Throughout your day-to-day, some things can increase your chances of risks and rewards. If you work hard and prove yourself, the possibility of receiving a promotion at work is higher than if you didn’t. If you play sports, the likelihood of you twisting an ankle may be greater than someone who simply walks on paved sidewalks for exercise.
As you get older, your risk of developing conditions that impact your joints or nerves naturally increases and can change drastically with certain lifestyles — such as being a military veteran, driving distracted, or excessive exercise. As a result, you may develop neuro damage, degenerative joint damage, or chronic pain. While traditional medicine helps ease symptoms, stem cell therapy is being used to treat and greatly improve these conditions. How does it work, and what injuries can it treat?
What is stem cell therapy?
Stem cell therapy is the process of using stem cells to replace damaged tissues, muscles, and other cells with healthy ones. They can replicate multiple types of cells, helping to heal injuries that involve different tissues and muscles. There are several sources for stem cells, including:
- Bone marrow
- Fat
- Umbilical cords
While using donated stem cells is helpful in large quantities, the safest and most effective source is taking stem cells from your own fat. This is the only process done by Dr. Johnson and his medical team at Innovations Medical. By using stem cells from fat:
- Your cells won’t be rejected or cause a reaction
- Your cells won’t disrupt or lower your immune system — in fact, stem cells can help regulate our immune systems and properly adjust it’s responses to problems
- You won’t be exposed to possible genetic and infectious diseases — as seen with blood cell or umbilical cord stem cell extractions
How Stem Cell Therapy Works
What conditions can stem cell therapy treat?
From PTSD and other traumatic brain injuries to chronic conditions like asthma and arthritis, stem cell therapy can be used wherever injuries have damaged your cells. Because stem cells can replicate and replace multiple different types of cells, that means that if you received a deep cut, your stem cells would not only replace the blood cells but would also heal and replace the muscle tissue and skin cells too.
Stem cells can communicate with other types of cells, meaning that if your pain is occurring because of inflammation, the stem cells will replace the damaged tissues and notify your body that inflammation is no longer needed — reducing your pain. This is mainly seen with chronic pain conditions such as arthritis. Other conditions treated by stem cell therapy include:
- Neuropathic pain
- Degenerative knee disease and other knee damage
- Ankle pain
- Shoulder pain
- Spinal cord injuries
- Heart disease
- Alzheimer’s disease
- Lung disease
What to Expect Post-Treatment
Stem cell therapy using your own fat is a quick and fairly painless, minimally-invasive surgery. The harvesting process takes no more than 15 minutes, and patients always go home after the procedure. How quickly you begin seeing results depends on the severity of your condition, your lifestyle, and how much time you rest — with some patients experiencing changes within a couple of days. In some cases, patients saw gradual progress over the course of a few months. And, since the stem cells are harvested from your own fat, there are no side effects. To ensure you experience a speedy recovery, you should:
- Avoid drinking alcohol or smoking 24 hours before your treatment
- Avoid drinking alcohol or smoking 48 hours after your treatment
- Take it easy for a few days following the procedure
- Avoid taking baths or soaking underwater for a week following the procedure
Contact Innovations Medical for Stem Cell Therapy
If you have chronic or other neuropathic pain and are looking for relief, Innovations Medical is here for you. Our skilled professionals help you decide which stem cell therapy treatment is best for you – keeping you informed and confident in the next steps. We’ve been helping our patients look and feel their best since 2005, and even our most advanced procedures are often minimally invasive.
To find out if stem cell therapy is right for you, and to learn how Innovations Medical can improve your life, call us at (214) 643-8665 or schedule an appointment.