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We ask a lot of our knees. Twisting, bending, lifting, kicking, kneeling, squatting, running, jumping, and walking, all while bearing our full body weight — and then some. Inflammation now and then is inevitable, and injuries are likely if we overwork these essential joints or don’t take care to use them properly.
Even with the most diligent care, you may end up with osteoarthritis, which is the natural deterioration of the cartilage in your joints. Whatever the cause of your knee pain, you may be tempted to solve it with drugs for a quick — but temporary — fix.
Our team at Optimized Wellness, located in Centennial, Colorado, has a better alternative. Led by Jordan Bernard, ARNP, we focus on diagnosing the root cause of your knee pain and treating it at the source, so your pain relief is complete and long lasting. We’ve found that regenerative medicine is a safe and effective option for many knee ailments and helps heal the damaged tissues that cause pain and stiffness.
Regenerative medicine is a field of science that focuses on the regeneration of cells and tissues. There are several types and forms of regenerative medicine, and the treatment applications are ever-growing and evolving.
You may have heard of stem cell therapy, as it has been a widely discussed topic in the news over the last several years. This involves the injection of cells derived from adult bone marrow or umbilical cord blood from full-term babies (with consent of the mother) into an injured area. These blank cells become whatever type of cell is needed to heal damaged tissue.
Stem cell therapy is one example of regenerative medicine. At Optimized Wellness, we’ve found that the most effective regenerative treatments for knee pain are Prolozone™ therapy and platelet-rich plasma.
Prolozone therapy is an enhancement of prolotherapy, an injection that triggers your body to heal itself. The injection typically includes natural ingredients, like saline and dextrose, plus a little lidocaine to offer an immediate anesthetic effect.
The injection causes mild inflammation that prompts your body to send healing properties to the site where they strengthen and repair connective tissues and relieve pain from injured and degenerated joints.
Prolozone takes prolotherapy to the next level by adding ozone gas to the injection. Ozone is a highly reactive molecule that stimulates and speeds up the healing process. Prolozone tightens loose connective tissues, which increases stability in your knee joint. It also reduces inflammation and improves circulation to aid in the healing process.
Another form of regenerative medicine, platelet-rich plasma (PRP), also involves an injection, but the ingredients are much different than Prolozone.
When PRP is determined to be the best approach to reducing your knee pain. Jordan Bernard draws a small sample of blood from your arm (similar to what you may have experienced in a routine lab test), and processes it in a centrifuge. This machine separates your blood components, isolating the platelets from the red and white cells.
Platelets are harvested because they contain hundreds of proteins called growth factors that generate new cell growth and heal tissues. We inject the highly concentrated serum containing your body’s own platelets directly into your injured knee, where it goes to work creating new cells.
Regenerative medicine is a safe, effective, and drug-free alternative to surgery. If you have osteoarthritis, surgical pain, deep wounds, or damage to your ligaments, tendons, or muscles, regenerative therapies may be the best way to heal the tissues and get rid of your pain for good.
To find out if regenerative medicine is right for you, call us or book an appointment time online today.
