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NUFFIELD HEALTH
KEEN cyclist and skier Ewan Buchanan wishes he had known about a treatment for the osteoarthritis in his knees years ago.
The 73-year-old recently received the innovative protein injection treatment at Nuffield Health Glasgow Hospital – the first and only Independent hospital in Scotland to offer nSTRIDE®APS.
The anti-inflammatory treatment is injected into your knee joint of good proteins concentrated from your own blood and takes approximately 30 minutes as an outpatient procedure. As a result, this can help reduce knee pain and stiffness as well as help restore mobility and function which can potentially help slow the destruction of cartilage.
Mr Buchanan decided to go for the treatment in order to delay or even avoid a knee replacement operation. While it is not a miracle cure he has since found it has lessened the severity and duration of his pain.
He first felt twinges in his knees when he was around 53-years-old and says he would have liked to have the treatment then.
“I wish I had known about this injection years ago,” said Mr Buchanan. “The minute you have a sore knee you should get this treatment and if that delays the need for surgery that would be fantastic, as it is much cheaper and would save people a lot of unpleasantness too.
“It is not a miracle but I am more mobile than before. Often before if I sat down to a meal then got up from the table my knees would be quite sore. Now I can probably get up and walk away without any pain.”
The trailblazing new treatment is performed by Consultant Orthopaedic Surgeons Mr Jibu John Joseph and Mr Stuart Bell at Nuffield Health Glasgow Hospital
He can still cycle, walk a reasonable distance and thinks he can ski too although he says he would have to be careful not to overdo it.
He added: “The difference is that although I get sore knees when I do things they are a lot less sore and it eases much more quickly than before. For example, if I sat in a car for a long time they would have been sore for a lot longer when I got out. If I go for a walk they may get sore at the end of the walk then they get a lot better quicker.”
Mr Buchanan said he was hoping the treatment would stop any further deterioration of the cartilage in his knees. “I want to delay getting knee replacements for as long as possible and if it doesn’t get much worse I won’t need them,” he said. “This was the only thing I could find that would delay me getting the operation.”
The treatment involves a single injection into the knee joint which is designed to alleviate pain and bring balance back to the patients inflamed knee by introducing high levels of good proteins concentrated from their own blood.
These “good proteins” can block the “bad proteins” which are responsible for the inflammatory condition in the joint. Once balance in the knee joint is achieved, other “good proteins” can then contribute to the health of the cartilage.
A personlised patient care plan at Nuffield Health Glasgow Hospital includes access to their joint pain rehabilitation programme, physiotherapy appointments and follow up with Mr Jibu John Joseph or Mr Stuart Bell, Consultant Orthopaedic Surgeons.
Mr Joseph, who treated Mr Buchanan, said: “For many years patients with mild-to-moderate osteoarthritis have had to suffer from symptoms (pain) and functional restriction without the possibility of a suitable treatment.
nSTRIDE®APS is a revolutionary treatment that utilises your own blood to generate a sample of anti-inflammatory proteins and growth factors that helps restore the balance between cartilage generation and degeneration within your joint.”
Clinical studies have shown a 70% improvement in knee pain. “These studies suggest one injection can last up to 24-36 months and more recently collected data has shown some patients even have pain relief for up to five years,” says Jennifer Woodell-May, Research Director, Zimmer Biomet.
Samuel Hopper, Health System Director at Nuffield Health Glasgow Hospital added: “At Nuffield Health we have been working for the last 60 years to help make the nation fitter, healthier, happier and stronger. We are delighted with the positive impact nSTRIDE® has made to patients since we launched in 2021.”
Find out more:
www.nuffieldhealth.com/hospitals/glasgow/treatments/nstride-autologous-protein-solution-aps
Join the free hip and knee patient event: www.nuffieldhealth.com/hospitals/glasgow#events
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