Prolotherapy for osteoarthritic knee?

[teleguy57]

Did my due dilegence with search on knee stuff here and was looking for updated insights/experiences with prolotherapy for knees.

Back story: medial meniscotomy in winter 2008 for an injury from tripping on a root while trail running. Mostly good for a couple of years, then another trip/locked knee and doc visit. My GP aspirated fluid, did a corticosteroid injection, but not a big difference. Back to see the orthopod and he said the joint spacing had pretty much disappeared since the surgery and I was bone on bone. He said "call me when you want to do hyaluronic acid injections."

Things have been pretty tolerable until mid-summer when the knee started getting painful at night, and even twinges occasionally while on the bike. Went to my new GP guy (prev doc retired; very impressed with my new guy) and we're both of the mind that ongoing studies show HA to be less effective than originally thought and he's recommending against that. He has studied and done prolotherapy and see's that as my next course of action.

So, after all that... experiences with prolotherapy for knee osteoarthitis? To young at age 60 for seriously thinking about surgery yet! Thanks.

[bargainguy]

No experience with prolotherapy, but the latest research implies physical therapy is as good as more surgery, at least as an alternative:

http://www.health.harvard.edu/blog/physical-therapy-works-as-well-as-surgery-for-some-with-torn-knee-cartilage-201303206002

This kind of turns the boat upside down for orthopods. When I was working in medicine, arthroscopic knee surgery was one of the most-often performed surgeries I saw. I doubt an orthopod would be happy to hear that a noninvasive modality works just as well as or perhaps even better than surgery, because it cuts out a major revenue stream for them.

[Ken Robb]

OTOH I had meniscus trim jobs on both knees with wonderful results over 15 years ago.

[guido]

I had multiple sessions of prolotherapy on both of my knees. Probably the most painful experience in my life, and unfortunately without real benefit. I have had much better results using the methods described in Jay Dicharry's book http://www.amazon.com/Anatomy-Runners-Unlocking-Potential-Prevention-ebook/dp/B00AMLFSHM/ref=la_B007WOQ2B8_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1412619333&sr=1-1
Be patient, work on balance, do the excercises, use a foam roller.