Cartilage, Ligament and Tendon Problems

Are You In Pain?
Do Your Joints Ache?
Do You Have a Bad Back?
Do You Have Painful Knees?
Do You Suffer From Osteoarthritis?

Comparison of healthy and arthritic spine and knee

It is a simple fact that the majority of joint pain is caused by damage to, or the wearing away of cartilage.

Cartilage has several functions and in fact is in several rather unusual places, e.g. the ear or nose, but the cartilage we are most concerned about here is the tough, elastic, flexible cartilage that covers the surface of all bone joints. This reduces friction and allows the bones to not only slide smoothly over each other, but also acts as a very efficient shock absorber.

Problems occur when cartilage breaks down, is damaged or simply wears away.

Cartilage itself has no nerve endings or blood vessels so does not register pain when it is eroding or damaged. Your body's bones however do cause pain, especially if bone is rubbing on bone which is more commonly known as osteoarthritis.

So ..., if you suffer from joint pain in any part of your body from the smallest finger joint to the large joints of the knees, hips and back, please read on.

What Can Be Done?

Having no blood vessels, cartilage grows very slowly, basically stops growing around the age of 35 and as we age, as with many other things, it usually wears away quicker than it grows. Other than trying to slow down the wearing away process by taking such supplements as glucosamine or ingesting collagen, up until very recently the only way to get your cartilage to re-grow was by way of surgery. This could be by harvesting chondrocyte cells (responsible for cartilage growth) and growing them outside the body or by harvesting stem cells (from your bone marrow) and growing these into cartilage. Whatever method is used, cells have to be re-inserted (this treatment is usually only suitable for knee problems) by means of surgery which in turn means a painful process of rehabilitation.

Again and taking knees as an example, another surgical method is by "robbing Peter to pay Paul" - taking healthy cartilage from one side of the knee and inserting it into the damaged side or by surgical "plugs". It stands to reason that again, rehabilitation will be long and painful.

There is another new, exciting and unique medical method of helping your joints, any joints in the body, which is so new that only now are doctors and surgeons outside Germany becoming aware of it. Best of all, no surgery is involved, no drugs are involved, no rehabilitation is required and it is completely safe and natural.

Magnetic Resonance Therapy (MRT) or MBST as it is known in Germany

One of the most important discoveries in recent medical history is the ability to “see” inside the body in incredible detail by way of a MRI (Magnetic Resonance Imaging) scan. The body is mainly made up of water molecules (60 to 65% of the body is water) which contain hydrogen atoms and the powerful magnetic forces from the MRI scanner pulls at the protons within these atoms, lining them up in the direction of the magnetic field (normally the billions of protons lie in random directions). When the scanner’s waves are switched off and on, these protons move back to their normal random alignment and then are magnetically aligned etc. In doing so, they send out a small amount of energy which the scanner picks up, transferring the energy signals to a computer which converts them into a picture. The whole procedure is completely painless and harmless and as no radiation is involved (unlike x-rays), the procedure can be repeated many times with no problems.

MRT machine at Bodyworks for treatment of the spine, shoulder and both knees

The medical community has generally been aware that following a MRI scan, the patient often felt better. Eventually, German researchers and scientists asked the question "Why" and fortunately, followed up this question with their own in-depth research. They discovered a very interesting phenomenon of MRI scanners in that under a special frequency, the Larmor frequency of Hydrogen atoms, the energy given out by these atoms (which is what the scanner reads) can also be absorbed by some of the adjacent atoms. These adjacent atoms could well be the soft tissue or diseased body part that was causing the problem in the first instance hence the reason patients felt slightly better. The researchers then discovered the specific frequency and wavelength of cartilage cells and by means of a world wide patented complex system of air-cored magnetic coils and radio waves, it was found to be possible to transfer pulsed magnetic resonance energy (the same as the MRI scan) into damaged cartilage cells thereby forcing the chondrocyte (cartilage) cells into re- growth.

A number of scientific, double blind, placebo controlled and randomised tests, documented research and clinical trials on over 13,000 patients (as at September 2004) have shown that this technology can naturally stimulate the chondrocyte cells aiding in the re-growth of cartilage. Over 85,000 patients have now been helped.

How is Treatment Done?

A thorough examination by a fully qualified Chartered Physiotherapist will take place not only to evaluate the general state of your health, but also to establish whether there are any contra-indicating factors that argue against Magnetic Resonance Therapy (MRT). This examination will also precisely diagnose the condition you are suffering from, ensuring that your pain is not referred pain from another area of the body and that the underlying cause of the problem is being treated, not the outcome!

MRT machine at Bodyworks for treatment of knees, ankles, elbows and hands

If MRT treatment is indicated and, depending on the severity of the condition, treatment consists of either 5 or 9 hourly sessions (interspersed by the weekend for the 9 hour sessions). You will remain fully clothed and be either lying or sitting comfortably and can read, listen to music or simply snooze your time away (the machines are totally silent).

The treatment is completely painless acting almost unnoticed on the joints with some patients reporting a pleasant tingling sensation or an agreeable warmth.

At last, a natural, drug free and surgical free alternative to osteoarthritis of the joints (any joint in the body), to ligament or tendon problems and to spinal disc problems.

Success Rate

A question frequently asked by prospective patients is “what are your success rates?”.

A difficult question to answer but our statistics, (questionnaires done before, during and after treatment) for the period June 2007 to December 2008 show an overall patient improvement rate of 90%.

We say this is a difficult question to answer and purely as an example (as we can also do knees, hips etc), The Back Care Charity’s website explains as follows:

It is difficult to determine “success". Is it that you wake up with no pain? Or remain pain free for one or more years after the operation? Or that you have increased mobility?
It is very important to have realistic expectations

We are obviously absolutely delighted with a 90% patient improvement rate as are the vast majority of these patients but on looking at these figures, you need to be clear about your own expectations.

Looking further at this quite amazing 90% improvement rate and again taking the Back Care Charity as an example, they state that:

If your operation is a stabilisation or fusion mainly for back pain, the outcome is usually less certain. There is a 60-80% chance of substantially relieving the pain, a 10-20% chance of staying the same and 10-20% risk of being worse or needing further surgery. You may not be completely pain-free afterwards but you may find that your pain eases down to an ache, leaving you able to do much more.