Regenerative Medicine

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What is Regenerative Medicine?

Regenerative medicine is focused on developing and applying new treatments to heal tissues and organs and restore function lost due to aging, disease, damage or defects. Regenerative medicine goes beyond disease management to search for and discover therapies that support the body in repairing, regenerating and restoring itself to a state of well-being. Some of the conditions regenerative medicine can be used for are:

Sports injuries
Overuse injuries
Acute injuries
Joint issues/arthritis
Back/neck pain

Bone Marrow/Platelet Rich Plasma (PRP)/Prolotherapy

Regenerative injection is a rapidly emerging technique and is showing exciting potential where surgery was once the only option. Painful conditions frequently treated with regenerative injections include osteoarthritis, knee, shoulder, hip and spine, rotator cuff tears, plantar fasciitis, anterior cruciate ligament injuries, hip or pelvic instability and ligament sprains. The idea behind regenerative injections is to intentionally create a small inflammatory response. This is accomplished by injecting growth factors or mildly irritating solutions which result in the recruitment of healing growth factors to the area of injury and pain.

Bone Marrow Therapy

First, bone marrow is harvested from you. This is called a bone marrow aspiration. Bone marrow has stem cells or medicinal signaling cells (MSC). This is done in the office and is quick and tolerable. A local anesthetic is given and then a sample of blood is collected from the bone marrow, which is rich in stem cells. This is the bone marrow aspirate. The blood sample is then placed in a centrifuge which separates the blood sample into protein rich plasma (PRP), red blood cells, white blood cells and MSC’s or stem cells. This sample, which is now separated into these individual components, is called bone marrow aspirate concentrate or BMAC. Knee pain from degenerative joint disease or osteoarthritis is the most common reason for a BMAC injection. Next are low back, SI or sacroiliac joint, shoulder, elbow, ankle foot, hand, and wrist issues.

PRP (Platelet Rich Plasma)

Blood is made of red blood cells, white blood cells, plasma and platelets. We know that when activated in the body, platelets also release healing proteins called growth factors that stimulate repair. The PRP therapy procedure takes a small amount of your blood and spins it in a centrifuge to separate and then concentrate the platelets. There are platelet rich plasma and platelet poor plasma. We then take the platelet rich plasma and inject it back into the injured site. We use ultrasound guidance to make sure we are injecting the PRP into the correct location. This ensures positive outcomes. Many high-profile athletes such as pro golfer Tiger Woods have received PRP injections. These injections help heal an injury and are increasingly being used to treat sports injuries and to help wounds heal following surgery. PRP injections are used to treat torn tendons, tendinitis, muscle injuries, arthritis related pain, and joint injuries.

Prolotherapy

Prolotherapy is short for proliferative therapy. It is a non-invasive treatment that involves the injection of a solution into a weak or damaged area of the body in order to regenerate and repair tissue. Prolotherapy uses the same physical process as PRP to initiate and accelerate the body’s response to healing. A small amount of a solution — often dextrose, lidocaine (local anesthetic), and sterile water mixture — is injected near painful or damaged ligaments, tendons, or joints. These benign substances promote healing, which is initiated by the body. The complete in office process will take approximately 1–2 hours, depending on the condition that’s being treated.

Stem Cell Therapy for Pain and More

You have heard about stem cells in the news, and perhaps you have wondered if they might help you or a loved one with a serious disease. You may wonder what stem cells are, how they’re being used to treat disease and injury, and why they’re the subject of such vigorous debate. Stem cells and derived products offer great promise for new medical treatments. There is much you can learn about stem cell types, current and possible uses, ethical issues, and the state of research and practice. Stem cell therapy, also known as regenerative medicine, promotes the repair response of diseased, dysfunctional or injured tissue using stem cells or their derivatives. It is the next chapter in organ transplantation and uses cells instead of donor organs, which are limited in supply. Researchers grow stem cells in a lab. These stem cells are manipulated to specialize into specific types of cells, such as heart muscle cells, blood cells or nerve cells. The specialized cells can then be implanted into a person. For example, if the person has heart disease, the cells could be injected into the heart muscle. The healthy transplanted heart muscle cells could then contribute to repairing defective heart muscle. Researchers have already shown that adult bone marrow cells guided to become heart-like cells can repair heart tissue in people, and research is ongoing.

Is Stem Cell Therapy Safe?

Approved stem cell therapies are safe and better the lives of many who use them. While stem cell therapy is a relatively new practice, the clinics that adhere to the regulatory guidelines put in place by the FDA ensure a patient’s safety. For a more in-depth analysis of the diseases treated with stem cell therapy, visit https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7367472/ for more information.