You’ve probably, somewhere or another, heard mention of stem cells or stem cell therapy at least once before. But chances are you have not much of a clue what it is, what it does, what it can offer you! Stem cell therapy is an incredibly effective therapy for knee pain treatment in adults. Knee pain is incredibly common it affecting more than 25% of adults in the United States and it can truly happen to anyone of any age. Medication and the right physical therapy plan can offset a lot of the pain and mobility issues but eventually, the pain will continue to get more severe and you may have to explore other options such as surgery. Many people with knee pain are not interested in a knee replacement at this current moment and would much rather delay that if possible – and stem cell therapy may just be the thing to make that possible and reasonable. Now stem cells have limitations just like anything else, but they also have the incredible ability.
Even with modern-day effective treatments for knee pain are few and far between. Cortisone shots are a popular fallback for many but these just cause a host of other secondary issues and don’t actually treat anything they just make the issue tolerable for a period of time. The risks are joint infection, increased pain, bone decay and death, and so much more. Full replacement surgery is always an option as well, though with that comes all the risk of being put fully to sleep and any other invasive procedure like infection, etc. So with all of that, it’s understandable why people continue to seek less invasive but more positive treatments, such as stem cell therapy.
What are stem cells are how are they used in treatment?
Stem cell therapy is a very special kind of therapy where patients are receiving their own growth factors and stem cells to reduce pain and promote better healing in an area. So let’s make it simple. In the human body, most cells have an extremely particular job, a skin cell can NOT do the same jobs that a liver cell can for instance. But stem cells are different. These incredible cells are not yet assigned or tied to anything so they have the potential to divide into any other type of cells in the body. They can perform so many different jobs.
Some doctors and scientists have been able to show in lab tests that stem cells help rebuild damaged cells in the body. There’s a lot to still be observed and learned about stem cells and how they interact with the body but at this point, we are sure they have at least some degree of positive effect.
 Where do stem cells come from?
Now you may have heard a lot of conflicting information about where stem cells used in procedures are sourced and just to put your mind at ease you need to know any stem cells used in orthopedic treatment like this are NOT from donated embryos, they are what we call analogous stem cells. That simply means these cells are harvested from your own body and only used in your own body. They’re collected with blood, bone marrow, and other tissue samples. What stem cell therapy is in essence is taking stem cells from all over the body and concentrating them in one area that needs help – in this case, that would be the knee joint.
In your own body stem cells are produced directly in the bone marrow, and certain signals in the body ensure these are sent out where they need to be. Be that down to the stomach or out to your skin.
Your doctor should always be open about what and why they are injecting into your body, you should feel totally safe every single step of the way.
Does stem cell treatment for Knee pain actually work?
Stem cell therapy, as we said before is no magical solution that’s going to heal you instantly, but it very well may be able to help reduce a fair amount of pain. Now when doing your research you need to be extremely cautious if you come across anyone at all that claims they can 100% heal your condition with nothing apart from stem cell therapy.
The FDA has only officially approved stem cell therapy for a few kinds of treatments related to cancers and blood disorders, though reinjecting patients with their own stem cells is no issue whatsoever when done for the right purposes by a professional.
A stem cell treatment for knee injury often results in relief from a lot of that stiffness and pain that injuries or other chronic conditions are known to cause. Results are different for everyone but it’s safe to say that many people report pain reduction of up to 75%. Conditions like osteoarthritis cause damage to the cartilage that enable both knee bones to glide easily with no friction or pain. The result of this damaged cartilage is going to start with inflammation and pain and eventually turn into a loss of some mobility.
The main goals are to slow down the degradation and damage being done to that piece of cartilage you want that to last as long as it possibly can. Stem cell therapy for the knee also aims to decrease overall swelling and reduce pain. It can help delay the need for a full knee replacement surgery and give you some of your mobility back in the meantime.
For more major injuries to the knee like meniscus tears or ALC & MCL ruptures stem cell therapy can act as a fantastic post-surgery treatment to speed up healing times for the affected areas. Before stem cell therapy there was NO way to replicate certain types of cells in the body, but now times have changed! Don’t suffer from your knee pain anymore with such a great therapy out there.
