This guide has limits and a clinic connection

The clinic and this guide have the same backing

The same people run this guide and the Phoenix-area QC Kinetix clinics featured here. That connection matters because the clinic isn't an independent choice selected by an outside group.

Its medical providers are clinicians who examine joints and discuss regenerative treatments such as clinic shots containing material drawn from blood or marrow. Compare the material, time, full cost, and other care before deciding.

Online words can't replace a hands-on exam

Your symptoms may fit arthritis, an older injury, muscle trouble, or another cause. This guide can't check swelling, strength, motion, or the exact place that hurts.

A clinician can examine you and decide whether an X-ray or MRI may help. Bring prior X-rays or MRI scans, your medicine list, and notes about hard daily tasks.

If the explanation isn't clear, ask the clinician to say it another way. You can take notes, and someone you trust can join the visit.

Urgent symptoms need care without delay

Don't rely on this guide for a hot, swollen joint or serious injury. Fever, a very ill feeling, or fast-growing weakness also calls for prompt help.

For ongoing soreness, ask what the exam found and why the suggested care fits. Get the expected time, full cost, possible risks, and other choices in plain terms before you agree.

Sources

1. CDC analysis of the 2019-2021 National Health Interview Survey found that in 2021 an estimated 20.9% of US adults (51.6 million people) had chronic pain - pain on most days or every day for three months or more - and 6.9% (17.1 million) had high-impact chronic pain that substantially restricted daily activities. Prevalence was higher among American Indian or Alaska Native adults, adults identifying as bisexual, and adults who are divorced or separated.

   Rikard SM, Strahan AE, Schmit KM, Guy GP Jr — Chronic Pain Among Adults - United States, 2019-2021.. MMWR Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, 2023. DOI: 10.15585/mmwr.mm7215a1.

2. A systematic review of 78 prospective primary care cohort studies involving more than 48,000 participants with musculoskeletal conditions identified five factors that predict a worse outcome regardless of which body part hurts: widespread pain, high functional disability, somatisation, high pain intensity and previous episodes of pain. Consistent evidence also showed that use of pain medication was NOT associated with outcome.

   Artus M, Campbell P, Mallen CD, Dunn KM, van der Windt DAW — Generic prognostic factors for musculoskeletal pain in primary care: a systematic review.. BMJ Open, 2017. DOI: 10.1136/bmjopen-2016-012901.

3. FDA states verbatim that of the products marketed as regenerative medicine - stem cell products, stromal vascular fraction from adipose tissue, umbilical cord blood, Wharton's jelly, amniotic fluid and exosome products - 'None of these products have been approved for the treatment of any orthopedic condition, such as osteoarthritis, tendonitis, disc disease, tennis elbow, back pain, hip pain, knee pain, neck pain, or shoulder pain.' The only FDA-approved stem cell products in the United States are blood-forming (hematopoietic progenitor) cells from umbilical cord blood, approved only for disorders of blood production, and there are currently no FDA-approved exosome products.

   U.S. Food and Drug Administration — Consumer Alert on Regenerative Medicine Products Including Stem Cells and Exosomes. FDA (Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research), 2024.

4. A systematic review and meta-analysis of 28 studies covering 266,227 cases of lower limb osteoarthritis quantified occupational load. Lifting heavy loads (more than 10 kg per week) raised the odds of knee OA (OR 1.52, 95% CI 1.29-1.79), as did squatting or kneeling (OR 1.69, 1.15-2.49), standing more than 2 hours daily (OR 1.22, 1.02-1.46) and walking (OR 1.40, 1.14-1.73). Lifting also raised hip OA odds (OR 1.35, 1.16-1.57). Farming, floor laying and brick laying were the occupations most implicated, and effects were magnified by previous injury and BMI over 25.

   Canetti EFD, Schram B, Orr RM, Knapik J, Pope R — Risk factors for development of lower limb osteoarthritis in physically demanding occupations: A systematic review and meta-analysis.. Applied Ergonomics, 2020. DOI: 10.1016/j.apergo.2020.103097.

5. The FTC's Health Products Compliance Guidance sets out the standard every health claim in advertising must meet. Advertising must be truthful and not misleading, and before an ad runs the advertiser must hold adequate substantiation for every objective claim it conveys expressly or by implication. As a general rule, claims about the health benefits or safety of foods, dietary supplements, drugs and other health-related products require substantiation in the form of 'competent and reliable scientific evidence'. The guidance explicitly covers websites, social media, influencer marketing, press interviews, seminars, and claims made indirectly through healthcare practitioners.

   Federal Trade Commission, Bureau of Consumer Protection — Health Products Compliance Guidance. FTC Business Guidance, 2022.