 23 years of helping people with knee pain, we have been able to help patients with a diagnosis of:

  • Knee osteoarthritis
  • Knee tendonitis
  • Knee bursitis
  • Meniscus tears
  • Patellar tendinopathy
  • Patellar subluxation
  • Patellofemoral Pain Syndrome
  • Baker’s cysts
  • Post surgery knee pain
  • IT Band weakness and pain
  • Patellar subluxation
  • ACL tears and post-surgical pain
  • MCL and PCL 

 

For people who had arthroscopic and knee  replacement surgery and continue to have knee pain. We may also be able to help.

Conservative care options:

For some people, conservative care non-surgical options can be very successful for their knee pain. For others, these treatment’s effectiveness may have worn off if they were effective at all.

We see many people who have had one, many or all of these treatments below:

  • Physical therapy
  • Cortisone injection
  • Hyaluronic acid injection
  • Painkiller prescriptions
  • Daily anti-inflammatory usage
  • Knee braces 

These treatments will continue to be prescribed until eventually an MRI will reveal enough damage to recommend a knee surgery.

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Knee Pain Treatment Options

Bone marrow aspirate concentrate

In our practice we have found PRP and bone marrow concentrate to be effective and reliable treatments in certain patients for various elbow ailments. Many people who seek these treatments have already been advised to consider surgery.

Bone marrow concentrate or bone marrow aspirate concentrate is the injection into the damaged, injured area of the knee. The injection contains stem cells that have been drawn from the patient’s own bone marrow. These cells are “de-differentiated pluripotent” cells, which mean that they continue to divide to create more cells that can “morph” into the tissue needing repair—for our purposes, collagen needed for cartilage, ligaments, tendons and bone.

Short-Term Outcomes in Treatment of Knee Osteoarthritis With 4 Bone Marrow Concentrate Injections.

We have published research on the treatment of Knee Osteoarthritis with Bone Marrow Concentrate Injections. The research appears in the peer-reviewed Clinical Medicine Insights: Arthritis and Musculoskeletal Disorders. The study can be found here in its entirety:

Short-Term Outcomes in Treatment of Knee Osteoarthritis With 4 Bone Marrow Concentrate Injections.

Preliminary research suggests that bone marrow concentrate (BMC), which contains mesenchymal stem cells and platelets, is a promising treatment for knee osteoarthritis. The aim of this study was to build on this preliminary research by reporting the short-term progress of 15 patients (20 knees) with knee osteoarthritis through 4 BMC treatments.


Methods:

Patients underwent four sequential BMC treatments with mean injection times of 13.80 days after the first treatment, 21.40 days after the second treatment, and 33.50 days after the third treatment. The last follow-up was conducted a mean 86 days after the first treatment. Baseline and posttreatment outcomes of resting pain, active pain, lower functionality scale, and overall improvement percentage were compared after each treatment.


Results:

Patients experienced statistically significant improvements in active pain and functionality score after the first treatment. Additionally, patients experienced a mean decrease in resting pain after the first treatment, yet outcomes were not statistically significant until after the second treatment. On average, patients experienced an 84.31% decrease in resting pain, a 61.95% decrease in active pain, and a 55.68% increase in functionality score at the final follow-up. Patients also reported a mean 67% total overall improvement at study conclusion. Outcomes at the final follow-up after the fourth treatment were statistically significant compared to outcomes at baseline, after first treatment, after second treatment, and after third treatment.


Conclusions:

These results are promising, and additional research with a larger sample size and longer follow-up is needed to further examine the treatment effectiveness of multiple BMC injections for knee osteoarthritis.


Platelet Rich Plasma Therapy

PRP treatments are injection treatments. The treatments are derived from your own healing and growth factors found in your blood. The treatment involves collecting a small amount of your blood and concentrating it in a centrifuge to separate the blood platelets from the red blood cells. The collected platelets are then injected back into the injured area of the knee to stimulate healing and regeneration to the soft tissue structures that stabilize the spine.


Articles 

Do I Need Surgery for a Meniscus Tear?

Returning to work after knee replacement

Alleviating knee pain and restoring function

Bone marrow concentrate and Platelet-Rich Plasma (PRP) therapy have demonstrated significant improvements in Knee Injury and Osteoarthritis Outcome Scores, including pain and symptom relief. In addition, these therapies have the ability to address the progression of meniscal damage, and regenerate tissue. These treatments however do not work for everyone. Please contact Dr. Darrow so we can begin our assessment of your candidacy for treatment.