Samuel G Oltman, ND, RMSK
Janet was a very active 63 year old woman who loved to ski in the winter and cycle in the summer. She also had young grandchildren that she wanted to keep up with as she had just retired and was planning on spending a lot of time with them. She came to see me for knee pain and low back pain that was slowing her down and forced her to cut her ski season short last year. She wanted to see if PRP or MFAT could help her pain while avoiding surgery.
Precise Diagnosis
When she came in for her new patient visit with me she had had an x-ray of her knee that showed mild osteoarthritis (cartilage thinning). She had been told at that time to do knee strengthening and do corticosteroid injections if that didn’t relieve her pain adequately. She had seen her primary care doctor, an orthopedic surgeon, and a physical therapist.
Her low back pain had not been worked up at all. It wasn’t as big of a concern for her historically although it had become much worse recently.
During our new patient exam I was able to determine from the history, exam, and ultrasound imaging that the arthritis in her knee did not explain her pain-- she had a meniscus tear visible on the ultrasound image. Her low back pain was determined to be from facet joint arthritis and ligament sprain, also visible on the ultrasound image.
All of these specific findings and determination of her pain generators was news to her and had not been done by any other doctor she’d seen.
Treatment Options: MFAT and PRP
After discussing her options, due to the severity of the meniscus tear and her high-level activity goal, she decided to do MFAT stem cells for her knee and PRP on her low back to help resolve the facet joint inflammation.
The MFAT stem cell treatment’s expectation is the full, or near-full, resolution of her knee pain for 5+ years depending on re-injury.
The PRP for the back, after a series of 3 treatments, was predicted to alleviate her pain for 2+ years with potentially the need for follow up treatments every 1-2 years.
Post-Treatment Relief
The day of the treatment went without any hiccups, with every injection ultrasound-guided. 2 months later when we followed up her knee was about 60% improved in terms of pain and function. We did a PRP “booster” treatment for her to continue the healing. Her low back pain had improved by about 50% with the one PRP treatment so we repeated it, knowing the correct targets had been addressed.
At 4 months post-MFAT her knee was 90% improved and her back pain was almost completely gone. We decided to do a 3rd PRP treatment on her back to follow through on the original plan and set her up for the long term.
Long Term Healing
She was able to do a full ski season with no pain that upcoming winter. Her cycling slowly increased as she rehabbed and is now doing long rides with no pain.
She was serious about rehab and was patient through the healing process. Now she is pain-free with full activity and never did surgery. She likely won't ever need surgery-- but she likely would have if she had done repetitive cortisone injections, which degrade the knee.
Janet’s results are what we expect with every patient: Significant, long term relief and improvement in function. MFAT and PRP are not “time machines” but they do offer a legitimate alternative to “steroid injections until you do surgery”. If you have been trying to stay active while avoiding surgery, but still have pain, schedule with us today and see what MFAT and PRP can do to Keep You Moving.
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