Patients coping with arthritis, cartilage defects, sports injuries, sprains, strains and more, can take comfort in knowing that surgery is no longer the only option when it comes to restoring mobility. Now, faster recovery, improved functionality, reduced or eliminated pain and improved mobility are all benefits delivered through the innovative and evolving field of orthobiologics – a field of medicine that uniquely compliments today's continuing technical, anatomic and biomechanical advances in orthopaedics.
We offer patients many of today's cutting-edge, non-surgical treatments and therapies for treating orthopaedic injuries and diseases. For each patient, we begin with a thorough and comprehensive evaluation followed by a customized individual treatment and care plan, based on the current treatments we offer.
These orthobiologic treatments have been specifically designed to harness the healing and restorative powers of the cells and proteins naturally found in the human body. Listed below are some of the orthobiologic treatments that we offer:
Our team at Peninsula Orthopaedic Associates believes in the power of the human body to heal itself. In this new era of joint repair, we are committed to continually bringing our patients proven and effective therapies and treatment protocols to help our patients enhance their body's own repair and healing process.
"Today's orthobiologics- including platelet-rich-plasma (PRP)- have become evidence-based therapies that are being used to treat everyone from professional athletes to those over 50 just wanting to return to their more active lifestyles. For our team, it’s not about how can we use them – it's about helping you determine what they may be able to do for you," Dr. Jason Scopp.
At Peninsula Orthopaedic Associates, we use orthobiologic treatments to stimulate natural tissue healing that helps enhance your body's own repair process. Many refer to biologics as the "next step in restorative medicine," with the power to enable the body to repair and regenerate itself, which accelerates healing, reduces hospital visits, shortens post-surgical recovery time, and more importantly, improves lives. PRP (platelet-rich plasma) therapy have been specifically designed to harness the healing and restorative powers of the cells and proteins naturally found in the human body.
When you suffer an initial injury, the rupture of your tissue causes fluid to be released from your injured cells' surrounding blood vessels. Your body then responds by sending new blood vessels and cells. At this point, these new cells serve two purposes:
Over time, via other signals and special chemicals released by your body, these cells are stimulated to begin maturating in a process where they eventually become healing tissue that matures into strong replacement tissue.
This is where orthobiologic treatments enter the picture, as they have been proven to bolster and accelerate this natural healing process following injury. Introducing orthobiologic therapies enables our physicians at POA to help our patients' bodies respond more quickly, by providing the right treatment of stimulating the receptors on cells that release healing factors and injecting growth factors. This is just the beginning of what is now possible with the wide range of orthobiologic therapies available today, with even more on the horizon.
How do we obtain your stem cells?
We work exclusively with each patient's own stem cells, harvesting them from their adipose tissue and amniotic fluid. While embryonic stem cells can effectively change into any tissue type, we do not use them.
How effective are stem cell & PRP treatments?
Since this is a developing field of medicine, new studies are being performed and evidence for the effectiveness of stem cell and platelet-rich plasma (PRP) treatments is constantly growing. In a recent study, more than 91% of the 1,100 patients who received adult stem cell treatment for knee osteoarthritis had a 50% improvement in their pain and function one year after their treatment. In addition, patients can have improved results from receiving these types of biologic treatments, when in the past they have not responded to the more traditional procedures and therapies.
What are biologic treatments?
Biologic treatments are a type of treatment used in regenerative or restorative medicine. These treatments use restorative methods and procedures to help the body repair and heal itself by using the cells and molecules naturally found in our bodies and blood, including: stem cells, platelets, pericytes, growth factors, enzyme inhibitors, proteins and others. The goal is to encourage the body to efficiently regrow musculoskeletal tissues, including cartilage, bone, tendons and ligaments.
What are growth factors?
Growth factors are necessary proteins that help the body during the healing process and can also speed up the process. Growth factors can be found in your bones, in the marrow, and other parts of your body. At the site of an injury, the growth factors draw in stem cells present in your body to come help with the healing process.
What are stem cell injections?
Stem cell injections are a type of regenerative medicine therapy. Stem cells help the body heal by responding to the injury site. These stem cells can renew themselves or change into a different type of cell, if that is needed, to restore or repair the body.
What are the advantages of biologic procedures?
There are several potential advantages to receiving biologic therapies over the traditional treatments that often include medication, surgery, long recovery and implanting man-made hardware. Biologic treatments and procedures are:
What are the anticipated results of stem cell injection and PRP therapy?
The ultimate goal of stem cell injection and platelet-rich plasma (PRP) therapy is to help the body heal quickly and properly while decreasing pain. Some patients have seen improvements within a few weeks, while many take around 4-8 weeks after the treatments to see signs of improvement. The healing process is different for each patient and could take up to several months for complete healing depending on the treatment length and patient response.
What is regenerative medicine?
Regenerative medicine or restorative medicine is a new, fast-growing field of medicine that provides an alternative to traditional treatments, like surgery and medication, by using the concepts of the body's own ability to repair itself to bring healing, restoration and regeneration to cells and tissues.
What is the difference between stem cell injections and PRP therapy?
Stem cell injections and platelet-rich plasma (PRP) therapy are both biologic therapies used in regenerative medicine. Stem cell injections use stem cells to create new cells that will help heal damaged tissue. While PRP therapy uses platelet-rich plasma in order to stimulate and accelerate the healing of tissue and attract growth factors found in your body.
What types of orthopaedic conditions and injuries can biologic treatments help?
Biologic treatment and procedures can help reduce and eliminate pain, improve and restore mobility, as well as speed recovery in a variety of orthopedic conditions and injuries to the joints, muscles, tendons, ligaments, discs and more.
Where can I find more information about biologics?
The following links are here to provide additional insight from nationally respected organizations:
Why are stem cells important?
Stem cells are the natural source of new cells in your body. Stem cells have the ability to regenerate and repair damaged and diseased cells. Because of their incredible ability to change into different cells, our physicians are now using stem cells to help treat a variety of orthopaedic issues. In fact, these cells are the true worker bees when it comes to helping us treat our patients.
Why is stem cell delivery important?
Getting the stem cells to the right spot makes all the difference. Once injected, stem cells don't magically identify the perfect path to the right spot. That's why having an experienced team like ours supported by advanced imaging is critical to making sure the stem cells are injected directly into the specific location of your injury.
At POA, our team relies on the cutting-edge technology of a C-arm fluoroscope to insure we are correctly delivering the stem cells to the exact areas of injured spine or deep inside other joints, like knees, shoulders and hips. Numerous studies have also shown that ultrasound-guided injections are more accurate than common traditional guided injections, which is why our in-office injections are performed under ultrasound guidance to ensure the most precise placement.
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