Conditions We Treat — Spine, Shoulder, Knee, Hip, Elbow, Foot, Hand and More
We treat acute and chronic injuries affecting all areas of the body with non-surgical and minimally invasive options that work with your body’s natural healing ability.
Every area below links to a page explaining the specific condition, what usually gets recommended surgically, and what we do instead. If your condition is not listed, call us anyway — we will tell you whether it is something we treat.
Other services
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Platelet Rich Plasma — concentrated platelets from your own blood for tendon, ligament and mild arthritis problems.
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Prolotherapy — for ligament laxity and joint instability.
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MLS Laser Therapy — non-invasive pain and inflammation control, often alongside the above.
Which one applies to your joint depends on your imaging and the tissue involved. See Regenexx procedures for the full picture.
Everything we treat, in one list
Improve knee function without surgery
Regenexx procedures can help improve knee function and decrease pain without the need for surgery. During this outpatient procedure, Dr. Derrington uses precise image guidance to inject custom concentrations of your body’s natural healing agents into the exact areas of damage to tighten and stabilize your knee joint.
This precise approach to orthopedic care cannot be replicated by a surgeon or nurse in a chiropractor’s office. Regenexx specialists require thousands of hours of training and follow a standardized protocol process to become a licensed Regenexx physician.
An alternative to epidural steroids and fusion
Your spine supports your head, shoulders and upper body and gives you the ability to bend, twist and stand upright. A key role of your spine is to protect your spinal cord, the set of nerves connecting your brain to the rest of your body.
If you are experiencing pain along your spine, it can be caused by a pulled muscle, a bulging disc, or arthritis. Depending on the cause and severity, you may have been told that epidural steroid injections or surgery are your only options. Those options carry potential adverse side effects and may lead to lengthy recoveries.
At Derrington Orthopedics we offer non-surgical alternatives that can use your own body’s cells to repair soft tissue damage, allowing shorter recovery periods and no need for long-term pain medication.
Before you agree to shoulder surgery
We are proud to offer Regenexx patented treatments for patients with shoulder pain. This non-surgical, minimally invasive option uses your body’s natural healing ability to alleviate pain and heal soft tissue and joint damage.
Shoulder pain can arise from many different structures. If it prevents you from completing daily activities, you may be considering surgery. Shoulder surgery can be challenging because of the complexity of the joint, and can involve a lengthy recovery with significant risk of complications. Other options may only mask the pain temporarily, or require long-term pain management that can be harmful or restrict mobility.
Hip pain without a replacement as the only plan
Hip pain can be very difficult to deal with day to day, and traditionally requires long-term pain management if the underlying causes are not corrected.
Hip replacement surgery and hip resurfacing are often the only surgical options presented to a patient dealing with debilitating pain, though hip surgeries are typically traumatic and are often followed by months of pain and discomfort while the joint redevelops strength and mobility.
Why steroid injections make elbows worse over time
The elbow can be the site of pain generation for a number of reasons. The most common is tennis or golfer’s elbow, but other issues such as UCL injury or arthritis also occur. Common surgical interventions lead to considerable downtime.
Treating elbow injuries with steroid injections reduces inflammation at the site of an injury, but causes degeneration of cells at the site of the injection and over time actually leads to significant worsening of the condition. In addition, we have little solid scientific evidence that elbow surgery helps — but we do know it is invasive, with potential for infection, tissue damage, pain and nerve injury.
An option other than fusion or arthroscopy
Have you been told that steroid injections or invasive surgery are your only options to treat your foot or ankle pain? Interventional orthopedics provides a non-surgical alternative that uses your own cells to repair the damage.
Surgical treatment options for common foot and ankle injuries and arthritis include ankle arthroscopy to clean up damaged cartilage, fusion of ankle bones where cartilage has been lost, and tendon grafts screwed in place to strengthen loose connections between bones. These surgeries also typically involve a painful post-surgical recovery with a lengthy rehab period to restore strength and mobility.
Wear and tear from a keyboard-shaped world
Wear and tear on the wrists and hands is increasingly common in a world filled with hand-held devices and keyboards. As we place more strain on our hands and wrists, they can wear down over time beyond our body’s natural ability to repair the damage.
While total joint reconstruction surgery may improve the condition for some, new problems can easily develop over time when the biomechanical causes of the injury go unaddressed. As a result, many surgical patients go on to experience continued symptoms such as numbness, tenderness, or reduced range of motion or function.
When the standard options are all destructive
Current surgical treatment options for common orthopedic injuries and arthritis include pain-management strategies, steroid injections, and ultimately surgical intervention. While all of these approaches may offer temporary relief of symptoms, they are ultimately destructive and over time often do as much harm as good.
Also treated
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Non-Union Fractures — fractures that have not healed on their own.
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Osteonecrosis / Avascular Necrosis — bone tissue dying from loss of blood supply.
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TMJ Syndrome — jaw joint pain and dysfunction.
Not every condition, and not every patient, is a candidate. Effectiveness varies with your condition, its severity and your overall health, which is exactly why we evaluate carefully before recommending anything.
Find out whether your condition is one we can treat
Bring your imaging and your history. You will get a candidacy answer, not a sales pitch.
Send your imaging ahead
If you already have an MRI or X-ray, upload it before your visit and Dr. Derrington will review it in advance.
Two offices
Carlsbad and Laguna Hills, serving San Diego and Orange County.
Or call us directly at (760) 721-4000 - Carlsbad Office or (760) 721-4000 - Laguna Hills Office
Not sure your condition is on this list?
Call us to schedule an in-office or telehealth appointment, or fill out the form and our team will reach out. We will ask about your condition, explain which options may apply, and tell you honestly whether an evaluation makes sense.
If we are not the right fit for your condition, we will tell you — and try to point you in the right direction.
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