by Dr. Brandon Pettke
Lone Star Progressive Medicine – Burleson
With the New Year upon us, many people resolve to lose weight and get healthy. We tackle this resolution two main ways: (1) eating healthier and (2) exercising. Many patients come to us to help them nutritionally lose weight. We have had tremendous success using DNA testing personalized to each individual. But there are other patients who eat well, but can’t physically be as active because of aches and pains. For those patients, available new therapies now exist.
One of the newest advancements in science is the use of stem cells. Through scientific breakthroughs, stem cells can now effectively be extracted, and used therapeutically to relieve pain. Stem cell therapies address pain in the following common areas: knees, shoulders, chronic back pain, chronic neck pain, elbows, wrist, hips and ankles.
Stem cells existed in your body since before you were born, and stem cells remain in your body to this day. Stems cells transform to any type of tissue in the body, based on the signals that the body gives. Stem cells allow us to develop, and allow us to regenerate and repair damaged tissues. As we age, we unfortunately have less and less stem cells in our body. Remember when you were younger and you could do certain activities, and be fine the next day? Now you do those same activities and think, “I remember when I could do ‘such and such’ and not suffer pain for days!”
Infants have the highest amount of stem cells, about 1 in every 10,000 cells in the body. By the age of 80, only about 1 in every 2,000,000 cells are stem cells. Additionally, as we age, our stem cells divide at a slower rate than when we were younger, causing the healing process to take longer. Therefore, decreased stem cell numbers and slower healing are two hurdles to overcome in the fight against pain.
However, through scientific breakthroughs, we can take a concentrated amount of stem cells and inject them into a painful joint or region. This concentration of stem cells activates natural healing processes, which were previously limited, that then repair the injured area effectively. This subsequently reduces pain, and allows patients to return to activities that were previously painful or impossible to perform.
Most patients see significant improvement over the first 4-6 weeks after their stem cell injection. Improvement can continue for 3-6 months after injection. Once the tissues are repaired, the pain relief is long-lasting and doesn’t wear off in a few months, unlike with some medications. The large majority of patients only need one injection, due to the long-lasting relief.
If you have tried other conservative treatments and therapies, without long-term relief, or have been told your “only option” is surgery, you should certainly look into stem cells as an option for pain relief. You can find more information on stem cells at our website www.LoneStarProgressiveMedicine.com, or you can call our office at 817-297-7100 to set up a consultation with one of our providers.
We hope you have a healthy, pain-free, and prosperous New Year!