How Regenerative Medicine Helps Heal Your Damaged Tendons and Cartilage

Your tendons and cartilage play uniquely important roles in your body. Cartilage provides cushioning and support, while tendons attach your muscles to your bones. 

Both of these structures are vital, so when they become injured, it’s important that you get treatment fast. Regenerative medicine is a state-of-the-art treatment that can help.

At Peninsula Orthopedic Associates, our team specializes in regenerative medicine treatments for a variety of problems. Our team consists of many orthopedic specialists who have the skills and knowledge to use regenerative medicine to help you heal from the inside out. 

Types of regenerative medicine 

Although regenerative medicine has been around for a long time, it has recently taken the stage as a way to heal orthopedic injuries using your own cells. Your body is made up of many different types of cells, some of which have the ability to regenerate tissues and heal areas of injury.

At our facility, our team offers two kinds of regenerative medicine — platelet-rich plasma therapy and stem cell therapy. Both of these treatments have the ability to help your body heal itself by harnessing its own restorative properties. 

Stem cell therapy

Stem cell therapy is a type of regenerative medicine that uses your own stem cells to repair injured tissues in your body. Stem cells can develop into any other type of cell that your body requires. For instance, if your body needs more muscle cells to repair an area of injury, stem cells can do so.

Platelet-rich plasma therapy

Platelet-rich plasma therapy harnesses the healing power of your body’s platelets to rebuild injured areas in your body. Platelets are known for their role in clotting your blood, but they also possess proteins known as growth factors. These growth factors aid in reconstructing new tissues in an area after an injury or surgery.

How does regenerative medicine work?

Both stem cell therapy and PRP can be done in the office, and are both considered minimally invasive. The great advantage to these therapies is that the cells come from your own body. This eliminates issues with infectious diseases that can be a factor in other treatments.

Stem cells can be harvested in a number of ways. In our office, we retrieve them from your blood. Once your blood is drawn, our team separates the stem cells from all of your other cells in order to harness their ability to turn into cartilage or any other type of tissue you may need.

The stem cells are then injected into the area where you need them. The results won’t be immediate; the cells need time to develop and change into other cells, and then to work on healing that area.

PRP is harvested similarly to stem cells. Our team draws a vial or two of your blood. That blood is then taken and placed in a device known as a centrifuge. The centrifuge spins the blood at high speeds, allowing the plasma and whole blood to separate. 

The platelets and plasma are then collected and also injected into the area where you’re in need of healing.

Both the stem cells and PRP injections allow your body to heal by concentrating its own restorative properties on the area in need. While it’s not an overnight fix, it can repair the problem without invasive surgery.

Can it heal your tendons and cartilage?

Stem cell therapy and PRP therapy are both used in the treatment of sports-related injuries and postsurgical healing. At our facility, this includes injuries to your ligaments, as well as your cartilage and tendons. 

These areas of your body are prone to injuries and tears, which lead to pain and decreased mobility. This is where these treatments are able to help. Our team may recommend PRP or stem cell therapy if you’ve suffered injuries to any of the following:

• Cartilage 
• Patellar tendon 
• Achilles tendon
• Hamstring
• Extensor tendon
• Flexor tendon
• Rotator cuff tendon

Both of these treatments can be used as an option to prevent surgery, or to increase your body’s healing response after surgery. 

Although this treatment isn’t an immediate cure for the problem, it addresses your pain by rebuilding your tissues instead of just putting a bandage on the problem.

If you’d like to learn more about how regenerative medicine can help you, call one of our conveniently located offices, two in Daly City and one in Atherton, California, or book an appointment online with one of our doctors today.