Despite all the advances in medicine made over the centuries, contemporary healing therapies still can’t match the elegance and power of your own body’s ability to repair itself. The precise nature of both body systems and some illnesses aren’t yet understood, even when we observe the way those systems work.
It’s perhaps no surprise then that many clinicians today turn to the field of regenerative medicine, therapies that aren’t targeted directly toward curing a disease or injury, but rather focus on supporting your body’s healing systems, so they can do their work more efficiently.
Many regenerative medicine techniques are also drug and risk-free, making them ideal as supplementary treatments alongside conventional therapies. Your pain management plan may benefit from the addition of procedures using regenerative medicine principles.
You’ve likely observed with fascination when a childhood cut or scrape stopped bleeding, formed a scab, and eventually disappeared, leaving no trace of the original injury. Cells in your blood are responsible for managing the necessary functions that repair this damage.
Regenerative medicine seeks to understand how the body repairs itself more completely, so that treatments can be developed to help your body heal faster and more effectively. There are even signs that regenerative techniques can slow or stop conditions that are considered progressive, such as arthritis and Type 2 diabetes, leading to hopes for eventual cures.
As you likely know, the human body starts out as a single, fertilized cell that divides and multiplies, turning into the remarkably complex biological machine that you are today. Along the way, the body creates its own building blocks, cells that start out with no specific function, but which can change into a differentiated cell, one that has a single job to do. These are called stem cells.
They receive messages from hormones about how to change. Both stem cells and growth factor hormones are delivered to the site of a repair by your blood supply. When adequate resources are available, your body can make the repairs and heal damage.
Chronic pain can originate from degenerative conditions or even for unknown reasons where inflammation or nerve irritation exists without observable cause. When conventional treatments don’t assist healing, both stem cell and platelet-rich plasma (PRP) therapy may be used to supplement the natural supplies of these body repair raw materials.
PRP is typically derived from your own body. A small sample of your blood is drawn, then concentrated, and prepared for reinjection at the site of the injury or origin of pain. Stem cells can be derived from your body or from other sources, such as amniotic fluid from pregnant women who are donors. These too are injected at the treatment location.
While the ability to completely reverse degenerative conditions is still under study, many patients find that stem cell and PRP therapies produce a significant decrease in pain, allowing them to reduce their dependence on pain medication that may have side effects or addictive properties. Stem cells and PRP are both low-risk treatments that don’t interact with other pain management techniques.
If you’re affected by chronic pain and you want to learn more about what regenerative medicine therapies offer, contact Westside Pain Specialists today. Dr. James Nassiri and his team are specialists in regenerative cell therapy and amniotic allografts.
Call the office nearest you to schedule your personal consultation and discover what this exciting field of medicine can do for you. You can also send a message to Dr. Nassiri and the team here on their website.
