Did you Have Knee Surgery? Still in Pain?
Mr. S. is an active 77 year old male who enjoys playing golf. Unfortunately, knee pain and knee osteoarthritis had limited his ability to enjoy his favorite hobby. The pain on his right knee became so severe that he had to quit playing golf. He was also unable to walk long distances due to the knee pain. He went to see an orthopedic surgeon who recommended knee surgery, so he underwent a partial knee replacement on the right side. This surgery resulted in no improvement of his pain, and he was not able to return to playing golf after the surgery. Due to the severe limitations on his activities and difficulty with ambulation, he decided to seek other forms of treatment. Another physician performed a platelet rich plasma (PRP) injection into his right knee (intraarticular). This resulted in minimal improvement of his pain.
Mr S. was then referred to our clinic by a friend. On physical examination we noticed marked tenderness on the inside of his knee joint with increased laxity upon lateral movement of the lower leg (positive valgus test), suggesting weakness of the medial collateral ligament. Ultrasound examination showed a partial tear of that ligament with degeneration of the tendon of the hamstring muscles on the medial side of the knee. We initially recommended treatment with prolotherapy to improve strength of those structures. After two treatments with prolotherapy patient experienced about 25% decrease in the pain, but he was unsatisfied with the results, as he was not able to resume playing golf.
We then performed one treatment of bone marrow derived stem cells combined with PRP on the medial collateral ligament and the insertion of the hamstring muscle (pes anserinus). Two months after the procedure, the patient called us with the exciting news that he was playing golf again and had just completed a 5K walk. Three months after the injection, and upon physical examination, we saw that the tenderness and the knee laxity were almost completely gone (negative valgus test). It’s been over 6 months after his injection, and patient continues to do very well (and improving). He is extremely satisfied with the results and hopefully he has many more years of golf ahead of him. Unfortunately, we couldn’t help him with his golf handicap.
To learn more about non-surgical alternatives to joint replacement surgeries go to: www.dontoperate.com .