From your first step in the morning until your last at night, your joints are hard at work propelling you through life. Given their workload, it’s hardly surprising that joint injuries develop, whether acute or as a result of repeated stress. And once an injury takes hold, your goal is to regain pain-free movement as quickly as possible, which is where regenerative therapies are making their mark.
At Commonwealth Musculoskeletal Medicine in Louisville, Kentucky, Dr. Mark Conliffe understands the far-reaching implications that a joint injury can have, limiting your life in significant ways. With the goal of getting you back to your active lifestyle as quickly and safely as possible, we offer innovative regenerative therapies that rely on the human body’s amazing resources to help you repair and rebuild from within.
Here’s a look at how our stem cell and platelet procedures are changing the way we remedy joint injuries.
Regenerative therapies, such as stem cell and platelet-rich plasma (PRP) injections, have been in use in orthopedic circles for quite some time now as a way to boost your body’s natural ability to heal and repair itself.
As a growing science, however, not all regenerative therapies are created equal. While we’ve long understood the potential of certain resources, such as stem cells and platelets, figuring out how to best tap this potential has been the primary mission.
In our own research, we quickly realized that the source of these regenerative therapies makes a significant difference in the outcome, which is why we’ve chosen to use the orthobiologic services of Regenexx®, a world leader in regenerative medicine.
The stem cells processed by Regenexx come from three different sources, including:
The mesenchymal stem cells found in bone marrow are widely recognized for their ability to help with joint injuries because these stem cells can help rebuild your bone, cartilage, muscle, tendons, and ligaments. Where the Regenexx technique excels is that after we harvest the stem cells from your own bone marrow, the lab can derive 5-20 times more stem cells per unit volume than in-office procedures.
These stem cells are designed for more severe joint injuries as Regenexx Cayman’s advanced laboratory techniques can yield up to 1,000 times more stem cells.
These stem cells, which are found in your adipose tissue (fat), are less potent, but they can still play a role in healing your joint injury when we use them to support our other treatments.
Once we decide which stem cells are best for your unique situation, we have the expertise necessary to ensure that these stem cells get to where they need to go to do the most good. In other words, when addressing a joint injury, placement of these regenerative resources matters a great deal.
The platelets in your blood contain powerful growth factors that aid in rebuilding and repairing damaged tissue. Traditionally, these platelets are derived from your own blood and concentrated in a bedside centrifuge. Through Regenexx, we can take your platelets and create a concentrate that’s 3-5 times more powerful than this technique, giving your joint injury the tools it needs to heal more quickly and strongly.
If you’d like to learn more about how our stem cell and platelet therapies are helping our patients regain pain-free movement after a joint injury, please contact our office in Louisville, Kentucky, to set up a consultation.
