Knee Pain

ACL tears, MCL tear, LCL tear, Medial meniscus tear, Osteoarthritis, Degenerative Joint Disease, Chondromalacia patella, IT Band syndrome, Patellar tendonitis, Patella-Femoral Syndrome, Bone spurs

Knee PainKnee pain can be caused by all of the following: ACL tears, MCL tear, LCL tear, Medial meniscus tear, Osteoarthritis, Degenerative Joint Disease, Chondromalacia patella, IT Band syndrome, Patellar tendonitis, or Patella-Femoral Syndrome. In many patients, these knee conditions can be treated conservatively using PRP (as bioactive plasma) or PBSCs (Peripheral Blood Stem Cells) without a need for invasive surgery. It is key to note that the longer the knee condition persists, the more likely the ligament or cartilage will be infiltrated with fibrosed, calcified deposits. In the medial or lateral meniscus, this calcified cartilage can derange the tissue and is often scalped (not smooth) and is often termed “fibrocartilage” or “calcinosis.” In the larger tibial-femoral or patella-femoral knee joints, the calcified debris is often referred to as “chondrosis” or “degeneration of the cartilage” of the joint. Based on a simple xray or MRI, numerous patients are rushed off to orthopedic surgery for replacement of these fibrosed, chondrosed, or degenerated joints before even considering whether gentle scaping (aka curettage) of these barnacle-like, calcific infiltrations with the addition of PRP (as bioactive plasma) or PBSCs (Peripheral Blood Stem Cells) will help to heal the joint. It is a huge business for orthopedic clinics around the world to simply put a metal and plastic prosthesis in a patient’s joint instead of regeneratively treating these tissues with injection therapy and curettage. And sometimes, for patients who have ongoing degeneration and aging, joint replacements are necessary. But, for the majority of patients (up to 75% or more), knee replacements and meniscus surgeries are overperformed without consideration of the long-term consequences for the patients or expense to the medical system (including tax payer funded Medicare or Medicaid). Also, of note, bone spurs (aka bone cysts) and ligament fibrosis often occur over long periods of knee instability and degeneration.  Bone spurs result when the body lays calcium into the ligament (enthesophytes) or creates bone cysts (osteophytes). These calcified tissues are not actually hard bony tissue, however, but much more like tartar on teeth or barnacles on a ship hull. They can be gently scraped off the bone (curettage) by an experienced practitioner or raked away from a tendon or ligament (tenolysis) with a small needle. It is a relatively simple procedure that’s rarely done apart from expensive and risky orthopedic surgery.