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Runner's Knee: Treatment Alternatives
We recently received this email from a woman in Wisconsin who is suffering from
runner's knee pain. From her case history it was
obvious that she was going to be run through the traditional
treatments fro runner's knee:
·
The
RICE
treatment of sports injuries, which starts with rest, which most runners HATE,
followed by
·
NSAIDS (nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs),
·
cortisone shots
Which would further lead to:
· MRI which typically leads
to
·
surgery
and the patient ends up with further degeneration and is still left
with the pain.
Here is the email:
Dear Dr. Hauser, I have been experiencing runners' knee pain since May. I had a
cortisone shot in May and when it wore off my pain was worse. I have had two
MRIs and the second one showed that I have delamination on the femoral condyle.
I know have been told that it probably won't heal and it was recommended that I
try hyuronic acid injections. Thus I am in the middle of 5 weeks of injections.
The first injection was very painful, the second better but I have not
experienced much relief yet. Is there anything I can do to heal my knee? I am a
runner and am suffering because I can no longer run. LK
Comments from Caring Medical: Most runners love to run and have a plan that they
want to follow so interruptions, such as runner's knee, can cause some serious
disapointment! Other names for runner's knee are patellofemoral pain syndrome or
chondromalacia patella. What typically happens in cases such as LK's is that an
incidental MRI finding can lead treatment down the wrong road. In other words,
the MRI finding is not the cause of the patient's runner's knee pain. Treatments
such as NSAIDs, cortisone shots, and the like actually accelerate the
degenerative process, not stimulate healing. The treatment protocol
that we recommend is MEAT - which stands for Movement, Exercise,
Analgesia (natural pain medications), and
Prolotherapy
treatments.
Prolotherapy stimulates the
body to repair the injury – in this case, the knee cartilage and surrounding
knee ligaments. Malalignment problems can also be corrected with
Prolotherapy
injections.
We also prescribe proper exercise regimes, analyze gait/running style, and also
discuss proper nutrition/supplements for maximum healing.
Proof that Prolotherapy works for runner’s knee: We have published a number of
research papers on curing knee pain, like that of runner’s knee.
Prolotherapy research, in the Journal of Prolotherapy 2009;1:11-21, in an article entitled, A Retrospective Study on
Dextrose Prolotherapy for Unresolved Knee Pain at an Outpatient Charity Clinic
in Rural IL, the results of this study showed that patients had a statistically
significant decline in their levels of pain, stiffness, crunching sensation, and
improvement in their range of motion with Prolotherapy. More than 82% showed
improvements in walking ability, medication usage, athletic ability, anxiety,
depression, and overall disability with Prolotherapy. Ninety-six percent of
patients felt Prolotherapy improved their life overall. Conclusion: In this
study, patients with unresolved knee pain, treated with dextrose Prolotherapy,
showed improvements in many clinically relevant parameters and overall quality
of life.
Regarding use of Hyaluronic acid for treating knee pain: we tried it a number of
years ago and we found that it sometimes produced a temporary healing effect,
but that the patients' knee pain returned if traditional Prolotherapy in and
around the joint was not also performed to strengthen and stabilize the joint.
Bottom line: We recommend that LK come in for a consultation and Prolotherapy to
address her runner's knee. We want to see her back out on the road! |
