Educational webinar highlight featuring Navneet Boddu, MD | March 2026
Hip pain is often approached through an intra-articular lens focused primarily on cartilage degeneration and joint space narrowing. However, emerging clinical perspectives emphasize a broader, more integrated view.
As discussed by Navneet Boddu, the hip should be considered a functional unit, where surrounding structures, including tendons, ligaments, and subchondral bone, play a critical role in both symptom development and treatment strategy.
This expanded framework may help explain why some patients continue to experience persistent pain despite targeted intra-articular interventions.
Autologous biologics, including platelet-rich plasma (PRP) and bone marrow concentrate (BMC) are commonly explored in musculoskeletal medicine due to their ability to leverage the body’s own biologic environment.
Within this framework:
Rather than being solely a condition of cartilage wear, osteoarthritis is increasingly understood as a multifactorial process involving:
As highlighted in the webinar, early changes in subchondral bone such as increased porosity, reduced structural integrity, and bone marrow lesions may play a meaningful role in symptom development.
This evolving understanding reinforces the importance of evaluating structures beyond the articular surface.
In this segment, Navneet Boddu, MD reviews how subchondral bone changes contribute to pain and disease progression in osteoarthritis.
A key takeaway from the educational webinar is that pain generators are often multifactorial.
In addition to intra-articular pathology, clinicians may consider:
Addressing only the joint space may overlook these contributing factors, potentially limiting outcomes.
Imaging plays a supportive role in guiding treatment considerations:
Importantly, imaging findings are most valuable when interpreted alongside clinical presentation and physical examination.
Depending on patient presentation and disease severity, clinicians may explore a range of approaches:
Intra-articular strategies: often considered in earlier-stage disease, focusing on the joint environment
Subchondral approaches: in certain cases, particularly when bone marrow lesions are present, targeting subchondral bone may be considered as part of a broader strategy
Periarticular and soft tissue targeting: including tendons, ligaments, and surrounding structures that may contribute to pain and dysfunction
This layered approach reflects a shift toward more comprehensive, anatomy-driven treatment planning.
The webinar also highlights that biologic composition may be adjusted based on treatment goals:
These considerations are part of ongoing clinical exploration and may vary based on practitioner preference and patient-specific factors.
Watch the full educational webinar to review the complete clinical discussion, including imaging considerations, procedural approaches, and evolving evidence highlighted throughout the session.
You can also access additional clinician-focused resources, including webinar recordings, clinical insights, and specialty-specific education, within the APEX Resource Library, designed to support ongoing learning in autologous biologics and musculoskeletal care.
Clinicians interested in hands-on training, procedural education, and practice implementation strategies can explore the upcoming XCELL RISE - Interventional Pain event hosted at the XCELL Learning Center located in Clearwater, Florida. XCELL RISE - Interventional Pain is a purpose-built educational experience designed for pain physicians integrating biologics into spine and musculoskeletal interventional practices.
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This blog post is a summary of an educational session and is provided for informational purposes for healthcare professionals. The perspectives shared reflect the clinical experience and opinions of the speaker(s) and do not necessarily represent the views of APEX Biologix. This content is not medical advice and is not intended to establish a standard of care, diagnose, or recommend treatment for any individual patient. Clinicians should evaluate all therapies using their independent clinical judgment, applicable regulations, and the most current evidence.