How PRP or Cell Therapy Can Reduce Your Chronic Joint Pain
You’ve tried physical therapy, steroid injections, and anti-inflammatory medications. Maybe you even tried surgery in hopes of finding relief. But that nagging knee or shoulder pain that started years ago isn’t getting better – so what can you do? Regenerative medicine offers some promising new ways to treat chronic joint pain, including cell therapy and platelet-rich plasma (PRP) injections.
Who’s a Good Candidate for PRP Treatments?
Osteoarthritis is a degenerative joint disease that worsens over time, especially as we grow older. It breaks down the slippery cartilage that helps your knee and shoulder joints move effortlessly in all directions. Unfortunately, once that cartilage starts to erode, chronic pain is the result. Many people may prefer to seek alternative treatments to increase their mobility and ease pain without undergoing surgery. Mayo Clinic research indicates that 40%-70% of knee osteoarthritis patients find some level of pain relief with PRP treatments.
PRP treatments are all-natural and require nothing more from you than a simple blood draw. Your regenerative medicine doctor takes that blood and spins it in a centrifuge to separate liquid plasma from solid platelets. Then, they’ll concentrate as many platelets as possible into a tiny amount of plasma taken from your own body. Finally, the doctor injects this super-concentrated serum directly into your joints. This helps ease inflammation, accelerates localized tissue repairs and boosts healing beyond what your body can normally do without help. In fact, PRP treatments may help you regenerate degraded, torn, or damaged joint cartilage within just a few weeks!
In addition to accelerated joint healing, PRP treatments can improve your circulation, increase range of motion, and rebuild healthy tissue. Because it uses cells from your own blood, there’s zero chance your body will reject it. You don’t have to worry about side effects or allergic reactions, because it doesn’t contain any chemicals or artificial ingredients. However, you should plan to receive a series of PRP injections to achieve optimal pain relief and mobility results.
When Cell Therapy Makes More Sense
Stem cell therapy has been around a lot longer than most people realize. Bone marrow and cornea transplants are just two examples of cell therapy that started in the 1960s. Much like PRP treatments, cell therapy harnesses your body’s natural healing power. But it goes beyond that – cell therapy can potentially help regenerate damaged cartilage, tendons, ligaments, nerve tissue, and even bone.
Cell therapy is a minimally invasive procedure that starts when the doctor harvests your own stem cells under localized anesthetic. Your doctor may extract these cells from your bone marrow or a small piece of fat tissue. Your doctor then concentrates these stem cells and injects them directly into your pain site. So, why choose cell therapy over PRP? If you have a torn rotator cuff or tennis elbow, those areas are notoriously difficult to repair with surgery. When asked about torn elbow ligaments, one orthopedic surgeon told us “You cannot repair a hole by cutting another hole.”
Cell therapy may require a series of injections in and around the pain site. However, most patients report significantly less pain and improved mobility within 6-12 months. Cell therapy works especially well for patients with torn ligaments, herniated discs, tendonitis or are prone to excessive scarring. Think of it this way: Cell therapy is like a super-powered form of PRP treatments for those with more acute injuries and conditions. Ask your regenerative medicine provider which option works best for your condition. In some cases, your doctor may recommend combination therapy protocols in order to achieve optimal results.