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Regenerative Therapy
Regenerative therapy provides an exciting opportunity within the field of pain management. Traditionally, pain therapy options include medications, physical therapy, steroid injections and surgery. Regenerative medicine offers an alternative to help treat conditions such as osteoarthritis, soft tissue injuries, and degenerative disc disease. We offer both Platelet Rich Plasma (PRP) injections and Stem Cell injections as treatment options.
Platelet Rich Plasma (PRP)
Platelet rich plasma is plasma that has been processed to have a high concentration of than what is typically found in blood. Platelets are best known for their importance in clotting blood. PRP contains concentrated platelets which release many growth factors such as platelet-derived growth factor (PDGF), transforming growth factor (TGF), vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), insulin-like growth factor (IGF), epidermal growth factor (EGF) and interleukin 2 (IL-2). PRP can also help promote collagen production. These growth factors and collagen production are important in healing damaged areas.
After a simple blood draw from the arm, we are able to concentrate the amount of platelets in the sample. and then inject those platelets into the area that causes pain.
Stem Cell Therapy
Ascend Pain offers regenerative stem cell injections. Stem cell therapy is a cutting-edge treatment that is used to help accelerate the healing of damaged tissue.
Stem cells are cells that have not yet matured so they can therefore differentiate into various types of cells. They can also multiply indefinitely to create more of the same type of cell. For that reason, this treatment can be used to repair and regenerate areas of the body that have degenerated.
Stem cells are prevalent throughout the body. In particular, they are found in high concentrations in the bone marrow and adipose fat tissue. These sites can be easily accessed to collect stem cells from the patient’s own body. Once the stem cells are collected, they are then processed and concentrated. The final product can then be injected into the painful area to help start the regenerative process.
One of the most common indications for stem cell therapy is for the treatment of joint osteoarthritis. Osteoarthritis is inflammation of the bone due to the deterioration of cartilage. Cartilage allows your bones to glide along one another allowing for smooth and painless joint motion. In advanced osteoarthritis, the cartilage can wear thin and eventually progress to being bone on bone. This can be painful and lead to significant limitations in activity levels.
Frequently, osteoarthritis is treated with steroid injections. Steroids are extremely effective in reducing the inflammation in the joint, but they are not able to regenerate tissue. Therefore, over time, the symptoms of osteoarthritis may worsen and the steroids may lose efficacy.
Stem cell therapy is an option available to target these areas to promote the creation of new cartilage cells. This therapy has been used to treat conditions like joint arthritis, ligament sprains, bursitis, degenerative discs tendonitis and much more. Consult with your pain physician to see if you are a candidate.
Hair PRP
Hair platelet-rich plasma (PRP) has been increasingly used in the treatment of hair loss. It has gained increased popularity as it is a minimally invasive and natural approach to thinning hair. This process uses your body’s own cells to stimulate hair growth.
Your blood is made up of both red blood cells and plasma. Plasma contains white blood cells platelets, which help to stimulate growth factors.
We are able to separate the components of blood and then re-introduce the plasma into the scalp and hair follicles. This process re-stimulates the hair growth cycle, stops the spread of baldness, and can thicken existing hair.
PRP therapy for hair loss is a three-step medical treatment. First, the patient’s blood is drawn. Next that blood is placed into a centrifuge where it is processed to isolate the highest concentration of platelets. Lastly, this PRP is injected into areas of the scalp to start the stimulation of hair growth.
The frequency of PRP treatment is dependent on the patient and the speed of results. On average, treatments are performed every 3-4 months until the desired effect is achieved.