Who is not a good candidate for stem cell therapy?

When may a clinic procedure be a poor fit?

Severe wear, a joint bent far out of its usual shape, or aching at rest may call for a surgeon's opinion. A clinic procedure may also be unsafe during an active infection or with untreated bleeding trouble. Tell your doctor about cancer care and blood-thinning medicine.

Soreness may come from the joint, nearby muscle, the back, or a tendon, the strong cord joining muscle to bone. An X-ray or scan may show wear. The exam checks whether that wear matches where and when you hurt. A test finding and the cause of your soreness aren't always the same.

What happens when QC Kinetix checks your joint?

A medical provider, the person who examines you and gives care, asks how the joint moves and hurts. QC Kinetix may then discuss regenerative treatments, clinic procedures using your own blood, marrow, or fat. The exam may instead show that another kind of care is safer.

Take a medicine list, past X-rays or scan reports, and notes about tasks that have become hard. Say whether the joint locks, gives way, swells, or aches at rest. You'll also discuss earlier exercises and home care. Complete details lead to a clearer answer.

Which symptoms call for faster care?

A newly hot and swollen joint needs prompt care when you also have a fever. Get help quickly if an injury suddenly keeps you from bearing weight. New numbness or weakness with lost bladder or bowel control is urgent, and these problems can't wait for a standard visit.

After a procedure, call the doctor for rising soreness, spreading redness, fever, or calf swelling. Severe symptoms may need urgent care or an emergency department, because quick care is safer when these changes appear.

Sources

1. The OARSI non-surgical management guideline evaluated 60 interventions with GRADE methodology and built its recommendations around core treatments - structured exercise, weight management and self-management education - for every patient with knee osteoarthritis, regardless of what else is added.

   Bannuru RR, et al. — OARSI guidelines for the non-surgical management of knee, hip, and polyarticular osteoarthritis. Osteoarthritis Cartilage, 2019. DOI: 10.1016/j.joca.2019.06.011.

2. A systematic review of 21 studies re-examining the familiar '20 percent are dissatisfied after knee replacement' figure found the actual average dissatisfaction rate was 10 percent, and 7.3 percent when complications were excluded - the surgical benchmark a cash-pay injection is implicitly competing against.

   DeFrance MJ, et al. — Are 20% of Patients Actually Dissatisfied Following Total Knee Arthroplasty? A Systematic Review of the Literature. J Arthroplasty, 2023. DOI: 10.1016/j.arth.2022.10.011.

3. The AAOS Surgical Management of Osteoarthritis of the Knee clinical practice guideline sets out 16 recommendations and seven options for surgical management based on a systematic review of the published evidence - the reference point for when a joint has moved past the injectable tier.

   Srivastava AK, et al. — American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons Clinical Practice Guideline Summary of Surgical Management of Osteoarthritis of the Knee. J Am Acad Orthop Surg, 2023. DOI: 10.5435/JAAOS-D-23-00338.

4. A retrospective comparison of 523 bone marrow aspiration procedures against 435 open iliac crest bone graft harvests found aspiration significantly reduced complications - relevant because marrow aspiration for a joint injection is a real procedure with a real, if low, complication rate.

   Hernigou P, et al. — Morbidity of graft harvesting versus bone marrow aspiration in cell regenerative therapy. Int Orthop, 2014. DOI: 10.1007/s00264-014-2318-x.

5. A CDC Notes from the Field report in MMWR documented infections in US patients during 2018 after receipt of bacterially contaminated umbilical cord blood-derived products used for indications other than blood or immune reconstitution.

   Perkins KM, et al. — Notes from the Field: Infections After Receipt of Bacterially Contaminated Umbilical Cord Blood-Derived Stem Cell Products for Other Than Hematopoietic or Immunologic Reconstitution - United States, 2018. MMWR Morb Mortal Wkly Rep, 2018. DOI: 10.15585/mmwr.mm6750a5.

6. FDA states in its consumer alert that the only FDA-approved stem cell products in the United States are blood-forming stem cells derived from umbilical cord blood, approved for disorders of the blood-forming system, and that NONE of these products - stem cells, stromal vascular fraction, umbilical cord blood, Wharton's jelly or amniotic fluid - has been approved for the treatment of any orthopedic condition, including osteoarthritis, tendonitis, disc disease, tennis elbow, back pain, hip pain, knee pain, neck pain or shoulder pain.

   US Food and Drug Administration, Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research — Consumer Alert on Regenerative Medicine Products Including Stem Cells and Exosomes. , 2020.