Are you suffering from pain due to a bad knee, shoulder, or thumb joint? Have you been thinking about the options of PRP which is Platelet Rich Plasma, or Bone Marrow Concentrate which contains stem cells to treat the problem, hoping to avoid highly invasive surgery? Are you confused about where to go, and what the best treatment option might be? Let me help you learn how to assess different regenerative medical practices so that you can make the most informed decision.
Practices that offer PRP (platelet rich plasma) and BMC (bone marrow concentrate which contains stem cells) to treat degenerated joints and tendons can be compared in terms of:
- Who does the injection?
- What kind of guidance, if any, do they use for the injection?
- Where do they get the stem cells?
- Where exactly do they inject the platelets or cells?
Who does the injection?
You may be surprised to learn that in many offices, a nurse or nurse practitioner, who may have little specialized training in orthopedic injections, does the injections. Sometimes it’s a part-time physician with little to no orthopedic injection training. The best offices feature full-time physicians, trained extensively in orthopedic injections. These physicians, who have spent their career performing injections, are generally interventional pain specialists, orthopedists, or physiatrists. They are well versed in anatomy and the use of x-ray and ultrasound guidance to guide injections. Regenexx® only accepts physicians with substantial experience in orthopedic injections to be affiliates who also go through Regenexx training.
What kind of guidance is used for injection?
Always expect to have injections performed under imaging guidance, either ultrasound guidance or Fluoroscopy which is a type of X-ray guidance, depending on what is being injected. If an office doesn’t have an x-ray machine and an ultrasound machine, you’re in the wrong place. “Blind” injections, performed without x-ray or ultrasound, are a thing of the past and allow only a very limited amount of precision and safety in treatment. This should not be considered acceptable care. Every Regenexx office uses ultrasound and/or x-ray to guide to all their injections.
Where do they get the cells?
If you’re hoping to receive treatment with stem cells you need to know that these cells need to come from your own bone marrow. Any commercially prepared product claiming to contain these cells is a fraud as numerous studies have shown they contain no live cells. So, in better practices, a physician performs a bone marrow aspiration to obtain these cells from your bone marrow. In the best practices, physicians concentrate the bone marrow and count these cells, letting them know the “dose” of cells. The number of cells matters in terms of outcomes, with higher cell counts yielding better results. Regenexx-affiliated physicians all concentrate and count the bone marrow derived cells to be sure the dosing is appropriate.
Where are they injecting?
Using the knee joint as an example, will your injector use a blind technique to inject into the joint alone or does your injector have the skill to precisely inject any injured area?
As you can see, there’s a big difference:
Most physicians and nurses lack the injection skills of a Regenexx-trained physician. Additionally, if they don’t have x-ray or ultrasound guidance in their clinic, they simply cannot inject precisely and accurately.
Especially important in knee care are the bone injections. Research shows that injecting directly into the femur, patellar, and tibia bones enhances outcomes. If your provider isn’t injecting the bones, you’re not getting a top-shelf treatment. All Regenexx-affiliated practices perform intraosseous (bone) injections of cells to improve results.
The bottom line is this: if you’re in a Regenexx office, you’re in the right place. If you’re not, assess the practice carefully. To be sure, call Advanced PainCare today at 717-791-2860 to arrange your consultation.