# Useful choices come before joint surgery *Non-Surgical Joint Treatment Tempe — Choices Before Surgery* > See alternatives to joint replacement and non-surgical joint treatment Tempe choices, from home relief and therapy to QC Kinetix care. ## Shoulder soreness can turn a simple reach into hard work Your shoulder may ache while you pull on a shirt or settle into bed. A knee or hip can protest on stairs or during a walk, but you don’t have to start by choosing surgery. There are earlier choices. Joint wear, a past injury, weak muscles, or a sore tendon may be involved. Rest can help after a busy day, though too much sitting may add stiffness, and an exam helps match care to the cause before any treatment is chosen for your joint. You’re entitled to a plain explanation before paying for any procedure. ## Alternatives to joint replacement begin with daily relief Steady exercise, physical therapy, and small changes in activity often come first. A brace or cane may take some strain from a sore joint, while a topical medicine is a gel or cream rubbed onto the aching area before you move through the day. Your own doctor can tell you whether it’s safe with your medicines. Ask how much time to give each choice and what better movement would show progress. Perhaps you can sleep longer, climb stairs more easily, or walk farther. If none of that changes, the exam may need another look, and you’ll know what you’re watching for. ## QC Kinetix offers blood-based care after an exam QC Kinetix provides biologic therapies, meaning clinic staff prepare treatment material taken from your body and place it at the sore joint. Its licensed medical providers are clinic staff who examine your joint and carry out care. They’ll review earlier care, explain what happens during treatment, and answer when you ask what improvement is reasonable. Platelet-rich plasma, or PRP, is prepared when staff draw blood, separate its liquid plasma, and keep extra platelets, small parts in blood that help begin repair. Concentrated PRP has still more platelets in the prepared portion. ## Severe limits can make surgery worth discussing Replacement may deserve a discussion when severe soreness continues after other care. There isn’t one set length of time that makes earlier care enough. Ask how long each option usually needs and why more time may help you. The answer should fit your joint. Trouble sleeping, walking, using stairs, or managing home tasks all matters, and the exam and X-ray may help explain whether surgery could help at this point in your care. An X-ray doesn’t make the choice by itself. You’ll have time to weigh recovery and risk. ## 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.](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/31278997/). *Osteoarthritis and Cartilage*, 2019. DOI: 10.1016/j.joca.2019.06.011. 2. The 2019 ACR/Arthritis Foundation guideline makes STRONG recommendations for exercise, weight loss in people with knee and/or hip OA who are overweight or obese, self-efficacy and self-management programs, tai chi, cane use, tibiofemoral bracing for tibiofemoral knee OA, topical NSAIDs for knee OA, oral NSAIDs, and intra-articular glucocorticoid injections for knee OA. Radiofrequency ablation for knee OA, acupuncture, thermal modalities, acetaminophen, duloxetine and tramadol are only CONDITIONAL recommendations. Kolasinski SL, Neogi T, Hochberg MC, et al. — [2019 American College of Rheumatology/Arthritis Foundation Guideline for the Management of Osteoarthritis of the Hand, Hip, and Knee.](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/31908163/). *Arthritis & Rheumatology*, 2020. DOI: 10.1002/art.41142. 3. The Cochrane review of land-based therapeutic exercise for knee osteoarthritis extracted data from 54 randomised trials, assessing pain, physical function and quality of life immediately after treatment and the sustained effect at 2-6 months and beyond 6 months. Only 19 of the included studies (20%) met all three low-risk-of-bias criteria the authors applied. Fransen M, McConnell S, Harmer AR, et al. — [Exercise for osteoarthritis of the knee.](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/25569281/). *Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews*, 2015. DOI: 10.1002/14651858.CD004376.pub3. 4. In 156 patients with knee osteoarthritis randomised in the US Military Health System, physical therapy produced a mean WOMAC total score of 37.0 at one year versus 55.8 for a single intra-articular glucocorticoid injection (mean between-group difference 18.8 points favouring physical therapy, 95% CI 5.0 to 32.6, on a 0-240 scale where higher is worse). Secondary outcomes moved in the same direction. Deyle GD, Allen CS, Allison SC, et al. — [Physical Therapy versus Glucocorticoid Injection for Osteoarthritis of the Knee.](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/32268027/). *New England Journal of Medicine*, 2020. DOI: 10.1056/NEJMoa1905877. 5. In the IDEA trial, 454 overweight and obese adults aged 55+ with pain and radiographic knee OA were randomised to intensive diet plus exercise, diet alone, or exercise alone for 18 months. Mean weight loss was 10.6kg (11.4%) with diet plus exercise, 8.9kg (9.5%) with diet alone and 1.8kg (2.0%) with exercise alone; knee compressive force and IL-6 were lower in the diet groups than the exercise-only group. Messier SP, Mihalko SL, Legault C, et al. — [Effects of intensive diet and exercise on knee joint loads, inflammation, and clinical outcomes among overweight and obese adults with knee osteoarthritis: the IDEA randomized clinical trial.](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/24065013/). *JAMA*, 2013. DOI: 10.1001/jama.2013.277669. 6. The RESTORE trial randomised 288 community-based participants aged 50+ with symptomatic medial knee OA (Kellgren-Lawrence grade 2 or 3) to three weekly intra-articular injections of leukocyte-poor PRP or saline placebo, with participants, injectors and assessors all blinded. 93% completed the 12-month follow-up. PRP did not produce a clinically meaningful improvement in knee pain over placebo, and did not slow medial tibial cartilage volume loss on MRI. Bennell KL, Paterson KL, Metcalf BR, et al. — [Effect of Intra-articular Platelet-Rich Plasma vs Placebo Injection on Pain and Medial Tibial Cartilage Volume in Patients With Knee Osteoarthritis: The RESTORE Randomized Clinical Trial.](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/34812863/). *JAMA*, 2021. DOI: 10.1001/jama.2021.19415. 7. 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](https://www.fda.gov/vaccines-blood-biologics/consumers-biologics/important-patient-and-consumer-information-about-regenerative-medicine-therapies). *FDA.gov*, 2021. ## A clinic visit can make the choices clearer QC Kinetix offers regenerative treatments, meaning clinic staff prepare material taken from your body and use it at the sore joint. Medical providers are licensed clinic staff who examine your joint and carry out care. They’ll review your earlier care and explain what may suit the soreness. The Chandler office is at 1100 S. Dobson Rd., Suite 210, Chandler, AZ 85286. Call (602) 837-PAIN to discuss scheduling and location. You’re welcome to bring a short note and your questions. Book a free consultation: --- Welcome. Let’s make sense of the soreness and the care available. Warm guidance for an aching joint, simple home relief, signs needing care, clinic visits, and choices before surgery. Warm, plain help for Tempe residents with joint soreness and care choices. This Tempe guide is operated by the owners of the QC Kinetix clinics across the Phoenix area; those clinic owners may benefit when a reader schedules care after using it. © 2026 Tempe Joint Decision Log. General education only; a clinician who knows your history should guide personal medical choices.