Regenerative therapy is an exciting and revolutionary field of orthopedics, and Performance Orthopedics is the forefront of advanced bio-cellular grafts (stem cells, PRP, and more) in the United States.
What is Regenerative Medicine?
The use of your own body’s tissue to help heal injury and disease is known as regenerative medicine. Bio-cellular grafts are made from your own cells, which are typically harvested from bone marrow or fat tissue. Depending on your age, health, and condition, you may be a candidate for stem cell therapy, PRP therapy, prolotherapy, or a combination of these therapies.
What Does Regenerative Medicine Treat?
With years of experience and expertise in this field, our providers enjoy a high success rate in healing bone, muscle, joint, soft tissue, and nerve injuries with regenerative procedures. Our therapies meet the needs of patients who still have pain after traditional treatments like physical therapy, rest, NSAIDs, pain management, and/or surgery have failed.
Regenerative therapy offers the following benefits:
- Increased healing potential
- Decreased pain
- Increased function
- Quicker recovery time
- Decreased time away from sport or daily activities
Most individuals can return to their normal activities after 72 hours. The length of time it takes to return to sports is dependent on the patient and site of injury, but averages two weeks.
Am I a Candidate for Regenerative Therapy?
Although not all patients are candidates for regenerative therapy, we offer initial consultations, including a discussion of our success rates, to help determine whether a patient will have the desired outcome.
If you have cancer, an infection, lymphoma, or take certain blood thinning medication this treatment may not be suitable for you. If you are on certain blood thinning medications we will need a note from your physician allowing you to stop those medications for three days prior to the procedure.
To find out if you are a candidate for regenerative therapy, request an appointment online or call the office you wish to visit.
Regenerative Orthopedics
Orthopedic injuries and arthritis can cause disability, keeping you from doing what you need to do on a daily basis, whether it’s work, sports, or getting around town. You need some kind of treatment to prevent further injury and restore function.
Allowing the body to heal itself can take a long time. Regenerative orthopedics uses cutting-edge technology to stimulate and accelerate the healing process. Depending on your age, health, and severity of your condition, we can offer you stem cell therapy, platelet-rich plasma therapy, and prolotherapy.
Most individuals can return to their normal activities 72 hours after treatment. For sports, you may need 2 weeks of rest before returning to the game.
Even if you have been told you have “bone-on-bone” arthritis, our stem cell treatments often help to prevent you from having to undergo total joint replacement surgery or joint fusion. We cannot “cure” arthritis, but we can improve pain and function tremendously for years; success depends upon the site and severity. The doctor will discuss your potential at your initial visit. Call now to schedule.
Treated Conditions – Many common conditions can be treated with regenerative orthopedics:
- Osteoarthritis (or degenerative arthritis) of any joint: shoulder, knee, hip, ankle, elbow, wrist, finger, and thumb
- Lower back pain
- Lumbar disc disease
- Tendonitis and tendon injuries
- Rotator cuff tears/injuries
- Ligament injuries
- Strains and sprains
- Peripheral nerve injuries
- Plantar fasciitis
- Partial tendon or ligament tears
- Anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injuries
- Tennis elbow
- Golfer’s elbow
- Tendonitis
- Shin splints
- Joint injuries such as ankle sprains and knee sprains
Types of Stem Cells Used
The type of stem cells that are associated with tissue repair are called mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs). In orthopedics, two main types of MSCs are used: bone marrow stem cells and adipose (fat) stem cells.
Bone marrow stem cells, which are commonly used for bone and cartilage repair, are taken with a needle in the hip/pelvic area and concentrated in an FDA-approved device. Fat stem cells are obtained via mini-liposuction but are not concentrated. Some patients find these procedures painless, while others may feel discomfort. Oral sedation can be provided upon request. The stem cells are injected into the area of pain or injury in conjunction with platelet rich plasma for added benefit.
Three Phases of Healing
Following regenerative therapy, there are three phases of healing that naturally occur:
Inflammatory phase: Platelet activation sets off the body’s response to heal the damaged tissue. This phase will last 2-5 days from the time of treatment. You may experience an acute flare-up of pain and possible swelling at the site(s) treated.
Proliferative phase: Begins after the inflammatory phase ends and will last 4-6 weeks from the time of injection. Fibroblasts enter the site and break down damaged tissue to make the wound or injured tissue smaller. This phase is mandatory for musculoskeletal healing.
Remodeling phase: Begins after the proliferative phase ends and can take up to one year. During this phase the collagen matures and strengthens to complete tissue repair.
Natural Healing for Orthopedic Conditions
Regenerative orthopedics is a special type of treatment available at Performance Orthopedics in which we focus on natural healing rather than fixing things manually via surgery. As board-certified orthopedic doctors, we recognize the body’s natural ability to heal from an injury or wound. We also know that surgery is not always the best option for every patient. Sometimes, the right thing to do is to let the body heal itself.
