Cartilage Degeneration
Cartilage degeneration is a process characterized by the gradual deterioration of cartilage tissue, which serves as a cushion between bones in joints. This condition commonly occurs with aging or as a result of injury, leading to joint pain, stiffness, and reduced mobility. Cartilage degeneration can affect various joints in the body, such as the knees, hips, and shoulders, and may progress over time if left untreated.
Subscribe to the BlogACL Surgery Is Not Cost Effective in New Study
As I have written before, ACL surgery is a sacred cow of modern surgical sports medicine. It is the single procedure that most defines the whole field. Despite that, the recent research on the procedure hasn’t been favorable. Now a recent study adds to that by showing that the way we use the procedure in…read more
Can a PRP Injection Help Your Knee Cartilage Health?
Can a PRP injection help your cartilage? While we’ve had some indications based on animal models that platelet-rich plasma probably helps improve the quality of cartilage, we have had no definitive human evidence. Now a new study using sophisticated MRI techniques adds to that evidence. Imaging and Measuring Cartilage How do we measure the quality…read more
Does PRP Make Cartilage Grow?
I get about yearly PRP injections into my aging knees. Why? Well, there’s been “a thing” hanging out there that maybe, just maybe, this might help protect the cartilage I have. Is this for real? Let’s review the research this morning. What Is PRP? Platelet-rich plasma is when a doctor concentrates your platelets in plasma.…read more
PRP Exosomes and Cartilage Repair
Platelet-rich plasma is the most commonly used regenerative treatment in the U.S. right now. In these past few years, exosomes have also been a hot topic. Does PRP have exosomes? If so, what can they do? Let’s dig in and review some new research. What Is an Exosome? An exosome is a small vesicle produced…read more
Are Umbilical Cord Stem Cells Better for Knee Cartilage Repair?
Let’s look today at two studies that posit an interesting question. They both ask if umbilical cord stem cells are better than the patient’s own bone marrow concentrate in healing a small cartilage lesion in the knee. This is an important topic because we have hundreds of crazy chiropractic clinics claiming that they are injecting…read more ACL Reconstruction Surgery Is a Second Hit to the Cartilage: Time to Rethink Orthopedics?
ACL reconstruction (ACLR) surgery is a sacred cow of modern orthopedic sports medicine. Most surgeons view it as the first major advancement in that specialty beyond the use of the arthroscope itself. However, this has been an awful decade for orthopedic surgical research with study after study showing that common surgeries are ineffective or harmful.…read more Is ACL Surgery a Second Hit to the Joint Cartilage?
I’ve blogged before on the idea that we now have high-level evidence that suggests ACL surgery itself is harming the joint. While at the Havemeyer Symposium (think tank) at CSU, one of the physician-scientists presented an interesting slide that supports this idea. Let me explain. The Prior Research As I have reported previously, data from…read more Waiting on ACL Surgery Protects Knee Cartilage
Repairing the ACL within a few weeks or months of injury has become the standard of care. However, is this really best for the patient? A new study demonstrates that we may be harming more patients with this approach than we’re helping. Let’s review. ACL Reconstruction I have seen many surgeons conclude that ACL reconstruction…read more 