Stem Cell Therapy Procedures

Physical therapy, increasingly stronger and stronger pain medications, steroid injections and surgery used to be your only options for joint pain. You may have been told that persistent and chronic pain would be with you for the rest of your life, particularly after an accident or with debilitating osteoarthritis. Now you can get stem cell therapy for knees instead of knee replacement surgery, platelet rich plasma and stem cell treatments for osteoarthritis, and regenerative therapy for chronic foot, ankle, back or shoulder problems from your Brooklyn NYC pain specialist, Dr. Leon Reyfman.

Too often, doctors have only been able to mask your symptoms when you suffered from the pains associated with aging or injuries, such as:

• Joint pain
• Failing joints
• Injuries such as tennis elbow
• Hip pain
• Arthritis
• Back pain
• Shoulder stiffness

You may have been told that you just have to learn how to live with and manage your pain. Maybe a surgeon you met with was quick to suggest knee or hip replacement as a means of restoring your mobility. No more! Now, you have safer and longer-lasting alternatives, thanks to regenerative therapy.

Progress in Stem Cell Therapy

You don’t have to suffer with degenerative joint, bone and nerve pain, thanks to the progress made in stem cell treatments in the past few years. These game-changing techniques make it possible to actually turn you own stem cells into the differentiated cells your body needs to heal.

When inserted into an arthritic hip, for example, the stem cells taken from your bone marrow can become cartilage cells and stimulate healthy cells to replace the damaged ones. The same is true for your feet, ankles, shoulders, back and other joints where painful osteoarthritis has taken hold.

How Stem Cells Work

Your New York pain specialist has been getting amazing results for patients like you who thought they’d be suffering for the rest of their lives. The process of differentiation is the means by which your stem cells can turn into different kinds of cells.

Regenerative therapy is a boon to people with degenerative diseases and injuries that typically had no cure through conventional medical procedures. Even surgery, as risky as it is, only offered partial treatment. The stem cell process is fairly simple and is performed in your NY doctor’s office:

1. An area on your spine is numbed with a local anesthetic.
2. A needle is used to withdraw cells from your bone marrow.
3. The cells are filtered in a closed system to prevent contamination.
4. The stem cells then are injected into your damaged or diseased joint.

You can go home the same day, after only a few hours in the office. You’ll have a Band-Aid to cover the punctures and instructions to take over-the-counter pain relievers if you feel any discomfort. You can resume your normal activities right away — or after one day of rest.

Stem Cell Therapy for Osteoarthritis

Osteoarthritis causes chronic pain and can affect many different joints in your body, including your back and neck. According to the American Association of Hip and Knee Surgeons, more than $90 million a year is spent to treat the more than 25 million people who suffer from osteoarthritis in the United States.

While there isn’t definitive “cure” for the degenerative joint disease, stem cells do have anti-inflammatory, anti-fibrotic and anti-apoptotic properties that show promising results in reducing and even reversing the effects of osteoarthritis. In other words, you’ll experience less swelling, a decrease in cell death and a reversal of fibrous tissue formation — all conditions that decrease your pain almost immediately.

Stem Cell Therapy for Knees

While osteoarthritis certainly is one of the conditions that cause knee pain and reduces mobility, other conditions can lead to long-term knee problems. These include:

• Bursitis
• Injury
• Trauma
• Overuse
• Torn meniscus
• Gout

Instead of the more traditional treatment of replacement knee surgery, you may be a good candidate for stem cell therapy for knees or a platelet rich plasma treatment that relies on your own blood, re-introduced to the damaged area, to begin the healing process.

Stem Cell Therapy for Hips

Your body is made up of billions of cells that go through a degeneration and regeneration process every day. As you age, that regeneration process slows down and damaged cells don’t get replaced as vigorously as they did when you were younger.

And when injury occurs, that slows down the regenerative process even more. Arthritis in the hips or damage from a fall or accident can cause debilitating immobility. Previously, hip replacement was the only alternative to pain pills to deal with hip pain. Stem cell therapy and platelet rich plasma (PRP) treatments now are available as safe, practical and effective alternatives.

Stem Cell Therapy for Your Back

Surgical intervention often was the only way to relieve you of chronic lower back pain. Damaged discs had to be removed or fused into place to stop your persistent pain. With the growing acceptance and refined procedures of stem cell therapy and PRP now available, you have pain-fighting alternatives.

Stem cells help regenerate the collagen that makes up the discs between your vertebras. Patients report immediate and long-term relief when they’ve been injected with their own healing stem cells. Stem cell therapy for your back also can heal neck pain, shoulder problems, and foot and ankle pain.

Is Stem Cell Therapy for You?

A NY pain management specialist like Dr. Leon Reyfman determines whether you qualify as a candidate for stem cell therapy. Various factors that may prohibit the success of the treatment may include:

• Severe obesity
• Lack of physical activity
• Age
• General health
• Severity of your disease or injury
• Other medications you may be taking

Generally, you won’t be eligible for stem cell therapy if you:

• Have a blood-borne cancer such as leukemia and have not been in remission for at least five years
• Are taking blood thinners
• Have multiple medical conditions
• Currently have an infection