Soccer Player Knee Arthritis After 3 Arthroscopic Surgeries
Knee Arthritis is not just for the old. It can happen to the young as well. Many patients who treat with Dennis M. lox M.D., are younger patients who develop knee arthritis at an early age. Often they have several things in common. Trauma and prior knee surgery. Once people understand that surgery is another form of trauma, it becomes clear. Often the reason for knee surgery is trauma. So knee surgery following trauma results in the second form of knee trauma. Trauma has been shown to accelerate the rate of knee arthritis progression, thus the more knee trauma, the faster the progression of knee arthritis.
Multiple Knee Surgeries
So this patient came to see Dr. Lox for consultation for Regenerative Medicine treatment and stem cell options, after having 3 knee arthroscopic surgeries over a 10 year period. His first surgery was when he was only 12 years old. He had injured his knee playing soccer. His first surgery included a medial meniscus debridement and a resection of a completely torn ACL ligament. He continued to have knee pain and swelling. He couldn’t play soccer or run. He had another meniscal debridement a year later, followed by another one 2 years later. During the next decade, he gained 50 pounds. When he was 26 he was seen again by the orthopedic surgeon who told him he had knee arthritis, and he would need an ACL reconstruction to stop arthritis from progressing. This caught the patient’s attention, as he had always wondered why his torn ACL was just resected. If it was torn what good was cutting it further if not repaired? Certainly, after a decade it made no sense to him to have his ACL repaired, undergo the pain and rehabilitation, his soccer days were long gone. Now he was 26 and worried about knee arthritis. To him, Regenerative Medicine made perfect sense, rather than wait till his knee was gone and have total knee replacement surgery at a young age. Consulting with an expert such as Dr. Lox may help deter further arthritis progression, or if done by learning from others prevent this type of situation for someone else. Good experience with an experienced doctor who wishes to help can lead to helping others.
ACL Tears and Meniscal Tears Alter Normal Knee Lifespan
An ACL tear is a violent injury. There is a lot of associated joint damage as well. It is never as simple as an isolated ACL tear. Even if the MRI report states this looks carefully at the history and physical examination. Normally there is a large bloody joint effusion associated with the ACL tear. Most commonly the Medial meniscus is also torn. The classic terrible triad also consists of injury to the Medial collateral ligament as well. A reverberating circuit of joint degradation continues as the synovium secretes inflammatory cytokines, and joint degradation products perpetuate a negative feedback loop of continued joint breakdown. Thus even if the ACL is repaired, or portions of the meniscus is debrided, the vicious circle of knee breakdown has already occurred. This is part of the progressive nature of knee arthritis following trauma, and knee surgery.
Regenerative Medicine in the Injured Knee
Patients often ask will my knee be normal again? What is normal? What is their definition of normal? This is why patients are often confused with conflicting information on the internet. There is no one size fits all Regenerative Medicine treatment. All knees are different. Patients come to the doctor at different times along the degenerative arthritis progression cascade. The patients also change over time. This patient not only underwent 3 knee surgeries, but he also gained 50 pounds and was less active. He no longer was the 12-year-old soccer player. He was a 26-year-old, 50 pounds heavier sedentary young man with an aging knee. Understanding this is what defines a real Regenerative Medicine expert. Dennis M. Lox M.D. has lectured on the science of Sports injuries, arthritis progression, and Regenerative Medicine with Stem cell applications to University Professors who understand the real issues, not seminars to the public aiming to confuse and sell their interests. To really understand this it takes years of practicing Sports and Regenerative Medicine. It can’t be learned from someone who has never examined or treated a patient. This is important because it is about each patients life, and what is best for them and their condition.
