Regenerative Medicine is an effective alternative for treating osteoarthritis, sports injuries and other musculoskeletal pathologies. There are currently innovative Regenerative Medicine techniques based on the use of various cell groups such as stem cells, which are found in the body’s own tissues, such as fat, and which, when implanted in the damaged area, promote its vascularization and recovery, with the consequent disappearance of pain and improvement of movement.
What pathologies are treated with Regenerative Medicine?
Regenerative Medicine therapies can be used to treat osteoarthritis and cartilage degeneration in any joint. The most frequent and with the best results are osteoarthritis of the knee and osteoarthritis of the hip, although it is also very effective in the ankle and shoulder. In smaller joints it is also possible to improve carpal rhizarthrosis, which disables the mobility of the hand to perform the pincer movement between the thumb and the rest of the fingers.
As for the soft parts, the benefits of Regenerative Medicine stand out in cases of tendinitis and enthesitis, as well as tendinopathy of the rotator cuff of the shoulder, patellar tendinitis, Achilles tendinitis or epicondylitis (tennis elbow), both in athletes and in sedentary people. Some examples of professional athletes treated with these treatments are the tennis player Rafa Nadal or soccer players such as Kiko Casilla or Keylor Navas.
Regenerative Medicine therapies can also be used to treat grade I and II muscle ruptures (partial ruptures), obtaining an earlier recovery and with a lower incidence of re-ruptures, because they produce the replacement of the injured tissue by the original tissue, instead of forming a scar, which is much weaker.
Effectiveness of Regenerative Medicine in the joints
The effectiveness of any treatment is based first on a good diagnosis, made by a qualified professional with proven experience, through a correct prescription, according to the real needs of the patient. For all these reasons, Regenerative Medicine treatments need to be prescribed by expert doctors who know very well both the pathologies to be treated and the techniques to be applied.
In order to obtain a sufficient amount of stem cells that have a regenerative effect, they have to be extracted from the tissues that contain them most, and these are fat and bone marrow, not PRP.
Due to its efficacy and innovative character, many specialists are joining Regenerative Medicine and stem cell treatment, but only a few of us are really qualified and experienced to perform these treatments.
Treatments with growth factors and adult mesenchymal stem cells (from the vascular stromal fraction) are effective, minimally invasive, fast and without risk of rejection, thanks to the fact that we work with well studied protocols based on numerous clinical trials and tested processing kits. In our patients treated for knee osteoarthritis grades II, III and IV, we have obtained a significant reduction of pain in the patient and improved functionality, achieving an improvement in their quality of life and allowing them to recover their normal activity.
Advantages of Regenerative Medicine: treat the cause without risk
Regenerative Medicine is beginning to be the treatment of first choice for many pathologies, since these techniques in the hands of expert doctors lack the risks and side effects of conventional treatments. For example, anti-inflammatory drugs treat the symptom of inflammation, but not the cause, in addition to, in many cases, damaging the stomach or liver, when the treatment is prolonged over time. In contrast, with adult mesenchymal stem cells from the vascular stromal fraction, the cause of pain and inflammation is treated.
In arthroplasty or prosthesis placement, both in knee and hip, it requires the elimination of our original joint to replace it with foreign materials to our body, which has to assimilate and include them in the anatomy and that many cases do not accept it correctly and a painful prosthesis remains for the rest of life. On the other hand, with Regenerative Medicine in complete tendon or ligament ruptures, it will help to reproduce the original tissue with all its characteristics, instead of forming a scar, which is a non-specific tissue.
Testimony of Tobias, patient treated with Regenerative Medicine
54-year-old patient who comes to the specialist with grade IV osteoarthritis (the maximum) in both hips. He comes for the symptomatology of pain and stiffness in the hips, difficulty sitting upright, putting on socks, and even climbing stairs. He had been proposed a prosthesis in both hips, but he is too young for it and it would force him to give up almost all his sporting activity.
- Real results of Regenerative Medicine on osteoarthritis
With the treatment of Regenerative Medicine the patient has been improving progressively in mobility and pain, which has allowed him to function properly on unstable surfaces, such as the deck of a boat and to return to practice downhill skiing. He is currently still undergoing treatment and improving.