# What are the non-surgical choices for a sore joint? *Stem Cell Therapy Chandler: What Are the Non-Surgical Options?* > Stem cell therapy Chandler searches can lead to several procedures. Learn what may be offered, what remains unknown, and which questions matter during a visit. A joint may ache after an ordinary day and stay sore through the evening. Swelling can make a clinic procedure seem like a quick answer. The available procedures differ, and none can promise how your joint will respond. ## What does the clinic use in these procedures? Biologic therapies are clinic procedures that use blood, marrow, or fat from your own body. PRP is platelet-rich plasma, a procedure liquid prepared from your blood. The clinic separates that blood, gathering small blood parts called platelets in the liquid part, called plasma. The procedure's name can't tell you whether it is suitable, safe, or likely to help. Results have been mixed; some people report less aching, while others notice little change. How much relief you might have, and for how long, remains unknown. ## How does QC Kinetix decide what to discuss? A medical provider checks your joint, asks about soreness, and explains care. QC Kinetix offers regenerative treatments, which are clinic procedures using concentrated blood, marrow, or fat from you. The exam may support one of these choices or show that other care makes more sense. Joint preservation means keeping your own joint working when delaying surgery is sensible. It doesn't mean every operation can be avoided. Severe wear, a joint bent out of shape, or aching at rest may call for a surgeon's opinion, and clinic care may not be suitable. ## What questions belong in the room? Ask whether the procedure uses concentrated blood, marrow, or fat, and who performs it. Find out what recovery and later care may involve. A clear answer separates what the exam showed from what is only possible or still unknown. Tell the provider about infection, bleeding trouble, blood-thinning drugs, and other health concerns. Bring earlier X-rays or scan reports and a list of every medicine. Don't stop a prescribed drug before checking with your prescribing doctor. ## Sources 1. In a 480-patient, four-arm, multicenter randomized phase 2/3 trial, none of three orthobiologic cell injections - autologous bone marrow aspirate concentrate, autologous adipose stromal vascular fraction, or allogeneic umbilical cord tissue-derived mesenchymal stromal cells - was superior to any other, or to a corticosteroid injection control, on pain at 12 months. Mautner K, et al. — [Cell-based versus corticosteroid injections for knee pain in osteoarthritis: a randomized phase 3 trial](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/37919438/). *Nat Med*, 2023. DOI: 10.1038/s41591-023-02632-w. 2. A Bayesian network meta-analysis of 48 randomized trials covering 9,338 knees found hyaluronic acid and PRP significantly improved pain versus placebo, and that BMAC accounted for only 2.5 percent of the studied injections - the thinnest evidence base of the four comparators. 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](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/38331363/). *Arthroscopy*, 2024. DOI: 10.1016/j.arthro.2024.01.037. 3. A meta-analysis of 14 placebo cohorts across 13 Level I trials in 1,076 knee osteoarthritis patients found that intra-articular saline - the placebo - produced pain and function improvements exceeding the minimal clinically important difference at 3 and 6 months. Saltzman BM, et al. — [The Therapeutic Effect of Intra-articular Normal Saline Injections for Knee Osteoarthritis: A Meta-analysis of Evidence Level 1 Studies](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/28027657/). *Am J Sports Med*, 2017. DOI: 10.1177/0363546516680607. 4. A 2025 randomized trial of 66 knee osteoarthritis patients compared a single adipose stromal vascular fraction injection, conventional rehabilitation alone, and the two combined over 12 months - a design that treats exercise-based rehabilitation as a genuine comparator rather than an afterthought. Lu J, et al. — [Intraarticular injection of the stromal vascular fraction for the treatment of knee osteoarthritis a prospective randomized controlled clinical trial](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/40750958/). *Sci Rep*, 2025. DOI: 10.1038/s41598-025-09398-w. 5. A phase IIb double-blind randomized trial of just 24 knees reported WOMAC improvement at 6 months after a single autologous adipose-derived MSC injection while saline controls did not improve - a positive but very small trial, of the kind that dominates this literature. Lee WS, et al. — [Intra-Articular Injection of Autologous Adipose Tissue-Derived Mesenchymal Stem Cells for the Treatment of Knee Osteoarthritis: A Phase IIb, Randomized, Placebo-Controlled Clinical Trial](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/30835956/). *Stem Cells Transl Med*, 2019. DOI: 10.1002/sctm.18-0122. 6. A 2024 systematic review of bone marrow aspirate concentrate for HIP osteoarthritis found the clinical evidence base thinner than for the knee, with most studies uncontrolled - the joint matters, and evidence does not transfer across joints. Chandrashekar S, et al. — [Safety and Efficacy of Bone-Marrow Aspirate Concentrate in Hip Osteoarthritis: A Systematic Review of Current Clinical Evidence](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/38948376/). *Indian J Orthop*, 2024. DOI: 10.1007/s43465-024-01183-7. 7. The International Society for Cell & Gene Therapy position statement holds that the acronym MSC should mean mesenchymal STROMAL cells and should only be called stem cells where rigorous in vitro and in vivo evidence of stemness exists for that specific preparation. Viswanathan S, et al. — [Mesenchymal stem versus stromal cells: International Society for Cell & Gene Therapy (ISCT®) Mesenchymal Stromal Cell committee position statement on nomenclature](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/31526643/). *Cytotherapy*, 2019. DOI: 10.1016/j.jcyt.2019.08.002. 8. 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](https://www.fda.gov/vaccines-blood-biologics/consumers-biologics/consumer-alert-regenerative-medicine-products-including-stem-cells-and-exosomes). *null*, 2020. ## What happens at an appointment? The owners who run the QC Kinetix Phoenix-area clinics also operate this site, and they charge nothing for the consultation. A medical provider, the person who examines you and gives care, checks the joint and asks how soreness changes your day. The provider explains which non-surgical choices may be suitable and when other care makes more sense. The Chandler location is on South Dobson Road, just south of Pecos. Call (602) 837-PAIN to reach any of the four Valley locations. Take your questions, recent X-rays or scan reports, and a current medicine list. You can write down the answers. An appointment provides an exam and information, not a promised result. Ask what the exam showed, what it only suggests, and what remains unknown. Then you can weigh the choices with your own doctor. Book a free consultation: --- Plain guidance when a joint aches. Plain guidance for aching joints, with simple relief measures, urgent symptoms, non-surgical choices, and an explanation of the clinic visit. Plain information about aching joints, simple relief measures, urgent symptoms, and non-surgical choices in Chandler. This site is operated by the owners of the QC Kinetix clinics in the Phoenix area - a non-surgical joint pain practice with locations in Chandler, Scottsdale, Peoria and at Banner Estrella - and it says so on every page, because the interest sitting behind what you are reading is part of what you are reading. © 2026 Before the Injection · Chandler, Arizona · Published information, not medical advice.