Sports Injuries and Stem Cell Treatment
How often do you hear of a sports related injury resulting in an athlete or player having to miss a tournament or match ? The most common joint injured in sports related injuries is in fact the knee. Knee injuries are especially frequent in contact sports such as basketball, football and handball. They are also common in athletics and ski injuries too.
You don’t have to be a professional athlete to get a sports related injury. Physically active sports interested persons that get injured often just stop doing the sport when an injury occurs. In spite of stopping, the sports related injury can worsen with age and may end on the operating table. Injury to the knee is often due to a high impact or twisting movement. Athletes who jump and land as part of their sport are particularly vulnerable to these injuries. A jump/landing movement can result in 7-9 times the athlete’s own weight impacting the knees. Repeated small impact injuries result in cumulative small injuries to the knee cartilage and a gradual breakdown of the collagen fibres and matrix. The early symptoms are knee joint pain.
When describing sports related injuries there is a lot written about MCL (medial collateral ligament) injuries in team sport players. This is the joint ligament on the inside of the knee that binds your lower lag and your thigh bone together. Differing degrees of MCL injury are treated with postural rest, ice packs, physiotherapy and surgery.
In recent years blood-plasma based treatments like iPRF/PRP have been widely used by athletes abroad. This has been shown to result in an accelerated healing process. The iPRF/PRP is harvested from the patient’s own blood with no additives before it is used. It has been shown to be safe and effective, which is why several high profiled athletes have used this treatment.
At Regenerative we know how effective these natural iPRF/ADSC growth factor stem cell based treatments are to repair damaged joints and alleviate symptoms. On our FB site take a look at the patient testimony from our first ADSC patient (see below). He recommends the treatment to all ex-sports enthusiasts with knee pain!
Best Effect Using Stem CellsDerived From Abdominal (Stomach) Fat
The best way to avoid pain and loss of function is to avoid injury! However, sports and activity are a fun part of our everyday life and essential for good health. Previously hyaluronic acid was injected into the damaged joints to lubricate the joint space and temporarily relieve symptoms. Research from the orthopedic department of The Stone clinic in San Francisco amongst others has shown that joint injections with growth factor/stem cell based treatments liker iPRF / PRP results in a longer more effective reduction in symptoms compared to injection with hyaluronic acid. In addition using these blood based treatments allows them to contribute to a regenerative healing process in the damaged joint as opposed to just treating the symptoms.
Stem cells are always present in the blood, but because cartilage has a very poor blood supply it its difficult for them to reach this damaged tissue in effective quantities. Now we can harvest growth factors and stem cells from the patient’s blood to make iPRF (The 2nd generation after PRP). The highest most effective concentration of stem cells we can harvest is from the abdominal fatty tissue. The abdominal fatty tissue contains 100 – 1000 times more stem cells than the bone marrow, which is where blood is made. Fatty tissue high in stem cells is harvested and then using a recently developed filtration technique it is concentrated even further to produce a super-rich stem cell «elixir» which is then injected into the joint space. This treatment is highly effective for joint pain and regeneration…
The American news site Oregon Line tells that 50% of all those that have injured their knees in their 20s will start to develop degenerative joint problems within 10 years. Sports injured people now have a choice to slow or even prevent the degenerative process.
