For patients · 8 min · Worth watching
What orthopedic surgeons say about knee injections
Dr. Paul Zalzal & Dr. Brad Weening — Orthopedic surgeons, Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada
Eight minutes, two surgeons, on what actually goes into a knee and what the evidence behind each option looks like. Their assessment of some injectables is more sceptical than what this category's marketing would lead you to expect.
We are publishing it anyway, and not as a gesture. A patient who arrives at a clinic having heard the sceptical version and decided to go ahead is in a completely different position from one who only ever heard the sales version — better informed, harder to disappoint, and far more likely to be genuinely suited to what they are being offered.
Two biases, pointing opposite ways
We supply regenerative material. They perform joint replacements. Neither of us is neutral, and you now have both — which is worth considerably more than either alone. Where the two accounts agree, the agreement is meaningful. Where they diverge, that is precisely where the evidence is thin, and knowing which questions are still open is more useful than being handed a confident answer to one of them.
What to watch for
- Which injections they say have good evidence, which have mixed evidence, and which they think are being oversold. Take the list to whoever is proposing one to you.
- Whether the option they are least positive about is one you were about to pay for.
