At Pain Doctors Mexico, regenerative medicine uses biologic treatments to improve symptoms of certain orthopedic conditions and has the potential to enhance healing in musculoskeletal tissues.
Regenerative medicine therapies, also sometimes called orthobiologics, use biological tissues found in the human body, such as blood, fat or bone marrow.
In most cases, this type of biologic treatment is created using the patient’s own tissue to treat an injury. (This is called “autologous” regenerative medicine.) These therapies are generally safe for patients, since they are derived from the patient’s own cells.
What is orthopedic regenerative medicine used for?
Regenerative orthopedics may improve pain and discomfort of the musculoskeletal system and enhance the healing of orthopedic conditions, such as injuries of a tendon, ligament, bone, muscle, spinal disc, meniscus of the knee, cartilage or other musculoskeletal tissue.
Regenerative medicine may help some patients avoid orthopedic surgery completely. Conditions commonly treated with regenerative medicine include:
- Osteoarthritis and joint pain
- Tendonitis and tendinosis
- Degenerative disc disease in the spine
- Intervertebral disc tears
- Fractures (broken bones) that are not healing correctly
- Cartilage injuries
- Muscle strain injuries in athletes
- Meniscus tears
- Labral tears (torn hip labrum or torn shoulder labrum)
- Ligament sprains or tears (such as ACL tears or MCL tears of the knee)
- Partial tendon tears
- Nerve inflammation
- Plantar fasciitis
Regenerative medicine may also help shorten and improve the healing process following orthopedic surgeries, such as ACL reconstruction or other ligament surgeries, and meniscus repair.
How does regenerative medicine work?
Samples of a person’s own body tissue (or, sometimes, tissue donated by another person) are collected and concentrated to produce a solution that is then injected into the patient.
Some evidence suggests that these prepared concentrates contain not only cells that signal or “call” other cells to gather at the site of injury to assist with healing, but also many proteins and molecules that alleviate the inflammation process and pain symptoms.
What are the different types of regenerative medicine?
Regenerative medicine therapies include:
Platelet-rich plasma (PRP) injections
Cell-based treatments such as:
- Bone marrow therapy
- Cell therapy
Platelet-rich plasma (PRP) treatment
PRP is produced from a small sample of a person’s own blood. The blood is centrifuged (spun down) to isolate and concentrate platelets, which are the blood cells that assist in natural tissue healing processes. These platelets, along with a fluid portion of blood called plasma, are then injected back into the person at the site of their injury.
The injection contains a number of proteins that can potentially decrease inflammation, reduce pain and improve tissue healing. PRP has been used for many soft-tissue injuries, including those in ligaments, tendons, knee menisci, cartilage and muscle.
As with all autologous regenerative medicine, PRP is generally safe, since it is a therapy derived from the patient’s own blood.
Who should get regenerative medicine treatment?
This is dependent on both each individual patient and their particular condition. In order to assess whether you are a good candidate for a regenerative medicine procedure, you will need to visit a physician who will evaluate your symptoms, medical history and current condition.
What is the recovery time for regenerative medicine?
Most patients are able to resume normal daily activities within two to three days after treatment and are usually able to resume exercise a few weeks after treatment. However, every case is different.
