Are My Tissues Healing Properly After My Injury?

by Matson Huff | Aug 22, 2022 | Athletic Injury, Regenerative Medicine, Stem Cell Therapy

When you first suffer from an injury, you focus on assessing damage and dealing with pain. As you start to recover, you may focus on when you can resume your everyday life. Fully recovering from an injury can take substantial time. That timeline lengthens if your tissues aren’t healing properly. A very common question we get is ” Are my tissues healing properly after my injury? “. Here we will discuss injury recovery and what you should expect.

What Should I Expect from Recovery?

Injury recovery has four main stages. These stages often overlap, so multiple parts of the recovery process occur at once. 

Stage 1: Bleeding

Internal soft tissues bleed from an injury just like a cut to the skin causes bleeding. Since muscles receive a steady blood supply, muscle injuries tend to bleed more, causing larger, deeper bruising. Other tissues, like ligaments, don’t receive as much blood, so they tend to bleed and bruise less.

At the bleeding stage, a patient’s job is to rest and allow the bleeding to stop. Rest is particularly critical in the first hours after an injury.

Stage 2: Swelling

The area will begin to swell within one to two hours after an injury. Swelling and inflammation are part of the body’s healing response and serve to protect the injured area. While most swelling peaks within three days of an injury, it can persist for a few weeks as you recover.

Stage 3: Scar Tissue

The body starts developing scar tissue within one to two days of experiencing an injury, and this process continues for up to four to six months. Therefore, it’s essential to move and gradually incorporate pain-free, low-impact exercise at this time so your new scar tissue can build with strength and flexibility.

Stage 4: Remodeling or Maturation 

The remodeling phase is the longest and final stage of wound recovery, beginning around three weeks after the injury and continuing for up to two years. At this time, collagen synthesis strengthens the surrounding tissue, and the fibers reorganize to reform the injured area. 

An injury tends to result in tissues about 80% as strong as uninjured tissue. 

How Long Should My Recovery Take?

The length of time an injury takes to heal depends on the injury’s severity, the patient’s age, the type of injury, and several other factors. The time frame for a specific injury to heal is broken out here:

• Broken Bones: Six weeks to three months
• Cartilage: Twelve weeks or longer
• Muscle Injury or Strains: A few weeks to six months
• Tendons: Four to six weeks
• Ligaments: Three weeks to eight months

Regenerative medicine, also known as stem cell therapy, can help facilitate the healing process for specific injuries. Other options, for example, therapies such as Platelet Rich Plasma (PRP) and Peptides can also be used if you’re concerned about the length of time an injury takes to heal. If you are asking yourself ” Are my tissues healing properly after my injury” or you would like to learn more about the treatment options we have here at Stemedix, contact us today!

Stem Cell Knee Injections: What to Expect

by Matson Huff | Jun 27, 2022 | Athletic Injury, Regenerative Medicine, Stem Cell Therapy

Stem cells are gaining more acceptance as a form of regenerative medicine, thanks to the promising results seen in laboratory settings. That’s why an increasing number of people are turning to regenerative medicine and stem cells as a way to manage their knee pain.  Keep reading to learn what stem cell knee injections are and how they can help alleviate joint pain. 

What Are Stem Cells and Stem Cell Knee Injections?

Your body is made up of many different types of specialized cells that perform very specific tasks. These cell types include skin cells, neurons, and smooth muscle cells. 

Stem cells are undifferentiated cells, meaning they don’t have a specific purpose or function. Instead, they have the ability to become several different types of cells depending on their surroundings. 

Stem cell injections use a small number of stem cells harvested from your own body. They deliver these cells to injured, inflamed, or degenerating areas, such as the knees. When administered into injured areas, stem cells are sort of like a blank canvas for your body to use however it needs. 

Stem cell knee therapy is typically used due to their potential to help replace damaged tissues that was caused by injury or normal wear and tear.

Who Are They Right for?

Stem cells are ideal for people living with chronic knee pain due to osteoarthritis or injury. Former athletes with lingering knee problems could benefit from these injections. 

What to Expect at Your Appointment? 

When you go for a stem cell injection appointment, the injection itself doesn’t take more than a few minutes. But the stem cells have to be harvested and the injection prepared before it can be administered. More common options are stem cells derived from adipose (fat) tissue or bone marrow aspirate.

The entire process takes two to three hours, depending on the type of procedure, with minimal recovery time. Once you receive the therapy, you may leave with following post-treatment protocols from your physician.

When Can You Expect to See Results From Stem Cell Knee Injections?

Results are not immediate, but you may see a gradual improvement in the weeks after your treatment. It could take initially six to eight weeks before you know whether the injected stem cells have improved your symptoms. A single injection can help manage pain for six months to more than a year, but subsequent injections may be recommended by your provider. 

Depending on several personal factors, including the condition you’re managing, you may benefit from an injection every six months, once a year, or every two years. If you would like to learn more about stem cell knee injections, contact us today!