The Interventional Orthobiologics Blog
Blog covering topics and research in interventional orthobiologics, interventional orthopedics, and orthopedic procedures.
Stem Cells for Bone on Bone Arthritis? Replenish Stem Cell Reserves
Do stem cells for bone on bone arthritis work? Based on questions from all sources, cartilage is something on many people’s minds. Patients often ask why we inject mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) in patients with severe degenerative arthritis if the expectation is that we won’t be able to grow the large stretches of new knee…read more
NSAIDs and Stem Cells: Naprosyn Messes Up Cartilage
I highlighted a study recently that suggested that taking NSAID drugs long-term could cause more arthritis. However, the question is how that could happen. Now another recent study sheds light on a possible mechanism for how that could work—NSAIDs cause abnormal cartilage to be manufactured because of the interaction of NSAIDs and Stem Cells. NSAIDs…read more Teaching the World to Count: Does Your Doctor Know How to Dose Cells?
Yesterday I was meeting with the Interventional Orthopedics Foundation (IOF) scientific team. They showed me this great book that teaches physicians how to count the number of cells in a same-day stem cell treatment. I quickly realized that I was seeing a first in stem cells, a nonprofit organization that was dedicated to advancing the…read more Are Bone Spurs Bad? Bone Is Alllllliiiiivvvveeee…
Are bone spurs bad? Bone spurs inspire fear in the hearts and minds of most patients, kind of like The Blob from a bad ’60s horror movie. When they hear that they have them, they’re immediately freaked out. However, much like the title of Stanley Kubrick’s ’60s movie, Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to…read more Popping That Motrin or Other NSAID Drugs May Hurt Your Knees!
We’ve never liked NSAID drugs much, given their propensity to dramatically increase heart attack risk. I’ve often suspected that because of the way they work, they may actually hurt the joint rather than help it, but until now I’ve never seen a study where a large group of people were followed for long time to…read more Do People Have No Back Pain in Some Parts of the World?
Back pain is a hot topic and given that 85% of Americans experience back pain at some point and 1/3 of those will develop chronic back pain, it’s easy to understand why. But do those numbers hold true everywhere, or do some places in the world have no back pain? One back surgery down, unwilling to have…read more 