Effectiveness of combined regenerative medicine and exercise therapy for patients with knee osteoarthritis: a scoping review.
Tomohiro Oka, Kosuke Suzuki, Katsuyoshi Tanaka and 2 others
PMID 40765719WHAT IT FOUND
Three small studies found that adding exercise to platelet-rich plasma injections for knee osteoarthritis improved pain and function more than injections alone.
The evidence is too limited to confirm this works, as the studies were small, varied in design, and had high risk of bias.
Key findings
01All three included studies reported significantly greater improvements in pain and function when exercise was combined with regenerative medicine compared to regenerative medicine alone.
02The review only found three eligible studies, all focusing on platelet-rich plasma, with sample sizes ranging from 17 to 32 participants per group.
03Quality of life was not evaluated in any of the included studies, and muscle strength improvements were inconsistent.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for PTsWhat it means for OTsWhat it means for SLPs
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What it does not show
Only three small studies were included, all focusing on platelet-rich plasma, so the findings do not apply to other regenerative therapies like stem cells. The studies had high or significant risk of bias, including lack of blinding in one trial and confounding factors in the non-randomized study. Exercise interventions varied greatly in type, intensity, and supervision, making it impossible to recommend a specific program. Quality of life was not measured in any study, so the impact on patient well-being is unknown. The review is a scoping review, not a meta-analysis, so it maps the evidence rather than quantifying the effect size.
Declared interests
The research was supported by the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS) KAKENHI Grant Number 25K20920. The authors declared financial support for the research and publication.
The easy way to misread this
Do not interpret the positive findings as strong evidence that exercise adds benefit to platelet-rich plasma injections. The review included only three small studies with high risk of bias, and the effect sizes were not pooled. The claim that this combination works is based on very limited and potentially flawed data.