Conservative management of MRI-confirmed knee osteoarthritis with instrument-assisted soft-tissue mobilization, joint manipulation, and platelet-rich plasma.

OBJECTIVE: To describe the successful conservative management of a patient with chronic degenerative knee pain.

CLINICAL FEATURES: An active 47 year-old female office-worker with intermittent right knee pain inferolateral to the right patella for eight months described difficulty ascending stairs, sitting on a chair for one hour, and squatting. A physical exam led to the diagnosis of a suspected chronic degenerative tear of the posterior horn of the right medial meniscus and chronic right subpatellar chondrosis, in addition to extensive cartilaginous degeneration revealed by an MRI study conducted prior to initial presentation.

INTERVENTION AND OUTCOME: A conservative chiropractic treatment plan was implemented in addition to two successive intra-articular and subpatellar platelet-rich plasma injections. The patient reported no pain after sixteen weeks and 93.75% functionality six months after the second injection.