Have you been told that your knee x-ray shows narrowing of the joint space and therefore your should have arthroscopic knee surgery? Before you schedule for knee arthroscopic surgery or arthritis knee surgery consider the following facts.
A study in the New England Journal of Medicine recently demonstrated that knee arthroscopy in patients with osteoarthritis of the knee is no better than physical and medical management.
The meniscus is a cushion that sits between your thigh and calf bone (femur and tibia).
It acts like a shock absorber. The meniscus is kept in place by a number of structures which include the medial and collateral ligaments. Conceptually the collateral ligaments can be viewed as the sidewall of a tire. If the sidewall is torn, stretched or damaged it is less effective in containing the meniscus. If there is less cushion between the two bones, then the joint space is reduced. Knee arthroscopy surgery or arthritis knee surgery is not the answer.
A recent article in Arthritis and Rheumatology concluded that the change in meniscal position accounts for a substantial proportion of change in joint space narrowing.
Treatment should therefore be directed at tighening the collateral ligament so as to contain the meniscus and thereby maintain joint space. At the Centeno-Schultz Clinic we utilize prolotherapy to tighten ligaments.
