JointVibes: by Dr Markandaiya Acharya

  By Dr Markandaiya Acharya, MBBS, MS Orthopaedic Surgeon, Cuttack Reg No. 22788 (OCMR) A 58-year-old schoolteacher. Let us call her Sunita. She is not a real patient of mine, but you will recognise her. Her right knee has been hurting for three years. First it was only the stairs. Then it was getting up from the floor after puja. Now she plans her whole day around how far she has to walk. One evening her nephew sends her a video. A clinic is offering "stem cell injections" that claim to regrow knee cartilage. No surgery. No hospital stay. One sitting. She watches it four times. Then she asks the question I hear in my clinic almost every week: "Doctor, is it safe? And will it save me from a knee replacement?" Those are two different questions. A recent systematic review answers the first one fairly well. The second one is still open. Both deserve an honest answer. The problem: a knee that keeps shrinking your life Knee osteoarthritis is the gradual wearing of the sm...

By Dr Markandaiya Acharya, MBBS, MS Orthopaedic Surgeon Reg No 22788 A 22-year-old footballer. It is a Sunday evening match. He plants his foot to change direction, and something inside his knee goes pop . No one has touched him. He falls, tries to stand, and the knee simply refuses to hold him. By night the knee is swollen like a small melon. A week later the MRI report carries four words he has never heard before: anterior cruciate ligament tear . And then comes the question I hear in my clinic more often than any other: “Doctor, will I ever play again?” If you or someone in your family is asking the same question, this article is for you. A large 2026 research review has given us one of the clearest answers so far, and it is more hopeful than most people expect. A Knee You Can No Longer Trust The anterior cruciate ligament, or ACL, is a strong band of tissue in the centre of the knee. It stops the shin bone from sliding forward and keeps the knee steady when you twist, pivot...

By Dr Markandaiya Acharya, Orthopaedic Surgeon Picture a 24-year-old on a Sunday morning football ground. He plants his foot, turns to chase the ball, and feels something give way inside his knee. There is a pop. Within an hour the knee is swollen like a small melon. A few weeks later the swelling has settled, but the knee has not. It buckles on the stairs. It wobbles when he turns quickly. The MRI report says what he feared: anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) tear . He accepts that he needs surgery. Then the surgeon says something that stops him: "We will take a tendon from the outer side of your ankle to build your new ligament." And the question I hear in my clinic almost every week follows immediately: "Doctor, my knee is already damaged. Will you now spoil my ankle as well?" It is a fair question. It deserves an honest, evidence-based answer. A large 2026 analysis gives us one. A New Ligament Has to Come From Somewhere A torn ACL rarely heals on its own ...