- If you have arthritic knees-
- Ow. - Yeah.
Surgery might be in the option.
You're gonna wanna watch this
'cause there's gonna be three different ways
to stop the pain and maybe eliminate surgery.
We're gonna go through it with injections.
You're gonna wanna know this.
(upbeat music)
Okay, every year in the United States, presently,
over 600,000 total knee replacements happen.
Bob and I have worked with thousands
of knee replacements over the years.
- Right.
- Now the one thing that just happened to me that kind
of got me going on this is my mother had knee pain.
She's not a candidate for surgery
'cause she's got some health issues.
She got an injection, a year later-
- A steroids injection. - Steroid,
yeah we're gonna get into that.
A year later, she has no pain
and she's still going with no pain.
So they- - I was thinking
can you get those every few months?
- Right, we're gonna talk about
that in more detail. - Oh, all right, yeah.
- All right, three different types of injections.
We're gonna go through each one, so you are familiar with
what the doctors will be talking about if you're going in
for knee pain and possible surgery.
Okay, like I mentioned, there's categories,
there's three separate categories of knee injections.
All this information is just education for you.
You really need to talk to your surgeon
or your doctor about specifics to your health.
So, but this is gonna be very helpful
for getting a big picture.
The first category, and this has been going on for years
and that's what my mother had
was the corticosteroid injection.
- Yep, agreed.
- Okay.
The pros for this type of injection
and this injection goes right
into the knee capsule. - Right.
- It's not painful. - Right into the joint.
- Yep, well, I shouldn't say it's not painful for everyone.
My mother had it and she didn't feel it, hardly at all.
If you got a good person doing the job.
The first pro is, it's fast acting.
Typically pain will reduce within a matter
of a few days if it's going to work.
Number two, it's an analgesic.
It's a pain reliever. - Right.
- Which we just talked about.
The next one- - Anti-inflammatory.
- Anti-inflammatory.
So if you got inflamed swelling,
it's gonna help get that done. - Calm it down.
- Right.
Typically one to two month duration is typical.
- So it lasts for one to two months?
- Typically.
Again, my mother's it's still going.
She doesn't have a problem.
I imagine the swelling came down and...
- It solves the problem. - Right.
The corticosteroid wore off, but it continues
to be good. - Right.
- So that's a possibility.
Repeat three times a year, they will not give injections,
typically of this type,
more than every three or four months.
Total of three times.
And there's a reason. - Is this covered
by insurance? - Usually it is.
In United States, Medicare typically covers this.
If you have a private insurance or your supplement,
check on that.
But it oftentimes is covered.
Let's go to the cons.
Some things that you need to know about
that's not so good on this.
So first of all, the effects wear off in time,
it's not long term. - of course.
- Yep.
It can damage the tendons and the ligaments.
- In the area. - Yep, in the area.
And that's why, and this is where, you know,
your doctor will control this.
That's why three times per year, if you go more than that
then your risk for damaging other tissues is too high.
It's not a safe thing. - Right.
- You can have sleep disturbances.
- Did your mom get trouble?
- No, she didn't have any problems.
- Good. - Now these are,
some people have 'em, some people don't.
- Right.
- They can cause a weight gain.
- Yeah, especially you're on it for a long time.
- Right.
And sometimes it's irritability if, you know,
you become more agitated.
Yeah, I get that way without- - Without it.
(both chuckle)
- Okay, let's go on to the next category.
The next category is regenerative type of injections.
These are newer, they just came about in the last few years
and I have a feeling these are going
to take over the knee injection.
- Oh, really?
- Well that's just my personal opinion.
The idea is-
- Well if it works too well, they will.
- Right.
Well they have a lot of different options.
This is where
the injection actually regenerates the cartilage.
So it promotes regrowth.
It's just not causing the pain to stop.
It's stopping because the cartilage is growing back.
- It's going to the root of the problem.
- Right.
And there's a number of different options.
And this is where you gotta talk to your doctor about.
There's a stem cell option.
There's a platelet-rich plasma option.
That was offered to me for a problem with my tendon.
- So, it's not surgery.
- Right, not surgery.
In that particular case, they take blood from you,
they centrifuge the blood and then they get what they want
from your blood and put it into the knee
and that causes regeneration of the cartilage.
- Amazing. - Yep.
That one has come a long ways, I understand.
And then there's prolotherapy
and there's other options as well.
They all promote regeneration of cartilage.
The pros of this, there's no surgery involved.
- Right. - Obviously.
Long-term solution for chronic injury.
So if you do get regrowth,
it's probably gonna be there for a long term.
Safe procedure, no pharmaceuticals or artificial substances
and cost effective versus surgery.
- What are the cons?
(Brad chuckles)
- The cons is insurance typically
does not cover it. - Does not cover it.
- I know for the injection into my tendon of my bicep,
it was gonna be a couple thousand dollars.
- It was, wow. - And, you know,
not guaranteed to work.
Again, this sure is promising for the future though.
It's slow acting.
You get the injection, it takes time
for the cartilage to regenerate.
- Like how much time? - Up to six months.
- Wow. - Yeah.
It needs multiple injections and it can be a little painful.
- It was? - I didn't get it done.
I opted not to do it. - He's afraid.
- Mine got better with just old-fashioned therapy.
(Brad chuckles)
All right, number three.
And a third group in this category is viscosupplementation.
They always have big words
in the medical- - Mouthful.
- Yeah, this is simply a gel lubricant
that they inject into the joint.
And the most common one is the slang term
is rooster comb injection. - Right.
Heard that for years.
- Yep, they've been going on for a long time.
And it's where the injection actually puts a lubricant
into the joint, makes it feel better.
It's fast acting.
This is one of the pros.
It's fast acting, relative to regenerative,
which we just talked about.
It's a joint lubricant, which I mentioned.
Pain relief, obviously,
approximately a six month duration estimated.
- If it works. - Yeah.
It's not a real long time.
It's gonna save you, if you can do it up to three times.
So if things go well, you could get up to a year and a half
of pain relief. - Sure.
- To prolong surgery.
Usually covered by insurance. - Great.
- Yeah, it's called rooster comb 'cause evidently
when this started they used something from the rooster comb.
- Right. - Yeah,
I'm not gonna get into that.
In fact are the cons. - So what are they?
- Effects wear off in time.
Again, we mentioned the time length.
It's not curative, it's just there to help it go longer
and it can have allergic-
- [Both] Allergic.
- Reactions. - Reactions.
Obviously, your doctor,
whoever does the injection will be very aware of that.
- Yep. - All right.
So those are the three options for injections.
- Good summary. - Yeah.
So hopefully your knee pain can get better without surgery.
We do have videos on exercises that can help pain...
Oh over there, sorry Danny.
I'm looking at the wrong camera.
Anyways, I think this is very clear about.
I dunno, was this clear
to you guys back there? - Clear as mud.
- Clear as mud. (laughs)
Good luck with your knees,
seriously, we wanna keep everyone moving and walking.
(upbeat music)