Kobe Bryant Knee Treatment Remains Shrouded In Secrecy, Mystery

Kobe Bryant Knee Treatment Highly Experimental, According To Report

Earlier this offseason, Kobe Bryant underwent a mysterious treatment for his aching knee in Germany. At the time, the procedure was compared to platelet rich therapy, a treatment in which platelets are injected into the tissue of the troublesome spot in order to spur restoration and healing. But a report from ESPN The Magazine's Shaun Assaelreveals that the procedure Bryant underwent is even less well-known than that.

Assael reports that the L.A. Lakers' star saw Dr. Peter Wehling in Dusseldorf. Wehling is the pioneer of a blood treatment that he claims has a 90 percent success rate in not just healing injuries, but curing arthritis.

According to a source familiar with Bryant's treatment, his blood was treated to isolate growth factors that attack inflammation, and then cultured with chemicals to increase their potency before being injected into his arthritic right knee.

Wehling declined to confirm or deny that he treated Bryant. But in a rare interview about his work, he told ESPN The Magazine, "I am the only one to have found a way to cure arthritis."

It's unclear where on the blood treatment spectrum this lays with regards to doping regulations. The NBA simply bans performance-enhancing drugs; there's no mention in Assael's story whether this type of blood treatment would run afoul of Olympic regulations. Kobe is expected to play in the 2012 London Olympics for Team USA.

Kobe Bryant Injury: Lakers Star Getting Treatment In Germany

Kobe Bryant didn't seem himself this season, possibly because the Los Angeles Lakers star has logged plenty of NBA playing time over his 15-year career and continues to age on the wrong side of 30. A byproduct of that, however, seems to be a lingering knee injury that continued to pop up during the NBA Playoffs.

Bryant has taken steps to remedy the latter issue this summer, heading to Germany last month to undergo a procedure called platelet-rich plasma therapy according to the Los Angeles Times. The procedure, commonly referred to as PRP, has also been used by Portland Trail Blazers guard Brandon Roy in the past.

"The interesting part is that it's not super complicated," Stanford Medical Center's Allan Mishra explained to the Times. "It's really only your own blood taken out of a vein and prepared right in front of you and then put back in an area of your condition. So the concept is to try and use within your own body to help heal yourself. This is an opportunity to really take advantage of the body's own natural ability."

According to the article, the treatment hasn't actually been proven to work due to the newness of its implementation. Considering how long the NBA lockout might last, however, its worth Bryant doing whatever he can to be ready to play at 100 percent next season.