People suffering from chronic joint injuries may be good candidates for regenerative medicine — a category of treatment methodologies that harness the body’s own healing abilities rather than relying on medication.
“Regenerative medicine involves injecting your body’s cells back into your body to help proliferate new blood vessels that help heal chronic injuries,” explained Alex Behar, MD, a specialist in physical medicine, rehabilitation and sports medicine at Endeavor Health. “We’ve been doing regenerative medicine treatments for about 25 years.”
The oldest form of regenerative medicine is called prolotherapy, a treatment that injects dextrose — a highly concentrated sugar solution — into an area of the body to heal the tissue by jumpstarting the body’s natural healing process.
Dr. Behar highlights two newer regenerative treatments that harness the body’s self-healing power.
Platelet-rich plasma (PRP) injections
The next phase of regenerative medicine came with platelet-rich plasma (PRP) injections, which allow doctors to put cells from your own blood into an injured area of your body to heal the tissue. These injections mimic the body’s own healing process.
“When you sprain your ankle, it swells because a lot of blood goes to the area carrying cells and nutrients to heal the tissue,” explained Dr. Behar. “We concentrate those cells and inject them into a chronic injury to restart the inflammatory process and heal that area with your own body's ability.”
Dr. Behar said that while no treatment is always 100% effective, platelet-rich plasma injections are often a great treatment option for patients suffering from tendon and musculoskeletal injuries. The treatment is most commonly used for injuries like rotator cuff tears or tendonitis in the knees, shoulders and hips.
“Platelet-rich plasma is safe because it's your own blood,” said Behar. “It’s a safe modality for patients who want an alternative to medication for treating certain injuries.”
While platelet-rich plasma injections are available in pop-up clinics in strip malls across the country, Dr. Behar said it’s important to seek this treatment only at a doctor’s office. “It’s better to do it at a physician's office that utilizes ultrasound guidance to make sure they inject the treatment in the correct part of the injured area,” he said.
It’s important to note that while PRP injections have been an established treatment methodology for many years, they must be paid for on a cash basis because insurance companies still consider them experimental.
Stem cell injections
The next wave of regenerative treatment is stem cell injections. “Stem cell injections are still very much in their infancy,” said Dr. Behar. “It is still unclear if they have any benefit or efficacy given mixed results from the studies.”
Dr. Behar said doctors currently can’t predict how many stem cells they are injecting into the patient or even know how viable those stem cells are when injected.
“It is possible that stem cells may be able to help the body heal and regenerate, but by no means is this the fountain of youth,” cautioned Dr. Behar. “There is a lot of opportunity for growth in this field.”
