Can regenerative medicine help prevent joint and spine surgery?

If your joints and spine function properly, do they hurt? No. Pain occurs from damage. If there is no damage, there is no pain.

Here’s how it works. Pain develops from damage. Damage comes from improper function. Improper function comes from imbalance in the joint and muscle. When the joint or spine stops functioning properly, either from a one-time injury that didn’t heal correctly, or a repetitive trauma, it starts to get damaged which leads to inflammation, called arthritis, and if not corrected will lead to degenerative arthritis.

Arthritis stands for joint (Arth) and inflammation (Itis). Inflammation occurs in the body for two reasons. It causes irritation in the tissue, so you stay off it and floods the area with healing properties. Degenerative Arthritis occurs due to three factors: 1) How bad is it working? (Function) 2) How much you are using it? (Pressure) 3) How long it has been happening? (Time)

Simply put, if there is a joint in your body that is not working properly, you are using it a lot, and if it has been happening for a long time it will turn into degenerative arthritis. If you restore the proper function of that joint the degenerative arthritis will stop.

This leads to two treatment options. The first option is focusing on improving the function by healing the tissue and improving joint mobility and muscle balance with therapy. This option should be used if you would like to return to doing the things that the pain has stopped you from doing.

The other option is symptom reduction through medications, steroid injections and surgery. This option should be used for pain relief but does not offer any functional improvements or restoring proper use.

The clinicians at PC Medical Centers are experts in helping the body restore the function and eliminate the need for meds or surgery in the future by using regenerative medicine, joint mobility, and therapy at the same time.