top of page
Writer's pictureRevival Clinic Team

Arthritis in the knee is truly crippling!

Updated: Jul 26, 2021



What Is Osteoarthritis?

Osteoarthritis(OA) is a condition in which the cartilage (natural cushioning between joints) wears off. When this occurs, the bony part component of the joint rubbing more and more against each other as a consequence of decreasing cartilage, the shock-absorbing part. This rubbing creates in pain, stiffness, swelling, reduce the ability to move and also sometimes the formation of bony projection along the bone edges.


Symptoms

  • Loss of flexibility. You may not be able to mobilize your joint throughout its full range of motion.

  • Grating sensation. You may experience a grinding feeling when you exert the joint, and you may hear crackling or popping.

  • Abnormal bone growth. Bone spurs are the extra bits of bone, which perceive like hard mass, can form surround the affected joint.

  • Swelling. This is caused by the inflammation of soft tissue around the joint.

  • Pain. Affected joints may become painful after or during movement.

  • Stiffness. Joint stiffness may be most detectable upon awakening or after being immobile for an extended period.

  • Tenderness. Your joint may feel painful when you press a light pressure to or near the joint.

What causes OA of the knee?

Osteoarthritis has a multiple constituent etiology, which come from the influence of local and systemic factors. Osteoarthritis happens in all ages. The theory is that particular genes are responsible for this disease. Obesity, sports participation, genetic susceptibility, and injury to the joint predispose young athletes to the progress of premature osteoarthritis. History of knee trauma multiplies the risk of knee osteoarthritis 3.86 times. Female gender, Old age, obesity and overweight, knee injury, bone density, repetitive use of joints, joint laxity and muscle weakness, all play roles in the development of joint osteoarthritis.


Factors that increase the risk of knee OA

  • Age

  • Trauma

  • Muscle weakness

  • Joint laxity

  • Mechanical forces

  • Repetitive knee trauma

  • Kneeling Squatting

  • Meniscal injuries

  • Genetic susceptibility

  • Obesity

  • Female gender


How to prevent OA in the knee?

Several risk factors might put a person at risk of developing osteoarthritis and while making changes may not reverse the condition, a person may be able to decrease their risk or slow the progression of osteoarthritis.

  • Keep your healthful weight: Excess weight puts more pressure on the knees. Over time, this gives to wearing down the cartilage. Excess fat can also induce the body to secrete cytokines, a type of protein. This can lead to extensive inflammation, and it can turn the way that cartilage cells work.

  • Managing blood sugar: High blood sugar levels can influence the structure and function of cartilage, and diabetes increases the risk of cartilage loss and inflammation.

  • Regular exercise: Moderate to intense activity can keep the joints stay flexible, strengthen the muscles that hold up the knees, and decrease the risk of varieties health problems. It may help to walk, gardener, swim for 30 minutes at a time, five times per week. Everybody who has not exercised for an extended period, possibly due to hard with mobility, should ask a medical professional for recommendations about how to start.

  • Reducing the injury risk: Cartilage that persisting damage from a repetitive injury is more prone to develop osteoarthritis later. It would be better to decrease the risk of slipping in the house by wearing shoes that fit well and use protecting equipment while playing sports to save injury.

  • Keep away from overuse: Some sports or professions related to repetitive movement of the knee joint, such as squatting or kneeling. People who usually lift more than 25kg might have an increased risk of osteoarthritis. Jobs that set people at risk, such as unloading trucks or ships and laying carpets. Varying activities and getting adequate rest intervals of work or exercise might help.

Treatment options for OA knee damage

Osteoarthritis is a degenerative and progressive problem, with the damaged structure is unlikely to revert and repair. So, current treatment modalities are targeted towards symptom management until the degree of severity dictates the necessity of surgical treatment with joint replacemen

  • Rehabilitation: There are different treatment options for osteoarthritis, for example, occupational, physical and alternative therapies. * Physical therapy uses exercises to strengthen muscles and enhance flexibility and joint mobility. * Occupational therapy targets helping you better cope with your normal activities and lifestyle, for example, getting dressed, walking, and bathing. You may only need these treatments for a short period as you learn to manage with your osteoarthritis or as your symptoms exacerbate. * Alternative treatments for osteoarthritis can include massage, relaxation therapies, and hydrotherapy. Acupuncture may also be useful. That acupuncture may be effective in decreasing osteoarthritis symptoms when used with additional medicines or, in some scenarios, in place of pain medication together.

  • Medication: Many patients with osteoarthritis take medications to reduce pain and symptoms, such as: * Acetaminophen This is frequently the first-line treatment for those with mild-to-moderate osteoarthritis pain. Common side effects such as upper stomach pain and nausea. * Nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs). If acetaminophen can’t provide relief, you may consider a Nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory medication, for example, ibuprofen or naproxen. These over the counter medicines can sometimes generate stomach problems.

  • Supplement with hyaluronic acid: Hyaluronic acid (HA) is a natural glycosaminoglycan produced by intra-articular cells that synthesis joint lubrication fluid. It provides viscous lubrication, has shocking absorbing features and additionally, possible anti-oxidant and anti-inflammatory functions have been reported. The current proof regarding effectiveness is conflicting

  • Intra-articular injection treatment choices for knee osteoarthritis: * steroid injections: steroids can suppress the immune response and interrupting the inflammatory cascade at multiple levels. It is believed that these are some of the processes of increase joint mobility and pain relief in knee osteoarthritis. * Intra-articular hyaluronic acid for the knee: Tend to be less beneficial than those for steroid injections. The 2013 American Academy of Orthopedic Surgeon guidelines strongly recommends against the use of hyaluronic acid for the treatment of symptomatic knees.

Cellular therapies for treatment of OA knee damage offered

at Revival Clinic



Placenta Extract

Human placental extract has been used for decades in Japan and China as a treatment agent for liver endocrine abnormalities and regeneration. Placenta extract has been proven to have wound-healing, anti-inflammatory, and antioxidant effects in the clinical trial [6].

Placenta Extract enhances natural healing through nervous regulation, hormonal regulation, and immune- regulation, giving the body resistance toward disease. Placenta Extract carries a variety of nutrients, growth factors, and anti-oxidants.

For more details visit our website HERE


Osteoarthritis is an inflammation which rises because of degeneration (deformation) of the joints. When bones aging, this cartilage can be punctured or wear out, and the pain of two bones directly rubbing against each other is the symptoms of osteoarthritis. The condition can go undetectable or if it isn’t very severe, often with bouts of sudden pain.

Placenta extract can be used to treat osteoarthritis successfully. While the placenta’s anti-inflammatory function can work against the pain, its tissue repair ability promotes regeneration of the damaged tissues. Another avenue of attack is its “insulin-like growth factor,” which enhances the growth of smooth muscle cells and cartilage and is remarkably efficient at treating and preventing osteoarthritis.


Professor Kazuhito Asano and his team at Showa University’s Medicine Department described that high levels of active oxygen were observed in the joints of sufferers of osteoarthritis and rheumatoid arthritis, this is likely to be a cause of degeneration and pain. Asano’s group found active oxygen in the joints of 40 osteoarthritis patients and 19 rheumatoid arthritis patients who visited their university hospital and detected no active oxygen in the joints of healthy people. The severity of the symptoms in each patient were graded into four levels, and the levels of active oxygen were, on average, 2.5 times higher in the case of osteoarthritis patients and five times in the case of rheumatoid arthritis patients. They concluded that active oxygen was damaging the tissues in the joints and causing the condition to degenerate.


Placenta extract has demonstrated an ability to eliminate active oxygen; hence it can play this additional beneficial role in rheumatoid arthritis and osteoarthritis treatment. [10]




Stem Cell Therapy

Stem cell treatment for knees is minimally invasive. It’s a way that can decrease inflammation, repair, and slow all these types of damage from joint inflammation, and prevent or delay knee replacement surgery.


In the study, each patient was injected in a single knee. The natural deterioration of the knee continued in the other knee, at five years, those knees that were injected with stem cells were in better shape than they were before the injections.


How does stem cell treatment fix the knee?

Researchers suggest that stem cell therapy for the knee works by:

  • Developing into essential cartilage cells

  • Produce proteins called cytokines that slow degeneration of cartilage and reduce pain

  • Prevent the inflammation that can worsen arthritis


How effective is stem cell therapy for the knee?

Researchers from the Krembil Research Institute in Toronto, Canada, recently examined the beneficial use of stem cells to treat knee osteoarthritis. They reported their results in the journal STEM CELLS Translational Medicine.


The researchers wanted to know whether it may be possible to regenerate and repair knee cartilage using mesenchymal stromal cells (MSCs). These cells can develop into various cell types, including bone, muscle, and importantly, cartilage.

In all, the researchers recruited 12 patients with moderate-to-severe knee osteoarthritis and extracted mesenchymal stem cells from each person's bone marrow. In this study, one of the main goals was to establish what constituted a safe and effective dosage, so the researchers injected each patient with one of three different doses of MSCs.


Twelve months after treatment, the researcher followed the patient, assessing their progress. For instance, they measured the inflammatory biomarkers level and the cartilage breakdown rate, and they check regular MRI scans of the affected joints. They also asked the patients to rate how well they believed they were doing.


By the end of the year-long study, the researcher found that there was a significant increase in quality of life and a decrease in pain. There was a significant decrease in inflammation within the knee joints of the patients, which is crucial because experts now believe inflammation to be a key driver of osteoarthritis.



Known side-effects of stem cell treatments for the knee

Stem cell therapy for knees is noninvasive and seldom painful. Side effects, if any, are minimal and rarely rise above as mild pain or swelling at the injection site.


For more information please visit our website HERE




Frequently asked questions about stem cell treatment

at Revival Clinic.


Where are your stem cells from?

The stem cell that we use is Mesenchymal stem cell from a human umbilical cord. The lab that we partner with cultures MSCs with all Zeno free medium (The most expensive medium on the market). This laboratory is fully ISO certified and utilizes a state of the art class 100 cleanroom (a controlled environment where injectable drugs are manufactured). Every patient receives a certificate showing full details of the stem cells that we used for their treatment.


Who conducts the procedure?

While the doctors at Revival clinic are fully qualified and internationally trained to administer stem cell therapy, due to the sensitive nature of joint treatments, the actual injection will be conducted by the orthopedic surgeon.


How effective are your stem cells?

Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) have been successfully employed to resurface the degenerated cartilage. Intra-articular (IA) administration of MSCs leads to pain reduction and cartilage protection or healing.


The pain reduction and improvement in function will start to be seen within no more than a month and these improvements will gradually increase over time. The rate of repair varies among individuals based on many factors. The better your general health is, the more likely you are to have a faster response.


We do a full review of patient progress each year when treating knee arthritis. And have found that all customers have attended more than 50% improvement in both pain and function. Of our past clients, 100% recommend people who have arthritis should seek this treatment.


Do you use anesthesia for the treatment?

To inject stem cells into the knee, we use local anesthesia only to minimize any discomfort that may be felt.




70 views0 comments

Comments


bottom of page