Have you been experiencing knee pain? This pain can range from mild to severe daily discomfort that impedes your everyday life. Mobility is also affected for someone experiencing knee pain, furthering potential complications.
Typically, treatments would involve either intense medication or invasive surgery. However, now there are alternative treatment options that are non-surgical and noninvasive. Regenerative medicine may pose a solution to your knee pain. With this option, patients can experience relief and recovery without resorting to surgery.
Surgery VS Regenerative Medicine
There are a few negative drawbacks that come along with opting for surgery, including lengthy recovery time and risk of infection.
After such invasive procedures, the body is left with an increased risk of infection at the site of the procedure. Recovery time also plays a big role in opting for a surgery, as some patients can take 6 months to a year to fully recover from knee replacement.
With regenerative medicine, patients can see pain relief and repaired tissue almost immediately. Regenerative medicine evades the use of heavy medications or surgery, offering patients an alternative pathway for treatment. Our doctors typically prefer cellular therapy and platelet-rich plasma injections as effective regenerative medicine treatments.
Types of Regenerative Medicine
The two types of regenerative medicine treatments our doctors prefer are cellular therapy and platelet-rich plasma therapy. These effective treatment options utilize your body’s own naturally-occurring mechanisms to stimulate repair for damaged tissue.
Regenerative medicine therapies can treat a wide variety of knee pain conditions, including:
- Torn meniscus
- Tendonitis
- Osteoarthritis
- Runner’s knee
- Related injuries
- And more
Cellular therapy involves the use of mesenchymal cells extracted from the Wharton’s jelly of umbilical cord tissue. All umbilical cords used are donated from healthy, prescreened donors. This makes for a safe and ethical process for both the donor and the receiver.
These mesenchymal cells are injected into the receiving patient’s problem site – in this case, the knee. Because these cells have been collected from umbilical tissue, they are immune privileged. This means they have not yet developed an immune system, resulting in little-to-no risk that the receiving patient’s body will reject them. With these robust cells full of healing components and growth factors, the patient’s body can not only experience pain relief, but could also begin to heal damaged tissue. This option offers alternative, speedy recovery from knee pain.
Platelet-rich plasma (PRP) injections are another regenerative medicine option our doctors utilize for knee pain treatment. In this method, blood is extracted from the patient and spun in a centrifuge. The spinning causes platelet-rich plasma to separate from the rest of the blood. This plasma is abundant in growth factors and proteins that promote healing in the body. The PRP is injected back into the patient’s problem site. Since it is the patient’s own plasma, there is little-to-no risk of infection, and the body may begin the healing process. Patients should experience pain relief, and damaged tissue can begin to heal.
When it comes to treatment options, regenerative medicine offers a solution many patients can feel comfortable with. Rather than live a life merely coping with knee pain, you can find relief and recovery through regenerative medicine.
If you are interested in learning more about regenerative medicine treatment options for knee pain, contact us today at (210) 341-5591 to schedule a free consultation.