Knee SURGERY ALTERNATIVE TREATMENT

Regenerative cell treatments and Enhanced PRP may offer an unconventional KNEE Surgery alternative treatment in UK.

Medica Stem Cells regenerative treatments are minimally invasive non-surgical procedures. Treatments provide long-lasting relief from symptoms with minimal downtime and enhance recovery within a short period using your own body’s healing power to treat knee arthritis and knee-related injuries. Knee Pain treatment from Medica Stem cells provide effective relief from pain and reduce inflammation without any surgery and pain.

Can Regenerative Therapy Revitalize Your Knee Joint Without Surgery?

Imagine climbing the stairs where your knee catches and buckles with severe ache. What happens if you fall unexpectedly and if you are unable to get up? You may not be ready to consult a physician as you would have seen your relatives spent more on procedures that did not prove to be effective.

No worries! We are here to help you understand your natural healing mechanism through regenerative cellular therapies. It is time to get back to your active life without knee surgery!

Before we go through the potential knee problems and knee surgery alternative treatment in UK, let us know the anatomy and working mechanism of the knee joint.

KNEE JOINT ANATOMY

Knee-anatomy-figure

The knee joint is composed of bones, tendons, ligaments, cartilage and bursal sac. All these parts work with coordination to help us walk, jump, and bend down.

Bones: There are three types of bones in the knee, namely femur, tibia, and patella. The knee joint connects the tibia (shin bone) and the femur (thigh bone), including a protective bony cover named patella (kneecap). Femur and tibia end as a rounded protuberance named condyle, which forms the part of the knee joint.

Knee cartilage is otherwise called as the knee meniscus. There are two types of knee meniscus, namely medial (inside) and lateral (outside). It is located between the femur and the tibia. It helps in distributing the body weight and protects the bones from friction.

Tendons connect bone to muscle. There are two types of tendons, namely quadriceps tendon and patellar tendon. The quadriceps tendon connects the patella to the large thigh muscle named quadriceps muscle. The patellar tendon attaches to the tibia.

Ligaments hold bones or cartilage together. There are two types of ligaments, namely anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) and the posterior cruciate ligament (PCL). ACL lies at the front part of the knee joint while PCL lies at the back. They hold femur and tibia together to stabilize the knee joint.

Bursa sac consists of lubricating fluid that remains as a cushion between the bones in the knee joint to reduce friction.

Imagine a door that opens and closes with the help of a hinge. Similarly, the knee joint is considered as a flexible hinge that aids in mobility. You can normally move your leg in front-to-back and side-to-side motion. In case of improper joint movement due to worn-out shoes or trauma, acute knee injuries may occur. Similarly, the knee is also considered as the weight-bearing joint. It is the knee joint that balances a person’s weight. In the case of obesity, excess pressure falls on the knee joint, which may lead to cartilage damage, degeneration, or wear and tear.

Varied knee problems that cause knee joint pain and the associated symptoms like stiffness, tenderness, restricted range of motion, swelling, cracking noise include:

  • Knee bursitis (Bursa inflammation)
  • Tendonitis (Tendon inflammation)
  • Osteoarthritis (degenerative knee joint disease)
  • Torn meniscus (cartilage wear and tear)
  • Knee ligament tear (ACL/PCL injury)
  • Knee bone spur
  • Fracture/sprained knee
  • Iliotibial band (ITB) syndrome – Knee pain due to worn-out or poorly fitting shoes
  • Hamstring injury (Tear of the tendons or muscles at the back of the thigh)
  • Other sports-related injuries such as athlete injury, football or soccer injury

Pain and associated symptoms become worse during the rainy season, in the mornings, and after prolonged sitting.

Knee pain treatment refers to the medical interventions and strategies used to alleviate pain and discomfort in the knee joint. It involves various approaches aimed at addressing the underlying cause of knee pain, managing symptoms, and improving the overall function of the knee

Treatment for knee pain includes both surgical and non-surgical procedures which aim to improve the strength and function of joints by controlling the symptoms and avoid further joint damage.

Initial treatment includes home remedies that focus on limiting the activities that may aggravate the symptoms. Hence, physicians recommend R.I.C.E. Formula (Rest, Ice, Compression, and Elevation) as a home treatment.

Rest: Wear knee pads for extra cushion effect and avoid putting any extra pressure by leaning on the knees. This activity modification step can help reduce pain and inflammation.

Ice therapy: Apply ice therapy on the injured knees 2-3 times for 10-20 minutes per day to reduce symptoms. But remember not to apply ice directly on the skin. Place a cloth between the ice and the affected area to stay away from getting an ice-burn.

Compression: Wear an elastic compression bandage around the affected part to alleviate the swelling.

Elevation: Place the affected knee above the height of your heart to reduce inflammation

Activity modification such as reducing activities like knee bending and climbing stairs may helpin preventing the condition from getting worse. Physicians may recommend physical therapy, muscle strengthening exercises, or using assistive devices like canes, once you are relieved from knee pain.

Medications such as analgesics aim to reduce the pain, and non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) helps in reducing pain and inflammation. But its consumption for a long time leads to potential side effects including heart, gastrointestinal, and kidney problems [3].

Administration of corticosteroid injections into the knee provides short-term relief for only 1-3 weeks by reducing inflammation, but they have systemic and local adverse side effects.

Surgical methods include joint distraction, knee arthroscopy, knee osteotomy, knee bone spur surgery, meniscus surgery, and partial or total joint replacement. Your physician may recommend these options if non-surgical methods do not yield any improvement. But joint replacement surgery is only considered as the last resort since it requires a prolonged duration of rehabilitation post-surgery to regain flexibility and strength.

Looking for a knee surgery alternative treatment in UK/Ireland? Opt for regenerative cell therapy!

Your body can heal by itself. That is the motto of regenerative cell therapy. Let us see how the body heals.

If you cut your finger, it bleeds. It then forms a scab like structure. Ultimately, it is the healing cell beneath the scab that seals the injury and stop the bleeding. Similarly, your body can also examine the signs of damage and repair them using its healing cells.

Regenerative cell therapy is a non-surgical procedure that provides long-lasting relief from the symptoms with minimal downtime and enhances recovery within a short period. It has no side effects since the injection involves your blood. So, there is no chance of rejection or cross-transmission of disease.

A study published in NPJ Regenerative Medicine revealed that regenerative cell therapy may provide better pain relief compared to NSAIDs drugs and corticosteroid injections [1].

Recent research shows that provides more long-term relief from joint pain and enhances the quality of life in a shorter duration compared to corticosteroid injections. People may think that Enhanced PRP injection is just like a cortisone shot. But it is not so. Long-term administration of cortisone injections will suppress the body’s natural healing mechanism and leads to knee replacement surgery in the future. But Enhanced PRP therapy repairs the injured tissue by naturally promoting your body’s healing function. Hence, you need not have to undergo surgery in your later stage [2].

Surgery may promote knee degeneration which leads to undergoing the same surgery once again in the future. Additionally, the incidence of pain after the surgery is high around 20%, in addition to anaesthesia and surgery associated risks. With the advent of Enhanced PRP therapy, surgery can be easily avoided [4].

So, what are you waiting for? Turn back the clock and start leading an active pain-free life by opting for knee surgery alternative treatment in UK – regenerative cell therapy! 

If you feel you may benefit from regenerative therapies, please contact us at our London clinic on 020 8 168 2000 or our Ireland clinic on 01 298 8000 to book a consultation or request a callback today! We will take a close look at your case and evaluate if you are a qualified candidate for regenerative therapy.  

References

  1. Iijima, H., .., T., Kuroki, H., Takahashi, M., & Aoyama, T. (2018). Effectiveness of mesenchymal stem cells for treating patients with knee osteoarthritis: a meta-analysis toward the establishment of effective regenerative rehabilitation. NPJ Regenerative medicine3(1), 1-13.
  2. Forogh B, Mianehsaz E, Shoaee S, Ahadi T, Raissi GR, Sajadi S. Effect of a single injection of Platelet-Rich Plasma in comparison with corticosteroid on knee osteoarthritis: a double-blind randomized clinical trial. J Sports Med Phys Fitness. 2015 Jul 14.  [Google Scholar]
  3. Cooper C, Chapurlat R, Al-Daghri N, et al (2019). Safety of Oral Non-Selective Non-Steroidal Anti-Inflammatory Drugs in Osteoarthritis: What Does the Literature Say? Drugs Aging. 36(Suppl 1):15–24. doi:10.1007/s40266-019-00660-1.
  4. Gautam Das, Debjyoti Dutta, et al (2019). Enhanced Platelet-rich Plasma Injection in Osteoarthritis of the Knee? Journal on Recent Advances in Pain, 5(1): 1-15
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