For many people, knee pain becomes an unfortunate reality of day-to-day life. With continued aging comes the continued wear and tear of the joints absorbing the majority of the impact from literally every step we take. For some, the deterioration of a knee joint can start at a young age, often jump-started by traumatic injury of some kind or another. For others, knee issues may develop later on in life, due simply to the amount of mileage put onto the joints. Regardless of timetable, there tends to be one particular diagnosis of a person’s knee that is often both overused and misinterpreted…
“My knee is bone-on-bone.”
It’s a frustrating outlook to have to face when the structure that’s held the knee together for a person’s whole life, has worn down to have very little of that structure remaining. But the outlook usually is never as grim as people may think, or are led to believe. In offering free consultations for stem cell therapy here in our clinic, we’ve seen countless people come through our doors under the impression that their knees were bone-on-bone, and that all hope was gone for avoiding something like total knee replacement surgery. And in years past, that absence of hope may have been perfectly valid. However, with the development and progression of orthopedic stem cell therapy in recent years, patients suffering from osteoarthritis have more hope for non-surgical recovery than ever before!
If there’s one common trend that we’ve come to notice here in our clinic, it’s that the “bone-on-bone” diagnosis of a knee, tends to be drastically overused. Oftentimes, it seems that this diagnosis is given to any knee suffering from a noticeable deterioration of cartilage. While the cartilage may no longer be in tip-top shape, A true bone-on-bone status of a joint is representative of the severity of stage 4 osteoarthritis. Among patients we see who fear their knee joint is bone-on-bone, only a small percentage are truly into this most severe stage of arthritis when examined under X-ray. The vast majority of patients would properly be classified as either stage 3, or even stage 2 arthritis, which brings with it a very promising outlook with regards to stem cell therapy.
Even at the point of stage 3 osteoarthritis, the vast majority of patients stand a very high chance of significant improvement from stem cell therapy. When compared to total knee replacement surgery, stem cell therapy can often provide the additional perks of avoiding a major operation, drastically shorter recovery time, and better overall results. And when it comes to out-of-pocket costs, stem cell therapy can also often provide a much more cost-effective option compared to knee replacement surgery.
As is the case with treating any joint with stem cells, the first step will be to visit South Valley OrthoMed for a free consultation. We want to evaluate each potential patient on a one-on-one basis, to make the most responsible recommendation possible regarding their candidacy for stem cell therapy. Even though the aches and pains of persistent joint pain can make a situation seem hopeless, the outlook almost always tends to be better than most patients anticipate before coming in to see us!
