What Conditions Can Be Treated with Regenerative Medicine?

What Conditions Can Be Treated with Regenerative Medicine?

Regenerative treatments use the body’s own unique healing properties to alleviate painful orthopedic conditions and address the underlying cause of the pain.

Regenerative medicine has the potential to repair or replace tissues damaged by age, disease or trauma. It can be used to treat a number of orthopedic conditions including the following:

  • Bursitis
  • Carpal Tunnel Syndrome
  • Disc Degeneration and Tears
  • Golfer’s Elbow and Tennis Elbow
  • Herniated Discs
  • Osteoarthritis of the knees, hips, back, shoulders and neck
  • Plantar Fasciitis
  • Tendon Tears and Tendinitis

How Do Regenerative Treatments Work?

The body is a finely tuned machine.  Like any piece of machinery, it will send a signal when  something is not working correctly.  When a gasket fails on an engine and leaks oil, this leak is a signal that there is a problem. In the same way, when a body part fails, the body sends a signal to indicate there is a problem.  Typically, it does this through the sensation of pain.

Regenerative treatments use the patient’s own cells in the form of platelet rich plasma or healing cells derived from fat tissue or bone marrow, to heal the underlying cause of the pain. These cellular products are referred to as Orthobiologics.

How Do Orthobiologics Work?

  • Platelet Rich Plasma: Platelets in the patient’s own blood release growth factors and proteins that promote tissue repair, while the plasma carries the hormones, electrolytes and nutrients required to nourish cells during the healing process.
  • Cell Based Therapies: Healing cells taken from the patient’s own fat tissue (adipose) or bone marrow contain adult stem cells that have the unique ability to develop into the specific kind of cell needed by the body. They possess molecules that direct other cells in the injured area to form new blood vessels, awaken more stem cells and encourage production of proteins and other materials essential for creating new healthy tissues.
  • Prolotherapy (Proliferative Therapy): Natural medications that help the body jump-start its own natural healing response are injected into the injured area.

Minimally Invasive Pain Relief for Orthopedic Conditions

Orthobiologic regenerative treatments are performed on an out-patient basis and do not require hospitalization or lengthy rehabilitation. The healing cells are obtained from the patient through a needle or small cannula and are returned to the injured site on the same day.

Experienced, reputable practitioners of regenerative medicine follow the U.S Food and Drug Administration (FDA) guidelines for the performance of these procedures and follow strict protocols to ensure safety and efficacy. Patients considering regenerative treatments should seek the expertise of board certified-physicians who are specialized in diagnosing and treating orthopedic conditions.  They have the regenerative medicine skills and experience necessary to promote safety, comfort and a successful outcome.

Drs. Christopher J. Rogers and Mary A. Ambach of San Diego Orthobiologics Medical Group together have successfully treated thousands of patients with cell-based therapies for more than three decades. They are board-certified in Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation. As published authors and stem cell researchers, they were chosen to participate in a first of its kind, FDA-approved clinical trial to treat knee osteoarthritis. The SDOMG facility in Carlsbad contains the most advanced Regenerative Medicine technology in San Diego and offers same day treatments with the highest level of safety, efficacy and patient satisfaction.

Now You Can Help Your Body Heal Itself

Now You Can Help Your Body Heal Itself

Regenerative medicine represents a complete breakthrough in modern medicine.  The body’s ability to heal itself naturally is actually not a new thing.  A fractured bone will regrow and heal the break.  Cut yourself shaving, and the skin will heal.  There are many examples of our body’s innate ability to heal injuries.

Now modern science and technology are now enabling physicians to help their patients discover new ways in which the body can heal itself.  Within the specialty of orthopedics, regenerative medicine is offering healing and pain relief to patients who suffer from conditions such as osteoarthritis, herniated discs or ligaments and tendons injuries. 

Orthobiologics Can Boost the Body’s Own Natural Healing Abilities

Orthobiologics are cells and substances derived from cells that are naturally found in your body. By concentrating them and delivering them to the site of injury, they can help speed up the healing process.

Here’s how it works:

When you injure a bone, muscle or tendon, the platelet cells in the blood are the first responders arriving on the scene to quickly start healing. White blood cells also rush to the injury site to ward off infection, control inflammation and become the clean-up crew [i].  Other important cells like stem cells participate in this complex symphony of repair.  Specialists in orthopedic regenerative medicine can now boost these natural processes through several specialized treatments that help maximize the body’s own innate healing capabilities.

Regenerative Treatments for Orthopedic Conditions

There are different orthobiologic treatments that your regenerative medicine specialist can recommend depending on your orthopedic condition:

·  Platelet Rich Plasma puts the healing properties of the patient’s own blood to work to repair damaged joints, tendons and muscles. The platelets in the blood release growth factors and proteins that promote tissue repair, while the plasma carries the hormones, electrolytes and nutrients required to nourish cells during the healing process.  PRP treatments are customized to the particular individual and their injury in order to be most effective.

·  Cell based therapies use cells derived from the patient’s own bone marrow or adipose (fat) tissue. These cells include adult stem cells and many other healing cells. They produce molecules that direct neighboring cells in the area to form new blood vessels, decrease inflammation and encourage formation of new healthy tissues.  Stem cells are special cells that have the unique ability to develop into the specific kind of cell needed, whether that be a tendon, ligament, cartilage or bone cell. Skilled regenerative medicine practitioners use highly specialized processes to prepare these cells that are then delivered directly to the injured area to stimulate healing.

·   Prolotherapy (Proliferative Therapy) uses dextrose and other natural substances that are injected into a chronically injured ligament, tendon, nerves or joint in order to help the body jump-start its own natural healing response.

Beware of Imposters

As regenerative treatments have become more widely recognized for their ability to address  orthopedic conditions and the chronic pain associated with it, more and more clinics are trying to get in on the action.

If you are considering regenerative treatments for pain related to osteoarthritis, tennis elbow, degenerative discs in the spine or other conditions, you should perform due diligence on the clinic that offers it.  The source, processing and delivery of the regenerative materials are critical to the success of the treatment.

Currently, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) does not allow the use of stem cells derived from birth tissue products (amniotic fluid and tissue, umbilical cord blood) to treat orthopedic conditions because these donor products have not been proven to be safe or effective.  Our board-certified specialists only use your own cells (autologous) to treat orthopedic conditions.

Maximizing the effectiveness of these treatments requires a state-of-the-art facility and equipment, as well as knowledge and experience in fluoroscopic (x-ray) or ultrasound guidance to ensure targeted delivery of the healing cells to the injured area.

Orthobiologic treatments that capitalize on the body’s own natural healing abilities is one of the most exciting opportunities in modern medicine to address and resolve the chronic pain associated with orthopedic conditions that affects millions of Americans.

Drs. Christopher J. Rogers and Mary A. Ambach of San Diego Orthobiologics Medical Group together have successfully treated thousands of patients with cell based therapies for more than three decades.  They are published authors and cell therapy researchers.  Their facility in Carlsbad contains the most advanced Regenerative Medicine technology in San Diego and offers same day treatments with the highest level of safety and efficacy.

[i] https://www.aarp.org/health/alternative-medicine/info-11-2008/super_healing.html

[ii] https://orthoinfo.aaos.org/en/treatment/helping-fractures-heal-orthobiologics/

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