Pain in the knee is a common problem and can be debilitating. Knee injuries can range from sprains and tears to fractures. An important consideration when considering knee pain treatment is whether or not the injury is related to osteoarthritis (degenerative) or rheumatoid arthritis (inflammatory). In the US, at least 24% of all adults have arthritis. Longevity Live Paid Content.
In patients with chronic knee pain, regenerative medicine approaches may offer hope for a more effective, long-term solution than traditional non-surgical treatments.
Understanding Knee Pain
Knee pain is a common condition, and many things can cause it. The most common causes of knee pain are:
- Arthritis, which is the degeneration of the cartilage that cushions your joints. There are two types of arthritis, as mentioned above, osteoarthritis and rheumatoid. It is a myth that only old people have arthritis. According to the Tennessee Department of Health, nearly 3 out of 5 people with arthritis are below 65.
- Tendinitis or bursitis. There is a sensitivity of 69% in the case of intermetatarsal bursitis, which is associated with rheumatoid arthritis.
- Injuries like sprains or fractures to your kneecap or other bones in your lower leg.
These conditions may require different treatments depending on their severity. With regenerative medicine like platelet-rich plasma therapy (PRP), we can treat these injuries with less invasive techniques than surgery while providing effective results for patients suffering from chronic knee problems such as osteoarthritis or meniscus tears. Understanding how these injuries affect you is important before deciding how to treat them.
What is Regenerative Medicine?
Regenerative medicine is the science of using a patient’s cells to regenerate tissue or replace damaged or diseased cells. According to QC Kinetix, regenerative therapies can help promote cartilage and bone tissue restoration. It holds tremendous promise for treating many medical conditions, from cancer to osteoarthritis. The global regenerative medicine market in the US was valued at 23.65 billion in 2021.
Regenerative medicine can help treat the pain caused by joint aches or arthritis. For instance, it can help cure knee pain by using the body’s existing mechanism to fight it. This can benefit adults facing chronic pains, especially in places with high arthritis rates. Hip or knee replacement usually becomes the option if many people face this condition and fewer physicians treat them.
However, regenerative medicine offers an alternate, non-invasive solution for pain treatment. For instance, data shows that around 1.5 million or 1 in 3 adults in Tennessee (TN) have arthritis. Hence, if you live in a city like Knoxville, TN, regenerative medicine can help you prevent any surgical treatment for your arthritis-related knee pain.
You can search for non-surgical knee pain treatment in Knoxville, TN, or regenerative medicine centers in TN to find clinics to leverage this type of treatment. Compare the clinics to find the right one to help your condition. You can go through their websites or read their reviews to decide.
How Does Regenerative Medicine Work?
Regenerative medicine is repairing or replacing damaged cells, tissues, or organs. It uses the body’s cells to treat disease and is a biotechnology that uses living cells to regenerate tissue.
- Stem cells are the building blocks of all tissues in our bodies. They are found in many different places, bone marrow, umbilical cord blood after birth, placenta after birth, and adipose tissue.
- These stem cells can be used as part of a regenerative medicine treatment because they can differentiate into different specialized cells, such as muscle, nerve, or cartilage, depending on what your body needs at any given time.
Regenerative medicine relies on two types of therapies: cell therapy and gene therapy. In cell therapy, doctors remove your body’s cells, reprogram them in a lab setting, and then inject them into your body, where they can begin healing damage caused by disease or injury.
Gene therapy uses modified viruses to deliver healthy DNA directly into cells with genetic diseases so that they can make the proteins needed for proper function without having to rely on external sources like insulin pumps or organ transplants from cadavers. Gene therapy-based medicine has shown an overall efficacy rate of 90-96% in therapeutic arenas.
Different Regenerative Medicine Approaches for Knee Pain Treatment
There are several different approaches to regenerative medicine. These include stem cells, platelet-rich plasma (PRP), tissue engineering, and scaffolds.
Stem Cell Therapy
Stem cells are the body’s repair mechanism and come in many body parts, including bone marrow, fat tissue, and umbilical cord blood. They’re also found in adult human tissue. When you have an injury or illness that damages your tissues, these adult stem cells are activated by your immune system to repair the damaged area by generating new healthy tissue.
Stem cell therapy has been used successfully on many conditions, including arthritis, heart disease, diabetes, neurological disorders like Parkinson’s, and cancerous tumors in bone marrow or brain tissue.
Platelet-Rich Plasma (PRP) Injections
If you’ve been experiencing knee pain, you’re not alone. PRP injections are now available as an alternative treatment option for OA patients who have failed other conservative therapies like exercise and weight loss programs.
Scientists develop platelet-rich plasma from human blood. It contains growth factors and cytokines that promote tissue healing in injured areas such as knees with cartilage damage caused by OA or meniscus tears from sports injuries.
Tissue Engineering and Scaffolds
Tissue engineering and scaffolds are regenerative medicine approaches for knee pain treatment. This discipline has been around for decades. Scientists use it to repair damaged tissue, but it has seen significant improvement.
The concept of using scaffolds to grow new cells in a lab before transplanting them into a patient’s body was first proposed by Dr. Kevin Shakesheff in 1977 and has since been used to grow new cartilage in injuries such as osteoarthritis (OA).
Addressing Concerns and Safety Considerations
As with any new technology, there are concerns and safety considerations to be aware of. Regenerative medicine is still in its infancy, and the FDA has not yet approved any regenerative medicine approach for knee pain treatment. This means that no insurance will cover it, either. Additionally, there are no long-term safety data on these treatments to support their use at this time. Click here for shocking facts about arthritis you should be aware of.
Nevertheless, studies show promising results that may improve your quality of life if you have severe chronic knee pain caused by osteoarthritis or sports injuries like ACL tears or meniscus injuries.
Conclusion
The promise of regenerative medicine is excellent. It can potentially revolutionize how we treat knee pain and other musculoskeletal conditions. However, it’s important to remember that these treatments are still relatively new and require further research before they can be used widely in clinical practice.
If you have concerns about undergoing a regenerative medicine approach for knee pain treatment, speak with your doctor or another healthcare provider so they can help guide you through this decision process.
