A-Rod Had 'Unusual' Knee Injections of Experimental Orthokine on Kobe's Advice [Video]

The NY Post reports that aging Yankee slugger Alexander Rodriguez flew to Germany to undergo Orthokine® therapy on his troublesome knee on the advice of LA Laker Kobe Bryant. Orthokine is what you call a 'novel' treatment for osteoarthritis -- ie, there is no real good proof that it works. “A lot of athletes I’ve talked to really think this stuff works, but we really don’t have a lot of scientific knowledge behind it of exactly what’s happening,” said Dr. Jonathan Glashow, the co-chief of sports medicine at Mount Sinai Hospital.

Oh yes, in 2009 we asked "Arod to Miss 3 Months Due to Hip Surgery...Is Osteoarthritis a Factor?"

The most recent study (of the whopping 6) isn't even an actual study. It's a report -- Expert Rev Clin Immunol. 2010 May;6(3):335-45. Department of Family Medicine, East Tennessee State University, Kingsport, TN 37660 Treatment of knee osteoarthritis with Orthokine-derived autologous conditioned serum:

Orthogen AG (Dusseldorf, Germany) has developed a method to produce an autologous conditioned serum (ACS) rich in IL-1Ra marketed as Orthokine. Study participants treated with ACS have improved pain and function; however, these results are preliminary and need confirmation. If ongoing trials prove that ACS can retard cartilage degeneration and reduce inflammation, the management of OA would be dramatically altered, perhaps providing a mechanism to prevent the disease or at least its progression.

Orthokine itself refers to the injection as 'an unusual orthopaedic treatment.'


See now - that's why Carlos Beltran wanted Pinstripes.



The NY Daily News jumped on the story 13 hours after the Post. With no citation of NYP. Stay classy NYDN: "The Yankees received a sworn statement from the doctor who performed the procedure, Peter Wehling of the Center for Orthodonics and Molecular Medicine in Dusseldorf, Germany, saying no banned substances were used in A-Rod's treatment, including Actovegin."

So that's that. (Some reports indicate that the procedure was videotaped. Because tape is 100% reliable...)

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