SPORTS INJURIES
Knee Arthritis
There are so many older athletes with arthritis in the knees, we want to make sure you get the
message. If an athlete does not heal the cartilage, meniscus, ligament, or tendon
injury when it occurs, he/she is just one more step closer to developing symptomatic
arthritis. There is no reason for an athlete to get arthritis, when a treatment
like Prolotherapy is available. Prolotherapy stops the arthritic process because
it strengthens the joint, thus ending the need for the knee and other joints
to grow bone or form bone spurs.
The key to stopping the arthritic process is keeping the articular cartilage
healthy. The ends of the knee bones are lined with articular cartilage. This
amazing structure, which is only one-eighth to one half-inch thick, works to
distribute the load of each step and minimizes peak stresses by deforming and
regaining its previous shape. Articular cartilage is also remarkable in that,
once formed, it remains unchanged for many years unless due to injury or illness.
It has a very low metabolic rate and lacks blood vessels as well as nerves. Under
normal circumstances, cartilage cells (chondrocytes) in an adult rarely, if ever,
divide. The nutrition required by these cells to stay alive is derived from the
joint fluid. For the cartilage to remain healthy it must be regularly subjected
to weight-bearing exercise. (Woo, S. Injury and repair of the musculoskeletal
soft tissues. Park Ridge, IL: American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons, 1987,
p. 429.)
Once injured, the articular cartilage makes only a very small attempt to repair
itself. When a knee is examined one year after cartilage injury, it is virtually
unchanged from 24 hours after the injury! (Woo, S. Injury and repair of the musculoskeletal
soft tissues. Park Ridge, IL: American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons, 1987,
p. 468.)
Prolotherapy injections provide what the knee joint lining needs to heal. What
it needs is a strong stimulus to heal! There is experimental and clinical evidence
that saline irrigation or enzyme irrigation of the joint stimulates a repair. (Woo, S. Injury and repair of the
musculoskeletal soft tissues. Park Ridge, IL: American Academy of Orthopaedic
Surgeons, 1987, p. 476.) That
is, Prolotherapy very likely stimulates stem cells from other areas of the joint
to migrate into the injured area. These stem cells change their form slightly
and begin to make cartilage and other proteins that are needed for knee cartilage
repair. With three to four series of injections, spaced a few weeks apart, pain
from injury to the articular cartilage can be improved with Prolotherapy and
activities restored! Prolotherapy, in our experience, has been the only treatment we have
seen to effectively stimulate articular cartilage growth.
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