Orthobiologics Scottsdale: joint care using blood or marrow

The sore place and painful movement help narrow the cause

A knee may ache on stairs, after standing or during a long walk. Hip trouble is often felt in the groin, side or back. A shoulder may hurt when you reach up or sleep on that side.

Tell the clinician exactly where you hurt and what you were doing when it began. Swelling, catching or new weakness can help guide the exam. An X-ray can show arthritis, while the hands-on check finds stiff or tender areas.

Brief rest and easy movement may calm a mild flare

Cut back on the motion that started the ache, but avoid spending the whole day still. Move the joint gently as long as the motion feels safe. Use cold after activity when swelling appears; warmth may loosen stiffness before you move.

Once the flare settles, steady exercise can help you keep strength and motion. Physical therapy can teach movements that put less strain on the sore joint. Your doctor can also review medicines and discuss losing weight if extra weight adds stress.

If soreness lingers, QC Kinetix can explain blood-based care

Ongoing soreness deserves an exam when walking, dressing or sleep becomes harder. QC Kinetix offers regenerative treatments, meaning care made after clinicians take some of your blood or marrow. Its medical providers are clinicians who examine the joint and review your earlier care.

Platelet-rich plasma, called PRP, is plasma saved after your drawn blood is spun to raise its platelet level. Concentrated PRP means that saved portion has more platelets than untreated blood. Platelets are blood parts involved in healing.

The clinic calls these natural pain treatments because their starting material comes from your body. You can ask what the exam shows, what is only suspected and what remains unknown. That keeps the talk centered on your soreness and daily life.

Sources

1. The largest head-to-head trial of cell-based orthobiologics to date randomised 480 patients with KL II-IV knee OA across four arms: autologous bone marrow aspirate concentrate, autologous adipose stromal vascular fraction, allogeneic umbilical cord tissue-derived MSCs, and a corticosteroid injection control. At 12 months NONE of the three orthobiologic injections was superior to another or to the corticosteroid control on either co-primary endpoint (VAS pain, KOOS pain), and none of the four groups showed a significant change in MRI osteoarthritis score from baseline. No procedure-related serious adverse events were reported.

   Mautner K, et al. — Cell-based versus corticosteroid injections for knee pain in osteoarthritis: a randomized phase 3 trial.. Nature Medicine, 2023. DOI: 10.1038/s41591-023-02632-w.

2. RESTORE, the largest and most rigorously blinded placebo-controlled PRP trial in knee OA (n=288, participant-, injector- and assessor-blinded), gave three weekly injections of a commercial leukocyte-poor PRP or saline. At 12 months the change in knee pain was -2.1 vs -1.8 points (difference -0.4; 95% CI -0.9 to 0.2; P=.17) and the change in medial tibial cartilage volume was -1.4% vs -1.2% (difference -0.2%; P=.81). Twenty-nine of 31 prespecified secondary outcomes showed no between-group difference. The authors concluded the findings do not support the use of PRP for knee OA.

   Bennell KL, et al. — Effect of Intra-articular Platelet-Rich Plasma vs Placebo Injection on Pain and Medial Tibial Cartilage Volume in Patients With Knee Osteoarthritis: The RESTORE Randomized Clinical Trial.. JAMA, 2021. DOI: 10.1001/jama.2021.19415.

3. A Bayesian network meta-analysis of 48 Level I-II randomized trials (9,338 knees) with a minimum 6-month follow-up ranked the four commonest intra-articular injections. HA and PRP both significantly improved pain versus placebo; HA, PRP and BMAC all significantly improved function versus placebo. SUCRA rankings were PRP 91.54, BMAC 76.46, HA 53.12, corticosteroid 15.18 and placebo 13.70 - corticosteroid ranked barely above placebo at six months and beyond.

   Jawanda H, et al. — Platelet-Rich Plasma, Bone Marrow Aspirate Concentrate, and Hyaluronic Acid Injections Outperform Corticosteroids in Pain and Function Scores at a Minimum of 6 Months as Intra-Articular Injections for Knee Osteoarthritis: A Systematic Review and Network Meta-analysis.. Arthroscopy, 2024. DOI: 10.1016/j.arthro.2024.01.037.

4. FDA states verbatim of stem cell products, stromal vascular fraction (adipose-derived cells), umbilical cord blood, Wharton's jelly, amniotic fluid and exosome products: 'None of these products have been approved for the treatment of any orthopedic condition, such as osteoarthritis, tendonitis, disc disease, tennis elbow, back pain, hip pain, knee pain, neck pain, or shoulder pain.' The only FDA-approved stem cell products in the United States are blood-forming (hematopoietic progenitor) cells derived from umbilical cord blood, approved only for disorders of blood production, and there are currently NO FDA-approved exosome products.

   U.S. Food and Drug Administration — Consumer Alert on Regenerative Medicine Products Including Stem Cells and Exosomes. FDA (Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research), 2020.