NSTRIDE

MAV

I have read about the NStride injection. It is offered through private clinics. Does anyone have any experience of it, does it work, how long does it last?

helpline_team

Hi Mav,

Thank you for posting on the Helpline forum and for your enquiry about the nStride injection which, as you said, is available privately.

Unfortunately, we do not have information about this on our Versus Arthritis website. However, I hope you find the information given below of some help. This general information is from another organisation, Nuffield Health; we have no control over the contents of these resources and are unable to guarantee their suitability for you.

NSTRIDE® is a small injection into your knee joint of good proteins concentrated from your own blood. It's designed to alleviate pain and bring balance back to your inflamed knee. These good proteins can block the bad proteins which are responsible for the inflammatory condition in your joint. Other good proteins can then contribute to the health of your cartilage. It is claimed that this injection can reduce pain in the knee joint, reduce stiffness, restore mobility and function, and potentially help slow the destruction of cartilage.

https://www.nuffieldhealth.com/treatments/nstride-autologous-protein-solution-aps

It may help to post on our Living with arthritis forum. There may be others out there who have experience of this injection. It may also help to talk things through with your GP.

If at any point you would like to talk things through informally and in confidence about your arthritis, you are welcome to call our Free Helpline on 0800 520 0520 weekdays 9am – 6pm.

Best wishes,

Fiona, Helpline Advisor 

StarAnise37

@MAV

I had nSTRIDE (Autologous Protein Solution) injected in my left knee a couple of months ago. I have stage 4 OA (bone on bone - complete loss of cartilage). I was in excruciating pain for months. My knee was very swollen and stiff and mobility was hell. And any exercise I did resulted in the knee swelling up even more and more pain which made me virtually immobile for 3-4 days afterwards. I couldn't rely on Naproxen too much (which really did help) as I had a mitral valve repair six months ago and NSAIDs are not recommended. In desperation (as my local GP services had nothing to offer), my private orthopaedic surgeon recommended nSTRIDE, mainly as pain and swelling relief and to improve mobility. I had no cartilage left to preserve. Although it was very expensive, I had the injection. Within 2 weeks, a lot of my pain and swelling began to ease. But after 4 weeks, I was able to begin strengthening and stretching exercises without any increase in swelling or pain.. I haven't taken any painkillers (not even Paracetamol) for several weeks now, sleep a lot better as no jolts of excruciating pain to wake you up suddenly 😁.

So does nSTRIDE work? Well, if I compared now to what it was before the injection, I can honestly say my quality of life has much improved because I'm not in intense pain. I'm in a much happier frame of mind too. I wasn't able to stand comfortably for more than 20 minutes, bend the knee easily, get in and out of the bath tub . Now I can stand more than an hour and hope this will only get better with time and all the other activities are so much easier. It takes up to 2 months or so after the injection for most of the benefits (or not!) to be realised.

I still need the aid of a stick to get about outside the house but do without it within, most of the time. Going up and down stairs was an agony but now it is manageable and as my leg muscles become stronger from exercise, I can see this only improving.

How long does it last? I think this depends on what stage of OA you are in. It lasts much longer for those in mild to moderate (stages 1-3 where there is cartilage to preserve). In my case of severe arthritis, I'm hoping it will last for at least the year to recover from my heart surgery, after which I will have a TKR.

I hope this helps.