How Regenerative Medicine Can Help Damaged Knees

You might suffer from knee pain due to the strain of everyday activities, sports injuries, or accidents. Regardless of the cause, knee pain often worsens over time and can become so debilitating that walking or standing becomes painful. Here we will discuss how regenerative medicine can help damaged knees.

Where Does Knee Damage Occur?

Knee damage can result from continuous stress on the joint or from an injury. Overuse due to certain activities can cause tendinitis (inflammation in the tendons). Excess pressure or stress on the joint can lead to osteoarthritis, a condition in which the joint’s cartilage wears away. 

Injuries that can damage the knee include sprained ligaments, strained muscles, or torn cartilage. Any injury to the knee can cause pain, swelling, stiffness, and difficulty walking. If you experience repeated knee injuries, you may be more likely to develop osteoarthritis.

What Is Regenerative Medicine?

Regenerative medicine, also known as stem cell therapy, harnesses the unique qualities of stem cells to repair and restore damaged tissue in the body. 

Some cells in the body, like skin cells, constantly divide to create new cells, a process called mitosis. When those cells divide, they make two new, identical cells called daughter cells. Other cells in the body, such as neurons or certain heart cells, never divide at all. 

Stem cells stand out as the only cells in the body capable of dividing to create various specialized cells, a process called differentiating. Since many specialized cells do not divide, stem cells are essential to the body’s health. 

During stem cell therapy, stem cells are extracted from a patient’s bone marrow or body fat. They are then administered into injured areas, triggering tissue to repair and restore itself. The ability of stem cells to divide into other types of cells gives them impressive healing abilities.

How Can Stem Cell Therapy Help Repair Damaged Knees?

Currently, physicians are using stem cell therapy to promote healing in knee injuries, injecting the cells into damaged joints to accelerate the body’s repair process and foster a complete recovery.

Patients with osteoarthritis experience most of their pain due to a lack of cartilage. Irritation and inflammation can occur when the bones, muscles, and other joint tissues move without the cushioning effects of cartilage. 

Stem cell treatments protect and heal the joint tissue affected by cartilage loss, keeping them from further affecting mobility and creating new knee issues, such as bone spurs. 

Many patients are exploring the options of regenerative medicine to help manage their pain and inflammation, and in some cases, rebuild and repair damaged tissues. Find out how this new alternative medicine may help you. To learn more about how regenerative medicine can help damaged knees, contact a care coordinator at Stemedix today!