Cartilage Health

1 in 3 Unstable Ankles Has Cartilage Damage

Many people have sprained their ankles a few times in their lives. As they age, they begin to notice pain after exercise, and most ignore that pain. Now a new study shows that in 1 in 3 ankles where the ligaments are loose, there is already cartilage damage. The Ankle Ligaments The main ankle ligaments…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

Ask Dr. C- Episode 8- Bone on Bone and Cartilage Regeneration

Nothing in regenerative medicine is likely more misunderstood by doctors and patients than “bone on bone” knee arthritis. There are misconceptions about candidacy as well as what the patient can expect as far as outcomes. Hence, this is a great “Ask Dr. C” question. Dr. Centeno, ” you said that you have not been able…read more

Healing Spontaneous Osteonecrosis of the Knee without Surgery

SPONK is one of those medical terms that just sounds strange, but it’s a really big nasty problem. This is the story of a patient who developed spontaneous osteonecrosis of the knee likely due to excessive knee steroid shots, who was told she needed a knee replacement, but who instead used injections of her own…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