Cartilage regeneration sounds like something out of a sci-fi novel. But the truth is that it’s a revolutionary development in medicine, and could change how we live and age.
Stem Cell Carolina offers stem cell therapy in Charlotte to help reduce pain and provide relief from tendinitis, arthritis, and even cartilage damage. We’re proud to be at the forefront of new technology, but are even more proud to be able to help people live their lives without pain. Get all your questions answered in our cartilage regeneration blog, and contact Stem Cell Carolina to get the best in stem cell therapy.
What is cartilage regeneration?
Before we dive into what the process itself is, first it’s important to understand what cartilage is and how it works. Cartilage is a flexible connective tissue. As we get older, cartilage begins to break down as a result of osteoarthritis — a condition which an estimated 10 percent of the population over the age of 60 have.
Cartilage regeneration is a way to grow new cartilage in the body. Your body has natural repair mechanisms that help us heal from injury or illness. When combined with a high concentration of stem cells, new growth of cartilage can be stimulated, helping reduce pain.
This sounds made up. How can it be real?
As we started to mention, our bodies are designed to repair themselves. On an extreme end, there are countless animals that regenerate limbs or tails, regrowing them if they’ve been lost. Lizards can grow back their tails, sharks keep regrowing new teeth, and sponges can be divided and regrow from there.
For humans, we might not be able to grow a new arm or a leg (though stem cell therapy might change that), but it’s pretty miraculous how we can recover from a scrape or cut. We’re constantly growing new hair, nails, and skin cells. This all goes to show that even though cartilage regeneration sounds like a 3019, not 2019, technology. It’s expanding on our body’s natural ability to regrow and repair.
Has cartilage regeneration been proven to work?
Yes! Apart from testimonials, this form of stem cell therapy has had many studies and research conducted. Part of this is a pure safety measure — it couldn’t be verified or put into practice if it were guaranteed to at least not be harmful (though every medical procedure, of course, has its risks).
One 2015 study showed that when tested on mice and hedgehogs with joint defects, they were able to grow cartilage through regeneration therapy. A 2013 article from the National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering (NIBIB) showed that “Patients with cartilage damage were successful in regenerating new cartilage tissue… The technique creates a scaffold by combining the use of a biogel that solidifies when exposed to light and a strong biological adhesive.”
Should other methods be tried first, before cartilage regeneration?
There are plenty of people who come to our Charlotte office discouraged because physical therapy, steroids, and over-the-counters have failed to improve their symptoms. Most recently, we had two females aged 70 and 71 come in for stem cell therapy. The first had years of chronic knee pain and the second had years of right hip pain, to the point of not being able to lay on their sides.
Both women had tried physical therapy and other methods to no avail. Both started stem cell therapy with our practice. After four months, the woman with knee pain was 90 percent pain-free and the woman with hip pain was 80 percent pain-free.
The choice is yours — in certain situations, your pain might not be cartilage-related, in which case stem cell therapy likely won’t be the solution. But instead of spending years trying to manage pain, you could instead seek a true answer to the problem, and try stem cell therapy. We recommend making a consultation with Dr. Ahmad to learn even more!
What are the risks of cartilage regeneration?
We conduct stem cell therapy by using your body’s own stem cells. Because of this, your body won’t reject the cells. The biggest risk comes from the possibility of developing an infection, but this is no different than the risk involved with any injection — it’s also a very small risk at that. The location where your stem cells are harvested from will likely be sore for a couple of days, but it’s temporary. Feel free to reach out to our office with any additional questions or risks!
Our stem cell therapy center hopes this answers a lot of questions for you. For any other questions you have, we invite you to visit our FAQ page, or, as always, to give us a call! We are more than happy to help you learn about cartilage regeneration and to see if you would be a good candidate. Contact Stem Cell Carolina today.
