A clear exam and written price come before payment

The exam shows which choices are reasonable

Describe where the soreness began and each movement that stirs it. The doctor checks tender areas, joint motion, swelling, and strength.

An X-ray may show arthritis, joint wear, or an old injury. It doesn't measure your soreness or predict which care will help.

Name one task you miss, perhaps a longer walk or sound sleep. Your chosen task gives you a plain way to judge any later change.

The full price belongs in writing

The total may include the exam, procedure, outside X-rays, and later visits. Get each charge on paper before you agree.

Ask whether a repeat visit would add another charge. A payment plan changes when you pay, but it doesn't make treatment more useful.

Compare the total with medicine, exercise, physical therapy, and surgery when surgery applies. A higher price doesn't predict a better result.

Serious warning signs need medical care, not a sales talk

Leave the sales talk and seek urgent medical care for fever with a hot, badly swollen joint. Seek urgent care if the joint changes shape or cannot bear weight.

Go to an emergency room for bladder loss with back pain, new weakness, or numbness. A swollen calf or spreading redness after a procedure also needs prompt medical care.

Call your regular doctor about night soreness, unexplained weight loss, or a joint that keeps giving way. Tell the clinic about these problems before discussing payment.

If soreness keeps returning, QC Kinetix can discuss non-surgical choices

QC Kinetix can discuss regenerative treatments after an exam. The clinic prepares your blood or marrow for these procedures without surgery.

Ask what the procedure contains, who performs it, and what later visits involve. The clinic's explanation must separate likely relief from results no one can predict.

Wait to decide until you have the treatment name and full price in writing. You also need a medical reason tied to what the exam found.

Sources

1. The OARSI non-surgical management guideline evaluated 60 interventions with GRADE methodology and built its recommendations around core treatments - structured exercise, weight management and self-management education - for every patient with knee osteoarthritis, regardless of what else is added.

   Bannuru RR, et al. — OARSI guidelines for the non-surgical management of knee, hip, and polyarticular osteoarthritis. Osteoarthritis Cartilage, 2019. DOI: 10.1016/j.joca.2019.06.011.

2. Global Burden of Disease data show osteoarthritis age-standardised prevalence rose 9.3 percent between 1990 and 2017 and years lived with disability rose 9.6 percent, with prevalence higher in women and rising with age.

   Safiri S, et al. — Global, regional and national burden of osteoarthritis 1990-2017: a systematic analysis of the Global Burden of Disease Study 2017. Ann Rheum Dis, 2020. DOI: 10.1136/annrheumdis-2019-216515.

3. A 2024 systematic review of 8 Level I randomized trials in 937 patients found bone marrow aspirate concentrate improved pain and function versus baseline from one month, but the comparative advantage over other injections was inconsistent across timepoints.

   Han JH, et al. — Bone Marrow Aspirate Concentrate Injections for the Treatment of Knee Osteoarthritis: A Systematic Review of Randomized Controlled Trials. Orthop J Sports Med, 2024. DOI: 10.1177/23259671241296555.

4. A systematic review of 21 studies re-examining the familiar '20 percent are dissatisfied after knee replacement' figure found the actual average dissatisfaction rate was 10 percent, and 7.3 percent when complications were excluded - the surgical benchmark a cash-pay injection is implicitly competing against.

   DeFrance MJ, et al. — Are 20% of Patients Actually Dissatisfied Following Total Knee Arthroplasty? A Systematic Review of the Literature. J Arthroplasty, 2023. DOI: 10.1016/j.arth.2022.10.011.

5. A CDC public health investigation confirmed culture-positive bacterial infections in 20 patients who received umbilical cord blood-derived products marketed as stem cell treatment between August 2017 and September 2018; whole-genome sequencing matched patient isolates to the product.

   Hartnett KP, et al. — Investigation of Bacterial Infections Among Patients Treated With Umbilical Cord Blood-Derived Products Marketed as Stem Cell Therapies. JAMA Netw Open, 2021. DOI: 10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2021.28615.

6. In orders issued 26 December 2024 and announced 8 January 2025, a federal court permanently banned the co-founders of the Stem Cell Institute of America and their companies from marketing any regenerative medicine treatment, and ordered $5,155,146 in refunds and civil penalties. The court found on summary judgment that they published false and misleading advertisements about the efficacy and approval of stem cell injections for osteoarthritis, neuropathy and joint pain; their clinic charged up to $5,000 per injection and the customers were almost exclusively elderly and disabled people.

   US Federal Trade Commission — Stem Cell Institute Co-Founders and Companies Banned from Marketing Stem Cell Treatments and Ordered to Pay More Than $5.1 Million for Refunds and Civil Penalties. , 2025.

7. FDA states in its consumer alert that the only FDA-approved stem cell products in the United States are blood-forming stem cells derived from umbilical cord blood, approved for disorders of the blood-forming system, and that NONE of these products - stem cells, stromal vascular fraction, umbilical cord blood, Wharton's jelly or amniotic fluid - has been approved for the treatment of any orthopedic condition, including osteoarthritis, tendonitis, disc disease, tennis elbow, back pain, hip pain, knee pain, neck pain or shoulder pain.

   US Food and Drug Administration, Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research — Consumer Alert on Regenerative Medicine Products Including Stem Cells and Exosomes. , 2020.