Many adults experience an increase in chronic pain as they age, almost all of them might presume invasive treatments such as surgery or spinal steroid injections are their only hope. At our facility, we believe there is a more natural, less invasive treatment for: injuries, spinal disc pain, pinched nerves, etc. Use of stem cell therapy techniques such as platelet lysate and platelet rich plasma is the latest evolving field which is extremely safe and effective.
Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) are found in your bone marrow, they are commonly known as stem cells. These unformed, immature cells transform into different cells, when the body needs to replenish old or damaged cells. Although, the concentration of these cells are very low, so the body is unable to replenish all old/injured cells thereby resulting in chronic pain. The solution to this, was to extract MSCs from bone marrow, culture it using additives that help them to multiply. This stronger concentration of MSCs were then injected to affected site.
This was a fairly safe technique, as we used autologous (your own) cells, but the additive is foreign to humans. Despite that, its effective and relatively safe; at the very worst an allergic reaction might occur.
For the reasons mentioned above, platelet rich plasma therapy had emerged as an alternative to cultured MSCs. Platelets are rich in growth factors, the proteins that promote growth and healing. So, specialists started using a combination of MSCs from your body with the healing properties of platelets to increase repair and regeneration of your tissues. When this mixture is injected directly into area causing you pain, natural cells combine to regenerate and give pain relief.
Platelet rich plasma is blood plasma with concentrated platelets. The concentrated platelets found in PRP contain huge reservoirs of bioactive proteins, including growth factors that are vital to initiate and accelerate tissue repair and regeneration.
These bioactive proteins initiate connective tissue healing: bone, tendon and ligament regeneration and repair, promote development of new blood vessels and stimulate the wound healing process. So when PRP is injected to the damaged area, it stimulates the injury causing mild inflammation which triggers the healing cascade of the body. As a result, new collagen develops and regenerative process gets kick started again.
Whether you're undergoing MSCs therapy or PRP therapy or a combined therapy, amount of growth factors available is crucial. Pain relief is proportional to how much healing is done, the more growth factors present the better the healing. Researchers discovered, by carefully breaking (lysing) the platelets, they released growth factors and resulted in an enhanced effect. This paved the path for replacement of platelet rich therapy by platelet lysate therapy in many cases.
Procedure is far less complicated than surgery and a whole lot less painful. After discussions with our specialist of your condition, decision can be made if platelet lysate therapy is right for you. Subsequent steps are relatively simple:
After this short procedure is complete, plan to rest and restrict activity for about 48 hours. In time, you’ll know whether the procedure was successful. You'll feel a lot less pain and notice in ease of movement in comparison to pre-procedure. Depending on your feedback of pain relief, the treatment sessions can be increased or decreased.