Hi there,
I would suggest Minor Bupleurum teamed with a Blood mover like Xiao Huo Luo Dan.
Any time there is an immune-mediated disorder, I think of Minor Bupleurum, as that is its forte. When it is affecting the limbs like that, you can juice up its anti-inflammatory effects by adding about 15g of Qin Jiao per 100g of Xiao Chai Hu Tang (Minor Bupleurum). Kan Essentials has a ready-made version: Benefit Hips and Knees. If you use it, I would dose more liberally than Kan suggests, following the
Natural Path Herb Company dosing suggestions.. Minor Bupleurum calms down excessive systemic immune responses that are behind immune mediated disease and acts at the source to stop them from developing in the first place.
The 'source' appears to be 'leaky gut', which Minor Bupleurum helps remedy. It's only in the past few years that research has confirmed the suspicion that a leaky gut is behind a lot of orthopedic inflammation, especially the immune mediated versions. To enhance efficacy, you could add in a Lactobacillus probiotic. Note that if this is a MB case, the raw needs to be augmented with a fermentable carbohydrate and a soluble fiber, so the right bacteria can be supported that help resolve the leaky gut and its immune consequences.
Lastly, Blood moving herbs like Turmeric and Boswelia are helpful, acting similarly to NSAIDs, but helping actively resolve the inflammation, unlike NSAIDs.
In summary, the above approach is often what we use for CCL tears as well, which makes sense, since cruciate tears are considered sister conditions to villonodular synovitis.
Hopefully this helps you out!
Steve