Rugeley woman’s new lease of life after ‘miracle’ knee treatment

A 47-year-old fitness fanatic has had her life transformed by an innovative knee treatment, enabling her to enjoy her hobbies again.

Michelle Kelly from Rugeley is among a growing number of people benefitting from nSTRIDE®, which uses healthy extracts from patients’ own blood to target the causes of knee osteoarthritis as well as treating pain.
Aimed at patients with mild to moderate knee osteoarthritis, a single nSTRIDE® injection can provide effective pain relief and improved knee function for up to three years – allowing people like Michelle to get their lives back on track.
As an avid netball player who has a personal trainer, Michelle began to notice a deterioration in her left knee in October 2019. The pain began to increase rapidly, and she soon reached a point where she had to stop playing netball and severely limit exercise.
Michelle, who works for Care and Custody in Staffordshire and Nottinghamshire Police, said: “I did a lot of physical activity, but I had to stop doing it all as my knee was just not getting any better. Climbing stairs and walking my dogs was painful and I wasn't able to kneel.”
Latest figures reveal that in the West Midlands alone, almost 19% of adults aged over 45 are living with osteoarthritis.
After being diagnosed with osteoarthritis, Michelle was advised by her consultant at the Midland Knee Protect Clinic in Solihull that her knee had deteriorated so badly that she would either need replacement surgery, or she could have the nSTRIDE® treatment.
Developed by Zimmer Biomet, the groundbreaking therapy is designed to treat the pain and target the inflammation which drives cartilage degradation and destruction in osteoarthritis. Anti-inflammatory proteins and anabolic growth factors were taken from Michelle’s blood and, after being concentrated in a centrifuge, injected back into her knee.
Michelle said: “The process was very easy. There was no real pain at all, especially considering how much pain I had gone through over the months before.
“Within a couple of weeks, I re-started my exercise regime, and I can now do the majority of exercises with no issues at all. I have just decided to go back to playing netball and have also taken up cycling. I’m currently doing 20 to 30 miles a week with no problems.”
Michelle’s knee has reacted to the treatment so well that she has now taken up skiing. She added: “It’s something I’ve always wanted to do but I put it off due to the issues with my knee. I have been doing it for a few months now and have had no issues at all – I’m going for my first skiing holiday to France at Christmas.”
“Without nSTRIDE® I would have been looking at a knee replacement at 47, which would more than likely have needed to be done again in my later years. It feels like some sort of miracle that I can now enjoy my hobbies again without having any surgery.”
The Midland Knee Protect Clinic provides tailored treatment and support for patients with wear and tear knee joint pain. It has performed over 200 nSTRIDE® injections, and demand is growing as people face long treatment delays because of the Coronavirus pandemic.
Clinic Lead and experienced Orthopaedic Consultant Mr Jamie Arbuthnot said: “It is great to see the effect the treatment has had on Michelle’s life and the level of exercise she is putting her knee through is a testament to how effective nSTRIDE® is at restoring pain-free functionality of the knee joint.
“Unlike other non-surgical treatment options, with nSTRIDE® we are seeing significant numbers of patients having sustained pain relief for over a year, which is making a real difference to people like Michelle who are not candidates for knee replacement surgery but want to enjoy a good quality of life.”
Knee pain is the reason for around 60,000 GP appointments every day in the UK and 23 per cent of all people over the age of 50 report severe knee pain.
A knee replacement is the common surgical solution, but with the UK’s average age for a total knee replacement being 69 years, there can be a long, painful gap between when non-surgical treatments stop working and a patient is suitable for a knee replacement.
This treatment gap is likely to get wider because of the Coronavirus pandemic which has significantly increased waiting times for non-urgent surgery, leaving many more people having to endure the damaging and debilitating consequences of crippling knee pain.
The latest Medbelle data estimates that over 8,000 people are currently on the waiting list for orthopaedic surgery at University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust.

References:

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