stem cell therapy for arthritic knee - has anyone had it?

My orthopedic surgeon told me that when he started in practice 30 years ago, he was sure some kind of cartilage replacement was right around the corner. 3 decades later and medical science still isn't there. Sadly, every solution so far is highly imperfect. There has to be great incentive... With millions of osteoarthritis sufferers in the world, it's a substantial waiting cash cow of there ever was one.

Actually the fields of bioengineering and regenerative medicine are more than capable of cartilage repair; they just can't commercialize their technologies due to the prohibitive expense of complying with FDA regulations. Science isn't the limiting factor...government is.

Intra-articular injection of mesenchymal stem cells for the treatment of osteoarthritis of the knee: a proof-of-concept clinical trial:

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/m/pubmed/24449146/

Never tried it, but would like to hear the results.

The cash would be changing cows.... from orthopedic surgeons performing joint replacements. They don't want stem cell therapy progressing.

microfracture guy wrote:

My orthopedic surgeon told me that when he started in practice 30 years ago, he was sure some kind of cartilage replacement was right around the corner. 3 decades later and medical science still isn't there. Sadly, every solution so far is highly imperfect. There has to be great incentive... With millions of osteoarthritis sufferers in the world, it's a substantial waiting cash cow of there ever was one.

Glenn McCarthy wrote:

The second takes adipose tissue (fat cells) eliminates the non-stem cells and injects the stem cells into the joint cavity.

this is what i am getting

check out the type of doctors performing the treatments, typically they are estaticians or plastic surgeon types, with little bone, joint background. .

my doctor is genuine

Glenn McCarthy wrote:

I spoke with my orthopedist, a Leadville 100 finisher and sub 2:45 marathoner, who told me that if there was any "validity" to this stuff you would see the pro-athletes doing it all the time.

footballers are to my knowkedge. generally pro runners don't need it. they are young and the sport has not broken don the cartilage. it is often via a traumatic impact - few runners experience this

I had a stem cell trial called NeoCart done in March and May. It has been almost 5 months since my last surgery. In the first surgery they removed non weight bearing cartilage and put it in a centerfuge for 8 weeks to somehow grow new cartilage with my stem cells. The doctor then went in and put the cartilage into a pothole I had in my knee. It is the 3rd phase of the trial and supposed to the the wave of the future. I cannot run again until Nov 1st but I am currently trying to build strength and doing an hour of stairmaster a day and 4-5 mile hike.

It is claimed to be much more durable than a microfracture and the first two phases had high success rates. We will see when I try to run again. My surgery was done by SCOI in Van Nuys.

your story is inspiring. I am 39 and have always been a runner. After I ran my first full marathon I had to have surgery on my left knee in Aprl 2015. I had a microfracture surgery and OATS procedure. The dr says he doesn't know if I will be able to run again. I am very active and have full range of motion but still have pain and I cant run when I try. I am scheduled to have the supartz injections tomorrow, and I am hoping that it helps with pain so that I can get back to running marathons soon! What type of exercises did you do to get your leg and knee strong enough to run again? Also, did you ease into the running?

Thank you

HRE wrote:

Oh yeah, desperation. Maybe the best reason of all. Good luck again. I've been tottering on the edge of doing it as well.

Hmmm... I think you & I have been runnin' same amount of time. Yup my knees too are worse for wear. Age, now 68, still getting out for some daily quality runs though very low mileage. No plans for races. Maintain general fitness more through early morning routine, newspaper deliveries via bike, walking, some trotting etc.

Thinking there may be a time I'll have to see about some kind of orthopedic treatment - know damn well what they'll (Dr's & orthopods) say up here in Victoria, BC. so extremely reluctant to try to see any of those.

Years ago I heard of this procedure but say, if it has worked for some I'd give it some serious thought. Cost though??

All the best HRE, always enjoy reading your posts.

dolphin1922 wrote:

What type of exercises did you do to get your leg and knee strong enough to run again? Also, did you ease into the running?

Thank you

First, I hope the injections work as well for you as they have for me, but to answer your questions:

1. I've followed a very basic approach. i do some some lunges, single leg & double leg squats, hip raises, (yoga) half moon, wall squats (both single leg and double), chair pose (yoga). 2x wk

I've (finally) embraced the idea of overall fitness vs just running. All my life I have hated cross training, but at my age I have realized that it's a necessary evil. I try to do a lot of body weight stuff and I've used the P90x workouts extensively.

2. I most definitely eased my way back into running. There is nothing to be gained from rushing back too quickly. I'm talking about days where I went for a 2-3M run. I started back doing Straights n Curves, but I was jogging the str8s and walking the curves.

The track is a good place to start back because it's cushioned, flat, and if you are hurting too bad you can just stop, walk across the in field and call it a day. Should you have a flare up you won't find yourself 3M away from your car, trying to run up and down hills on a bum knee. That could put you weeks behind.

3. You might want to consider finding races that aren't marathons for awhile. When I came back I raced nothing over a Half for about a year before I did another marathon.

Good luck.

bumping this thread

Thanks for the compliment and good wishes.

Since that last post I have made considerable improvement though I still resist saying that my knee is better because it's still quite bad. But it's much less bad and if I could improve as much in the next 3-4 months as I've done in the last 3-4 I might even begin to say it's better.

For what it's worth, I don't know how much glucosamine will kill a horse but for a while there I was probably close to taking it each day. I don't take as much now but take some. I also take hyluaronic acid which is that lubricant they sometimes inject into knees, and curcuminin all of which are supposed to do something though I can never keep straight what each of them is for. I've been icing the knee for 20 minutes after each run because I read that cryotherapy has been shown effective. I actually read about a place claiming good results by putting people into a chamber set at -265F for three minutes but can't recall where or find anything else about it but it's intriguing. And then there is the ever expanding regime of exercises. I almost dread the end of runs now because there are all these bloody exercises to do. But there has been progress.

You know, we're at the age where at times we can simultaneously be first and last in our age groups in smaller races. If I get this thing a little better I may have a go at seeking such races out. I have a cousin in Pennsylvania who's just a shade older than you who this works out for pretty well.

At any rate, thanks again and good luck with your own ordeal.

wwerwe wrote:

Has anyone had stem cell treatment to regenerate cartilage / meniscus?

Did it work? Would appreciate your responses. Also any experience with microfracture?

Read Richard Bedard and Doug Kelsey.

Definitely not Mad Hops wrote:

wwerwe wrote:

Has anyone had stem cell treatment to regenerate cartilage / meniscus?

Did it work? Would appreciate your responses. Also any experience with microfracture?

Read Richard Bedard and Doug Kelsey.

Thanks for that. I shall.

When it comes to stem cell therapy there seems to be a lot of quackery out there. I'm very adverse to anyone that calls themselves an NP or talks about holistic medicine.

I was watching stuff on youtoube and this guy appears to be legit. Lot of those clinics with videos, they seem kinda fishy.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SaLZAt_R1W4

On Sept 28 I'm having stem cell injections in my knee. I'm going to an orthopedic and spine center in Atlanta. The doctor is an orthopedic doc and specializes in sports injuries. He is also the sports doc for Georgia Tech and a consultant to USA Track and Field for many international events. He said I was a moderate case so I'm hoping to be able to run by next spring. I'll update as things progress.

All the best man

Interesting thread. I'm traveling to the Cayman Islands in December for an injection of cultured stem cells, which is illegal in the U.S. thanks to the Federal Drug Abomination. I've long accepted that I will never run again, but I'm hoping this will stave off severe debilitation.

wwerwe wrote:

If you do some googling you will find cases where it has worked.

The probability they are planted stories is high.

Speaking of astroturfing, it seems like maybe an eliptigo is in your future.