Can Regenerative Medicine Treat Arthritis?

Arthritis leads to pain in your joints and often to disability if not treated in a timely manner. There are a lot of treatments for arthritis, both conservative and surgical. But what if you could get the benefits of surgical repair without having to go under the knife?

At Integrated Body and Medicine, we’re experts in dealing with arthritis and use regenerative medicine treatments to help ease your pain. We offer many different approaches to arthritis, including platelet-rich plasma (PRP) therapy.

Symptoms of arthritis

Arthritis can affect just about any joint in your body. This condition can also affect you at any point in your life, making treatment that much harder. 

Arthritis comes in many forms, each of which affects your joints in a different way. The most prevalent forms, though, are rheumatoid arthritis and osteoarthritis. 

Osteoarthritis is the result of wear-and-tear on your joints. Over time, the protective layer of tissue that covers your joint wears down, leading to inflammation and pain.

Rheumatoid arthritis is a type of inflammatory arthritis that’s caused by an overreaction of your immune system. Your immune system attacks and damages the covering in your joints. This usually causes inflammation and pain. But there are other common symptoms of arthritis, including:

• Stiffness
• Decreased range of motion
• Swelling
• Redness
• Fever

Your symptoms may vary depending on the severity and the type of arthritis.

What is regenerative medicine?

To understand how regenerative medicine can help, you have to understand what it is.

Regenerative medicine uses specialized cells in your body to help jump-start your body’s natural healing processes. The two most common types of regenerative medicine are platelet-rich plasma therapy and stem cell therapy.

PRP uses your own blood platelets to help boost your body’s natural healing properties. Your platelets are an important component of your blood, as they help clot it when you have an injury. But they also contain growth factors that can kick-start the healing process.

Stem cell therapy is similar to PRP therapy in that it uses cells to help repair damaged tissue. Stem cells can be harvested in several ways, but they work differently than platelets. Stem cells have the ability to change into any cell in your body where they’re needed.

Regenerative medicine is a relatively safe and painless way to address many different types of disorders, including arthritis. Although it may take a little longer to see results, it causes less tissue damage than invasive procedures.

Regenerative medicine and arthritis: Does it work?

Although more research is needed, PRP shows promise in easing low- to moderate-grade knee osteoarthritis. And researchers believe that stem cells injected into arthritic joints could reduce inflammation and release proteins that slow cartilage degeneration and decrease pain.

Arthritis is a breakdown of tissues within your joints that don’t usually regenerate on its own. With an injection of PRP, the growth factors help to speed up the healing process exponentially.

Although regenerative medicine doesn’t fully heal your joint, it does help to decrease the symptoms related to arthritis. Over months to years, it may also stimulate new cartilage growth, which helps to reverse some of the effects of arthritis.

If you’re tired of suffering from arthritis and want to learn more about how regenerative medicine can help, call our Highland, Indiana, office or schedule an appointment through our online system today.