This Tempe joint guide is connected to a clinic

The clinic connection is stated on every page

Some readers may schedule care after visiting this guide, so the clinic link matters. QC Kinetix offers regenerative treatments, meaning blood or tissue is prepared and used at a sore joint. Licensed clinic staff work as medical providers who examine your joint and carry out care. You’re welcome to compare that care with other choices.

Home care, physical therapy, medicine, and surgery may also come up. The right choice depends on the exam and your health. Ask what the clinic visit may lead to and what it will cost. You’ll be free to take those answers to your own doctor.

The sources give general help with joint care

The listed sources support broad facts about joint soreness and treatment. They may explain common warning signs or questions worth asking, but they can’t tell us what an exam will find in you. Your medical history still comes first.

Please treat the pages as help for a conversation. If a statement doesn’t fit what you were told, ask your own doctor or nurse. A source can’t settle a personal choice alone. You deserve advice that fits your health.

A few notes can prepare you for a visit

You might note when the ache started, which movement worsens it, and what you tried. Add any swelling, lost sleep, or trouble with usual tasks, then bring questions about home care, clinic treatment, surgery, cost, and recovery. A small note is enough.

Please get prompt medical help for fever, sudden swelling, or a serious injury. Ongoing soreness can usually wait for an ordinary appointment. You’ll be able to describe what has changed. That makes the visit easier to use.

Sources

1. OARSI 2019 designates arthritis education plus structured land-based exercise (with or without dietary weight management) as CORE treatments for knee OA, and education plus structured land-based exercise as core for hip and polyarticular OA. Topical NSAIDs are strongly recommended for knee OA (Level 1A). Intra-articular corticosteroids and hyaluronic acid are Level 1B/2 for knee OA depending on comorbidity and are NOT recommended for hip or polyarticular OA. Oral NSAIDs are not recommended for people with cardiovascular comorbidity or frailty, and oral and transdermal opioids are strongly not recommended (Level 5).

   Bannuru RR, Osani MC, Vaysbrot EE, et al. — OARSI guidelines for the non-surgical management of knee, hip, and polyarticular osteoarthritis.. Osteoarthritis and Cartilage, 2019. DOI: 10.1016/j.joca.2019.06.011.

2. FDA states directly that regenerative medicine therapies - including stem cells, stromal vascular fraction, umbilical cord blood, amniotic fluid, Wharton's jelly, ortho-biologics and exosomes - have NOT been approved for the treatment of any orthopedic condition, naming osteoarthritis, tendonitis, disc disease, tennis elbow, back pain, hip pain, knee pain, neck pain and shoulder pain. FDA further states that being charged for these products, or being offered them outside an FDA-overseen clinical trial, means a patient is likely being deceived and offered a product illegally, and that a product's presence on clinicaltrials.gov or a firm's FDA registration does not mean the product is legally marketed. Reported harms include blindness, tumor formation, neurological events and life-threatening bacterial infections.

   US Food and Drug Administration, Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research — Important Patient and Consumer Information About Regenerative Medicine Therapies. FDA.gov, 2021.

3. In the only randomised controlled trial to compare total knee replacement directly with non-surgical treatment in patients already eligible for surgery (n=100), the replacement group improved more at 12 months than the non-surgical group (KOOS4 32.5 vs 16.0; adjusted mean difference 15.8, 95% CI 10.0 to 21.5) but had four times the serious adverse events (24 vs 6, P=0.005). Only 13 of 50 patients (26%) assigned to non-surgical treatment alone had undergone knee replacement by 12 months.

   Skou ST, Roos EM, Laursen MB, et al. — A Randomized, Controlled Trial of Total Knee Replacement.. New England Journal of Medicine, 2015. DOI: 10.1056/NEJMoa1505467.