COVID-19 has changed the world in a matter of months, but what does that mean for sports medicine? Providers are focusing more on prevention, both on keeping you healthy and away from sports injuries, and from preventing the spread of the virus.
Dealing with pain related to injury can be exhausting, especially when you’ve tried treatment after treatment with no relief. You might even have all but given up on getting your life back.
Don't lose hope! There may be an option for you after all. Regenerative medicine could be just the thing to get you back on your feet.
The physicians at Peninsula Orthopedic Associates offer two types of regenerative medicine: stem cell therapy and platelet-rich plasma, or PRP injections. Dr. Carri Jones, who specializes in regenerative medicine, can help you decide if one of these treatment options is a good choice for you.
Regenerative medicine is a form of treatment that uses your body’s own cells to stimulate healing in tissues, bones, and muscles. It comes in the form of stem cell therapy and platelet-rich plasma injections.
PRP contains a heavier concentration of growth factors than are typically found in your blood. This fortified PRP can help to regenerate and heal injured tissues, blood vessels, and nerve endings.
It works like this: Dr. Jones draws some of your blood and spins it in a specialized centrifuge, which separates the solid parts of the blood from the platelets. The platelets are injected in that concentrated form into your area of injury or pain.
Stem cell therapy is generally used for more extensive injury or degenerative disease of bones, tendons, muscles, and tissue. Stem cells are undifferentiated, which means they’re blank cells and can develop into anything your body needs. In the case of degenerative disease or injury, this means they can turn into bone, cartilage, muscle, or blood vessels.
PRP and stem cell therapy can take from several weeks to months before you start to feel relief. This is because the platelets and stem cells need time to begin the healing process in your body. There are also few side effects, because the plasma and stem cells come from your own body. This eliminates the need for the extensive safety testing that is done on external blood products.
When you’ve dealt with past chronic injuries or illnesses, you’ve probably tried multiple treatments without significant relief. These treatments may include:
This is where regenerative therapy can come in.
Among the great things about regenerative medicine is that it usually requires only one treatment to start the healing process. From the outset, these cells trigger the immune response to injury, which starts the cascade of healing at the site of your injury.
Another major benefit of regenerative medicine: It can effectively treat all kinds of conditions such as osteoarthritis, fractures, joint degeneration, tendon tears/sprains, and many other orthopedic conditions.
The clincher, however, in considering stem cell therapy and PRP vs. more drastic treatments such as surgery is that you get improved function, decreased pain, and tissue regeneration with just one injection. These injections can last years, and may even be a permanent fix for your condition.
If you’ve been dealing with chronic pain or injury and are ready to explore the option of regenerative medicine, call one of our four locations most convenient to you, or you can use our handy online booking feature. You can also send a message to the Peninsula Orthopedic Associates team here on our website.
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