Once you recover from an initial pain from an injury, dealing with the lengthy recovery time required before you can fully resume your regular activities can become challenging. Regenerative medicine may be able to offer faster, more complete healing to help restore function after an injury and have you back on your feet more quickly.
What Is Regenerative Medicine?
Regenerative medicine is an emerging field of care that focuses on amplifying the body’s natural healing abilities to restore damaged or diseased cells and tissues. Treatments such as stem cell therapy and platelet-rich plasma offer a minimally invasive way to expedite healing after an injury.
Stem Cell Therapy
Stem cells lie dormant in the body until there is a need to replace or repair specialized cells. Stem cells can divide infinitely and have the unique capability to differentiate or separate to create specialized cells, such as brain cells or muscle cells.
For example, if you tear a ligament in your knee, stem cells have the capability to differentiate into the cells necessary to repair your injured ligament. Stem cell therapy introduces a high concentration of those cells into the area, accelerating the healing process.
Platelet-Rich Plasma (PRP)
The platelets in your blood serve as the body’s first responders when you experience a wound. While it’s common knowledge that platelets provide necessary clotting to stop you from losing excessive blood from a small cut, they also contain critical growth factors, proteins, and bioactive lipids that foster repair and recovery.
Platelet-rich plasma (PRP) comes from your blood. After a standard blood draw, the sample goes into a centrifuge, where it is separated into PRP, platelet-poor plasma, and red and white blood cells. A physician then can administer the PRP into the injury site to stimulate the healing process and enhance its outcome.
What Conditions Can Benefit from Regenerative Medicine?
Regenerative medicine can help manage a wide range of painful or slow-healing conditions, including:
- Sprains and strains
- Tendinitis
- Pulled muscles
- ACL tears
- Fractures
- Rotator cuff injuries
- Fractures
- Meniscus tears
Additionally, many sports medicine physicians offer regenerative medicine treatments to speed up surgery recovery or slow the progression of degenerative conditions.
Regenerative medicine provides an option to explore that may potentially allow you to quickly return to normal activities while amplifying your body’s healing process. For those who struggle to slow down as they recuperate, regenerative medicine offers a beneficial solution for a faster, more comprehensive recovery.
St. Petersburg, Florida
