Finding Relief From Knee Pain Without Surgery
Are you dealing with chronic knee pain that's impacting your quality of life? You're not alone - knee injuries and degenerative problems like osteoarthritis are common.
The good news is that there are innovative non-surgical treatment options that can potentially help reduce inflammation, repair damaged tissue, and alleviate discomfort.
What Causes Knee Pain?
Your knees bear the brunt of supporting your body weight and allowing flexible movement for day-to-day activity. Years of wear and tear can gradually erode the cartilage cushions between bones, no matter how healthy you are. Injuries, excessive muscle tension, excess weight, and inflammatory conditions also contribute to knee troubles. As protective cartilage thins and as inflammation and swelling increase, you may feel tenderness in the joint.
You may experience knee pain when walking up or down stairs, kneeling, squatting, sitting too long, or exercising. Damaged areas emit pain signals to alert you something’s wrong. When over-the-counter meds, ice, and rest no longer help, it’s time to pursue advanced care to ensure that you’re healing properly and, more importantly, not creating even more damage. Surgery like arthroscopy or knee replacement carries risks and requires lengthy, painful recovery and rehab.
Non-surgical options may be an option for you, and they offer similar benefits without the downsides.
Non-Surgical Alternatives For Knee Pain Relief
There are numerous ways to utilize your body's innate healing powers to ease knee discomfort and restore mobility without surgery. These innovative options may help relieve your knee troubles:
Platelet-Rich Plasma (PRP) Therapy: This treatment accelerates your body's natural repair process by injecting growth-factor-rich plasma from your blood
Prolotherapy: An irritant solution is injected into your damaged ligaments and tendons, promoting natural healing
Stem Cell Therapy: Potent anti-inflammatory stem cells isolated from your fat or bone marrow are injected right into your knee to foster healing and reduce discomfort
Physical Therapy: specific knee exercises like stretches can reduce discomfort and strengthen supporting muscles
Modern injection techniques harness regenerative cells into tissues to stimulate localized healing with less risk and less downtime than traditional surgery. Stem cells and growth factors reduce inflammation while signaling your body to rebuild worn cartilage and connective tissues. Physical Therapy gives muscle support and improves flexibility and function.
At STEMS Health, we specialize in cutting-edge regenerative medicine treatments utilizing your body's natural healing abilities to treat knee issues. These non-invasive options can be a good alternative before considering surgery or to provide pain relief when surgery is not recommended. Let's explore two of our most popular options:
Platelet Rich Plasma (PRP) Therapy
PRP therapy has received much attention recently for its potential to treat chronic knee pain. A 2015 study published in the Archives of Orthopaedic and Trauma Surgery found PRP more effective for knee osteoarthritis than hyaluronic acid (HA) injections.
How PRP Therapy Works: Your blood is drawn and placed in a centrifuge to separate platelet-rich plasma. The concentrated platelets contain growth factors and proteins that drive tissue regeneration. The PRP is then injected into the injured area of your knee. Many patients experience significant pain relief, restored mobility, and improved knee joint function.
Stem Cell Therapy
Stem cells are indispensable to the body’s ability to heal itself. Mesenchymal stem cells can differentiate into bone, cartilage, tendon, ligament and other tissue. For knee injuries, stem cell therapy for knee pain aims to initiate the repair of arthritic cartilage and inflamed tendons or ligaments.
Bone marrow and adipose (fat) tissue are rich in mesenchymal stem cells.
How Stem Cell Therapy Works: Tissue samples are extracted through a simple in-office procedure, from which healing stem cells are then isolated. Then, the cells are activated, and millions of them are injected into the target areas using ultrasound guidance. For optimal results, stem cell therapy is often combined with PRP injections.
Experience Effective Relief
If you’ve been told you need knee replacement surgery, you may want to consider one or more of these treatments first. They can potentially help you find relief from knee arthritis and injuries through natural mechanisms of tissue repair and injury response, avoiding surgical intervention.
If you’d like to learn more about regenerative medicine options…