A recent five-year study found PRP no better than conservative care. The critical flaw was an extremely low platelet dose — not that PRP itself fails.

By Dr. Jeffrey Peng, MD · Published July 29, 2026 · 7 min read Watch the Full Video Several years ago I made a video explaining why most people do not need surgery for a meniscus tear. It resonated with a lot of people, and yet the same two questions keep coming up in my clinic and in my video comments: do I need surgery for my meniscus tear, and will something bad happen to my knee if I skip it? Those questions persist because surgery is still being recommended far more ofte

By Dr. Jeffrey Peng, MD · Published July 24, 2026 · 9 min read Watch the Full Video If you have knee osteoarthritis, you have almost certainly been told it is wear and tear — cartilage grinding down, bone against bone, and pain as the mechanical price of a worn-out joint. Much of that is true. It is also incomplete. The pain you feel and the speed at which your arthritis progresses are both tied closely to something else happening inside the joint: inflammation. Understanding

By Dr. Jeffrey Peng, MD · Published July 4, 2026 · 7 min read Watch the Full Video If you have bone-on-bone arthritis in your knee, you have probably been told that platelet-rich plasma (PRP) won't help you — that you waited too long, and that once the cartilage is this far gone, a knee replacement is your only real option. New research is challenging that assumption. I'm Dr. Jeffrey Peng, a sports medicine physician practicing in the San Francisco Bay Area, and I've helped t

By Dr. Jeffrey Peng, MD · Published May 9, 2026 · 7 min read Watch the Full Video If you are 40 or older and have been told you need surgery for a degenerative meniscus tear, the evidence has shifted dramatically in the past few years — and the most recent long-term data may change your mind. The New England Journal of Medicine has just published 10-year follow-up results from a sham-controlled trial of arthroscopic partial meniscectomy, and the findings confirm what many spo

PRP works for knee arthritis — but only at the right dose. Blood draw volume and kit recovery rate determine whether your injection actually helps.

By Dr. Jeffrey Peng, MD · Published April 3, 2026 · 8 min read Watch the Full Video There is now MRI evidence that platelet-rich plasma (PRP) injections can help facilitate the regrowth of knee cartilage. A 42-year-old physically active male developed a progressive osteochondral defect after snowboarding. He tried rehabilitation, corticosteroid injections, and even standard PRP — none of which resolved his condition. His orthopedic surgeon recommended arthroscopic surgery.

By Dr. Jeffrey Peng, MD · Published March 31, 2026 · 20 min read Watch the Full Video If you are dealing with knee pain, there is a good chance that at least three things you do every single day are making it worse. The good news is that with the right daily habits, you can reduce pain, slow cartilage breakdown, and protect your joints for the long term. In my practice treating thousands of patients with knee arthritis and chronic knee pain, these are the 16 habits I find m

By Dr. Jeffrey Peng, MD · Published March 08, 2026 · 8 min read Watch the Full Video A landmark randomized controlled trial published in the New England Journal of Medicine challenged one of the most common assumptions in orthopedic surgery: that patients with bone-on-bone knee arthritis inevitably need a knee replacement. The researchers took 100 patients who had been evaluated by an orthopedic surgeon and deemed eligible for total knee replacement, then randomly assigned

By Dr. Jeffrey Peng, MD · Published March 6, 2026 · 5 min read Watch the Full Video Dextrose prolotherapy is one of the oldest regenerative injection therapies still in use today, yet most patients have never heard of it. The concept is simple: inject a concentrated sugar solution into or around a damaged joint to trigger the body’s natural healing response. But does the science actually support this approach for knee arthritis ? In this post, we review the clinical trial ev

By Dr. Jeffrey Peng, MD · Published March 6, 2026 · 6 min read Watch the Full Video Both hyaluronic acid (HA) injections and platelet-rich plasma (PRP) injections are well-established treatments for knee osteoarthritis. When used individually, head-to-head trials consistently show that PRP tends to produce more favorable outcomes than HA alone. But a growing body of research is now exploring whether combining the two injections could produce a synergistic effect — offerin

By Dr. Jeffrey Peng, MD · Published March 6, 2026 · 7 min read Watch the Full Video Stem cell therapy continues to generate excitement as a potential treatment for chronic joint pain. Among the various sources of stem cells being studied, umbilical cord-derived mesenchymal stem cells have emerged as a particularly interesting option. Unlike bone marrow or adipose-derived stem cells — which are harvested from the patient's own body — umbilical cord stem cells come from donate

Dr. Jeffrey Peng, MD · Published March 6, 2025 · 5 min read Watch the Full Video Amniotic fluid injections have generated significant interest as a potential treatment for knee osteoarthritis. One of the most compelling use cases is for patients who continue to experience pain despite standard treatments such as hyaluronic acid and corticosteroid injections. But does this treatment actually work? A recent clinical trial offers some encouraging — though nuanced — answers. Wh

By Dr. Jeffrey Peng, MD · Published March 6, 2026 · 6 min read Watch the Full Video Platelet rich plasma injections and stem cell injections are two of the most talked-about orthobiologic treatments for knee osteoarthritis. Both have demonstrated clinically significant pain relief and functional improvement in clinical trials. However, stem cell therapy is often marketed as a superior treatment and comes with a much higher price tag. But does the evidence actually support th

By Dr. Jeffrey Peng, MD · Published March 6, 2025 · 7 min read Watch the Full Video If you have been diagnosed with a degenerative meniscus tear, you have likely heard conflicting advice about treatment. Some physicians recommend arthroscopic surgery to remove the damaged tissue, while others advocate for physical therapy and structured exercise. The disagreement often depends on whether you see an orthopedic surgeon or a nonoperative sports medicine specialist. So which app

Research shows PRP only works above a certain platelet dose. Here’s the evidence on how many platelets you need — and what to ask your provider.

By Dr. Jeffrey Peng, MD · Published March 6, 2025 · 5 min read Watch the Full Video There is considerable debate within the orthopedic community about the best treatment options for a meniscus tear. What is becoming increasingly clear is that cutting out the meniscus should be seen as a last resort. Newer techniques for meniscus repair surgery have shown lower failure rates, and with advances in orthobiologics and cellular therapy, many providers are exploring whether augme

By Dr. Jeffrey Peng, MD · Published March 6, 2026 · 6 min read Watch the Full Video If you are dealing with knee osteoarthritis and have been told that arthroscopic surgery might help, you may be wondering how it compares to platelet-rich plasma (PRP) injections. Head-to-head trials comparing PRP to placebo, hyaluronic acid, and cortisone injections have consistently shown that PRP produces superior and more sustained symptom relief. But how does PRP stack up against surger

By Dr. Jeffrey Peng, MD · Published March 5, 2026 · 7 min read Watch the Full Video Platelet-rich plasma (PRP) injections have become one of the most effective non-surgical treatments for reducing pain and improving function in patients with knee osteoarthritis . But an important question remains: can PRP actually slow down the progression of arthritis itself? A landmark randomized controlled trial by Chu et al. (2022) set out to answer that question — and the results were

Average PRP cost is about $700 and stem cell about $2,700 — but price varies widely. Here’s what the data shows and why the provider matters more than the cost.