Regenerative medicine, also known as stem cell therapy, uses the body’s natural healing response to promote tissue regeneration and repair. While the field is still developing, its benefits span many applications, from treating chronic illnesses to restoring function after sports injuries.
The most common treatments in regenerative medicine are stem cell therapy and platelet-rich plasma (PRP). Both methodologies start with the patients’ cells, genuinely capitalizing on self-healing and offering surprising benefits.
Alleviating Chronic Pain
Stem cell and PRP therapy introduce healing cells into damaged areas. Those cells can reduce inflammation, build new tissue, and prevent scar tissue from forming.
Patients might see the most benefits from using these therapies to alleviate pain from soft tissue injuries, including sprained ligaments, torn tendons, and strained muscles. In addition, new research shows promise for the treatment of degenerative conditions, such as osteoarthritis and degenerative disc disease.
Reduce the Use of Long-Term Medications
Traditional medical solutions for injuries or chronic pain include pain relievers or corticosteroid injections. Unfortunately, prolonged or excessive use of some medications harms your overall health.
Additionally, corticosteroid injections can cause more damage to your cartilage, tendons, nerves, and joints, despite temporarily alleviating pain symptoms.
Regenerative medicine treatments aim to heal the underlying cause of pain, not temporarily mask symptoms, reducing patients’ reliance on medications for relief.
Improve Healing Speed
Specific tissues and injuries take longer to heal than others. For example, the body’s healing process slows with age, lengthening the recovery period even for minor injuries. In addition, more severe injuries often take longer to heal.
Generally, slow-healing injuries are those that affect tissues with little blood supply, such as tendons or cartilage. Since platelets and stem cells travel through the blood to promote healing, injuries to these tissues take longer to recover.
Supplying damaged tissue with an extra boost of growth factors through PRP or stem cell therapy can help speed up the healing process.
Low Risk of Side Effects
When possible, regenerative treatment start with the patient’s own healing cells. As the treatment comes from the patient, there is little risk of rejection, infection, scarring, or heavy bleeding.
Overall Resilience and Strengthening
The effects of regenerative medicine can support long-term health and resilience. These treatments can potentially continue to strengthen the treated area even after healing as the tissues become more resilient and robust.
Regenerative medicine offers versatile, minimally invasive options to restore damaged tissue for more comprehensive healing. As science continues to develop these treatments, many patients are already enjoying the benefits of regenerative medicine. To learn more about the benefits of regenerative medicine, contact us today!
St. Petersburg, Florida
