It's interesting. I was just consulting with a new doctor yesterday about my back pain. We went off on a tangent and he was telling me he knee was so bad with cartilage damage that it would hurt for over a month, leaving him limping, after attempting to run or play sports. He did some stem cell injections in his knee and it's all better now. Not sure how long ago he did that.
It's really cool technology. I can't wait to see where it goes in the next few years!
As I recall some of these techniques were used on race horses long before trying them on humans. Stem cell injections in particular I think. Thank the gamblers for that :)
I also know that in horses they routinely inject hyaluronic acid, which appears to be significantly beneficial. E.g. The horse limps in, and one day later the arthritis is gone. My mom always jokes that she should just do it for herself but it is not apparently approved for humans. She's been injecting many of he horses for 10+ years with it.
It is approved for humans actually. I had a hyaluronic acid injection my for knee injury. I didn't really notice that it did anything though. But I think it's generally supposed to help lessen the pain for cartilage damage that isn't a focal defect. Note that it doesn't do anything to improve the cartilage — it just helps the pain.
This is rather odd. Knee cartilage damage is extremely common among athletes, so one would think that the treatment would be as well. But I've never heard of it used for professional athletes.
Speaking anecdotally, I've had 4 wrist surgeries over the past 5 years (coming up on my fifth next week). I've never once heard of the stem-cell injection treatment, despite having 3 surgeons and 9+ other consulting doctors. Did your doctor give you any papers to describe the procedures that made his knee "all better now"?
> But I've never heard of it used for professional athletes.
That's because stem cell therapy is not generally approved for use yet. It is still in the research stage. There was one company that did it for a while in Colorado, but nobody could really figure out whether they were legit or a scam, and the FDA ended up putting a halt on their stem cell injections.
It's really cool technology. I can't wait to see where it goes in the next few years!