iO-Core™ PROCEDURE, A COMPREHENSIVE APPROACH TO JOINT PAIN

iO-Core™ Procedure takes a modern approach to the treatment of joint pain. Our goal is to regenerate, preserve, and restore function to  your existing joint without major surgery or joint replacement surgery. iO-Core™ was developed to address a mostly overlooked and untreated cause of joint pain- bone marrow lesions.  Most physicians are only looking at and are primarily concerned with the surface cartilage inside the joint. At iO-Core™ our physicians are trained not only to address the surface cartilage but to take it a step further by identifying and treating the vital boney structure that supports and provides key nutrients to the cartilage in your joint. If you have an unhealthy foundation, you can’t have a healthy joint.

New and an ever-increasing number of research papers indicates that joint pain can be attributed to underlying bone marrow lesions and insufficiency fractures. Bone marrow lesions lie just beneath cartilage in your joint causing severe swelling and pain.  Just like any other lesion, swelling from these bone marrow lesions irritates the surrounding nerves of the joint. Remember, cartilage has no nerves; the joint pain you feel is from the nerves in the surrounding tissue. 

iO-Core™ trained physicians identify these lesions using MRI imaging.  A specialized instrument decompresses the swelling in the lesion. Fresh healthy tissue is  grafted  to fill the space left by the lesion.  Once the tissue graft is in place, your own extracted bone marrow derived stem cells are placed in and around where the lesion had been.  These same bone marrow stem cells are also place inside the joint itself onto the surface cartilage to boost the healing both inside the joint and the supporting bone.

Unlike traditional treatments for arthritis that focus on reducing symptoms, the iO-Core™ procedure takes a comprehensive approach to joint restoration and pain relief by targeting the root cause of joint pain, damage and degeneration. The outpatient procedure harnesses the body’s own healing capabilities to treat cartilage defects and bone marrow lesions that damage the underlying bone and cause significant pain in patients with moderate to advanced arthritis.

This procedure that addresses both the surface loss of cartilage and underlying bone damage may help patients reduce pain, regain mobility and prevent or delay further progression without the need to undergo invasive surgery.  According to the Journal of Bone and Joint, “approximately 1 in 5 patients still experience chronic pain”* after the invasive knee replacement surgery.

Current research into the progression of arthritis reveals that degeneration affects the entire joint, including connective tissues and underlying bone.* Treating isolated cartilage loss doesn’t address or prevent the structural damage that arthritis causes.* iO-Core™ targets both the surface damage and underlying bone damage to comprehensively treat the root cause of joint pain.

IN THE NEWS