Regenerative Medicine for Arthritis

For those who suffer from arthritis, painful, stiff joints can be more than just annoying—they can be debilitating. Arthritis can be divided into a number of categories, including rheumatoid arthritis (RA), psoriatic arthritis, and others.

One of the most common forms of arthritis, however, is osteoarthritis. Finding a cure for this disease has thus far eluded scientists. Instead, the focus of arthritis treatments tends to be on slowing down the progression of the condition and controlling the pain and stiffness that accompany it.

While traditional treatments have focused on pharmaceutical pain controls and assistive devices, there are more options available to treat arthritis pain.

Regenerative medicine, also known as stem cell therapy, offers options that focus on helping your body to heal itself. These kinds of treatment may slow or prevent the condition from worsening. They may even keep you from needing a total knee replacement.

Platelet-Rich Plasma (PRP)

An initial option in using regenerative medicine to treat your arthritis pain is platelet-rich plasma therapy. In this minimally invasive treatment, a mixture of concentrated platelet cells, which are found naturally in the blood, and proteins are injected into the affected area.

This injection causes white blood cells to develop in the area. The white blood cells clear out the platelets and other tissues in the joint that have been damaged by inflammation. Once this is complete, the area starts to heal and work on reconstructing the damaged tissue.

Stem Cell Therapy

While platelet-rich plasma can work for some patients for pain management, it often requires repeat visits. Even with multiple sessions, it may not provide enough relief. When that’s the case, stem cell therapy is usually the next step in the treatment process.

Like platelet-rich plasma, mesenchymal stem cells can be injected into the site of the joint pain. Once they are in the body, these undifferentiated cells are “recruited” by the body to help potentially regrow the damaged cartilage. In essence, your body has the ability to use these cells as the raw material to restore tissue that has sustained damage.

While there is no cure for osteoarthritis, stem cell therapy offers a potential lifeline for those who are suffering from the condition. Most patients have minimal side effects from their treatments, and many patients experience a reduction in inflammation, especially at higher doses.

No matter which options you’ve tried in the past, if you’re having difficulty treating your arthritis pain, consider stem cell therapy as a viable option. It may provide you with the relief you’ve been looking for and could help to delay the condition from progressing even further.

This post was written by a medical professional at Stemedix Inc. At Stemedix we provide access to Regenerative Medicine for osteoarthritis, also known as stem cell therapy for Osteoarthritis. Regenerative medicine has the natural potential to help improve symptoms sometimes lost from the progression of many conditions.