Can Regenerative Medicine Help You Avoid Joint Replacement Surgery and Actually Heal You?

When you’re suffering the physical and psychological effects from chronic pain in places like your shoulders and knees, surgery might seem like your only option for lasting relief. However, there have been major strides in minimally-invasive regenerative injection therapy. 

Treatments such as platelet-rich plasma (PRP) therapy and stem cell therapy have been able to reduce pain and inflammation and revive tissues like muscles and tendons for true healing from the inside out. This empowers patients, giving them the ability to forgo expensive, invasive, often painful surgeries, as well as the associated recovery time and potential loss of income while you’re off work.

Regenerative Injection Therapy: Improve Your Odds of Avoiding Joint Replacement Surgery!

Total joint arthroplasty (TJA) / replacement surgery certainly has its time and place, and the number of total joint arthroplasties performed in the US annually is rising every year. In fact, there is a 400% to nearly 700% anticipated increase in TJAs by the year 2030. Some of those may be avoidable, or at the very least delayed through the help of generative injection therapy. 

According to The Regenerative Stem Cell Institute, studies show that regenerative injections like stem cell therapy can reduce pain and eliminate the need for knee replacement. Board-certified orthopedic surgeon, Dr. Sean Hassinger says that whenever possible, he treats patients with regenerative injections before recommending joint replacement.

“The future of joint repair is really already here. With cutting-edge regenerative medicine, we are helping many patients suffering from arthritis, osteoarthritis, rheumatoid arthritis, and other very painful conditions to delay or altogether prevent joint replacements. Their quality of life dramatically improves after injections without the reduced mobility, recovery therapies, pain, and downtime after a surgical procedure,” says Dr. Hassinger. 

What Regenerative Injections Are Available?

There are two big players in regenerative injections: platelet-rich plasma (PRP) and stem cells. Scientists have been studying these therapies for quite some time and have made major advancements in helping people heal and repair many issues like orthopedic injuries, cells damaged from chemotherapy, blood disorders, and much more. 

The best part about using PRP and stem cells therapies for tissue regeneration in orthopedic injury is that you can harvest everything you need from your body. That’s because you can find stem cells and platelet-rich plasma in your blood.

Stem Cell Injections

Stem cell therapy is considered a non-invasive treatment. It can be injected locally into a treated area or given intravenously. It’s designed to heal and repair damaged cells in order to treat orthopedic concerns, as well as a lot of other conditions like autoimmune diseases and neurological issues. Stem cells are especially efficient at decreasing inflammatory conditions caused by ailments like arthritis.

Stem cells are the building blocks of all living tissue. Scientists have been studying stem cells for quite some time, and they have always been seen as an effective way to treat injuries. They were first used in a bone marrow transplant performed in1958 on five French workers who had been seriously injured in an accident. Each of the patients survived, and now stem cell therapy is used to heal a variety of ailments.   

Doctors harvest stem cells in three ways: through your own blood or bone marrow (autologous), or through cord blood from a newborn baby. The most common way is through your blood, which is virtually pain free. You are given a special medication for around four days that dramatically increases your stem cell production. Your provider then draws your blood to make sure you have enough stem cells, and then extracts them by passing your blood through a filter. This filtered blood is then returned back to your body safely. The entire process takes about three hours, but you might need to return for another session the next day. When a doctor extracts stem cells from bone marrow with a syringe, they typically withdraw from a place like your hip.

Stem cells can transform themselves into other cells in your body, which is especially useful for regenerating damaged tissue. You can relieve swelling, pain, and inflammation with stem cells when they are turned into regenerative injectables. Downtime after stem cell injections is minimal, too. The entire procedure is done in just a few hours, you can comfortably walk out of the clinic, and finally experience pain relief in the treated area in a little as two weeks.

PRP Injections

When you have an injury, like a scrape on the knee or a papercut, your body sends blood platelets to the area to help heal it. PRP uses the clotting and healing ability found in your blood. It contains growth factors that are critical for healing damaged tissue like muscles, tendons, and your skin. PRP injections require no downtime afterward, and most people see results in only a couple of weeks.

PRP therapy has been used to address illness and injury since the 1970s. It was originally created by scientists to help treat thrombocytopenia, which is when your body can’t make enough blood platelets. Since then, PRP and PRP plus fibrin have been shown to treat musculoskeletal injuries, regenerate tissue, and even restore hair loss.

Getting the platelet-rich plasma for PRP therapy is very easy. All it takes is a simple blood draw. Your provider then spins your blood down into its separate parts and extracts the plasma. This plasma is then ultra-purified and reinjected into the treated area. The entire procedure only takes about thirty minutes from start to finish. The risks of using PRP therapy are extremely low, because it typically comes from your own blood.

When you have PRP therapy in places like your knees, shoulders, or elbows, you might experience a little swelling and discomfort. Injections in your tendons and muscles tend to be a little more painful, but are easily managed by pain medications and normally disappear within about three days.

When Surgery Is Unavoidable, Stem Cell and PRP Injections Can Help You Experience Improved Outcomes and a Better Recovery!

Sometimes, you just can’t avoid joint replacement surgery. However, you can delay it or speed up your recovery with regenerative injections. Both PRP and stem cell therapy are made to help heal and repair treated areas no matter what shape they are in. That’s what makes these two therapies so incredible. 

Even better, regenerative injections can reduce pain and inflammation. This leads to less dependence on pain medication after surgery, and more time spent getting back to your favorite activities. Talk to your provider about which therapy is right in combination with your specific surgical procedure.

Don’t Just Deal With Joint Pain, Let DOC Help Determine Which Regenerative Therapy Is Right for You!

Here at Direct Orthopedic Care (DOC), all of our providers are experts in stem cell and PRP injections. We always use the latest, state-of-the art surgical techniques, including the cutting-edge Mako robotic-arm assisted technology. To sign up for a free seminar on regenerative medicine or if you want to learn how PRP and stem cell therapy can help you, contact us at 855-921-0799 today! For more information on the cost of care, click here.