Stem Cell and Bone Marrow Prolotherapy at Caring Medical
Caring Medical uses stem cells to treat chronic pain, sports injury or arthritis through the use of Bone Marrow Prolotherapy. Dr. Hauser begins by obtaining bone marrow from the injured patient’s tibia (shin bone) or sometimes the iliac crest (hip). The bone marrow can either be directly injected into the injured area, referred to as direct bone marrow aspiration injection, or it can be centrifuged to concentrate the bone marrow, referred to as concentrated bone marrow aspiration injection. Either way, the method is the same – the bone marrow is used as the Prolotherapy solution to regenerate cartilage. As with any type of Prolotherapy, the goal is tissue regeneration.
Bone Marrow Research
While stem cells are accessible from the tibia and iliac crest, some sources claim that stem cells can easily be obtained from adipose tissue. Since obtaining stem cells from adipose tissue is relatively easy and accessible one may wonder why not always extract stem cells from adipose tissue? Well, a recent study in Biomaterials proved that stem cells from adipose tissue were inferior to stem cells obtained from bone marrow[1]. This study was an animal study involving injured sheep’s tibia bones in which they claimed had similar attributes to human tibia bones. They compared the use of bone marrow implants, adipose tissue implants and platelet rich plasma implants. Stem cells obtained from bone marrow resulted in higher amounts of bone formation than adipose tissue and the control group. The researchers concluded that adipose stem cells are not as good of an option in regenerating bone cells. The study also pointed to the fact that stem cells from bone marrow have great potential to regenerated cells for healing. We are in the process of evaluating both methods at Caring Medical and are using some of them in combination. The jury is still out on what is best - but it is a very exciting time for regenerative injection treatments such as Prolotherapy!
Prolotherapy for You
We are coming across more and more research to prove the work we do with Bone Marrow Prolotherapy. We have seen results in all sorts of chronic pain, sports injuries and chronic arthritis patients. The advantage of coming to Caring Medical is that we have a whole host of Prolotherapy options with an experienced Prolotherapy doctor who can administer the correct Prolotherapy solution for each individual case. If chronic pain, injury or sports injury has been weighing you down or if you’re curious about the new stem cell therapies, give us a call to learn about all your options. For more information follow our blog, Facebook page and Twitter account.
[1]Niemeyer, P., K. Fechner, S. Milz, W. Richter, NP Suedkamp, AT Mehlhorn, S. Pearce, and P. Kasten. "Comparison of Mesenchymal Stem Cells from Bone Marrow and Adipose Tissue for Bone Regeneration in a Critical Size Defect of the Sheep Tibia and the Influence of Platelet-Rich Plasma." Biomaterials 31.13 (May 2010): 3572-9.
