Knee injury limiting your soccer game?

How many more games are left in your knees?

Are you taking anti-inflammatory medications before the game? Are you holding your knees together with knee braces and tape? Are you going home after the game and reaching for a cold one – that is a bag of ice to wrap around your knees?

You have been to the doctor and he says, “You need a procedure – you will need to take the year off.”

In my opinion, there are two choices to make when the doctor recommends the procedure. One, accept your destiny and continue to live with an unstable and painful knee until you can play no more, or find a solution to your pain now, that will, for the most part, allow you to continue to play with a stronger knee.

Make your knee stronger, not weaker
There is a pad in your knee called the meniscus. It is a thick, strong cartilage-like shock absorbers that cushion and pad the knee between the thigh (femur) and shin (tibia) bones. Shaped like the letter “C,” the meniscus of each knee provides stability in carrying the weight of the body or in gliding through the knee’s many range of motions.

In simplest terms, the meniscus is a cushion that protect the knee from the daily grind and from sports related impacts. When torn, the damaged area is often removed surgically. Common sense tells us that when we remove padding, there is less cushion. When you take any padding away from the knee, there is more impact, and knee degeneration may be accelerated. This can lead to future surgeries and knee replacement.

Why remove tissue then? Because some physicians believe that the meniscus, does not have the ability to be repaired, either by regular body repair mechanisms or surgery. So it is shaved, smoothed, or partially removed. Years ago, when a meniscus was injured, the standard protocol was complete removal. Many of these patients were forced to have knee replacements years later because of the severe pain from the meniscus removal.

A non-surgical answer to help your meniscus?

Healing and Strengthening The Knee Naturally

In our clinic we have seen Prolotherapy, injections of dextrose (an inflammation producing solution) that is done in-office be successful in regrowing injured tissue.

Prolotherapy injections ARE NOT cortisone shots. Where cortisone masks and covers up pain and weakness and prolonged use can cause serious ligament and tendon damage, Prolotherapy fixes the knee effecting a hopefully permanent cure, instead of surgically removing important anatomical components. Prolotherapy fixes the damage, naturally and permanently.

People ask us a lot of questions about Prolotherapy because not only is Prolotherapy a less invasive technique than surgical procedures, the benefits are – no days off from work – in almost all cases, considerably less time spent in doctor’s offices and imaging centers, and, typically much less patient expense.

Marc Darrow, MD is board certified in Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, and is an Assistant Clinical Professor at the UCLA School of Medicine. He specializes in Prolotherapy which is the natural stimulation of the body to produce collagen and heal overuse or other injuries.

Questions? Call his office 310-231-7000 or email