Bone Marrow Therapy: What Can It Do?
Regenerative medicine therapies are an effective way to treat a number of painful conditions that affect your mobility and your health.
At Precision Regenerative Medicine, Tammy Penhollow, DO, has extensive experience in using regenerative medicine techniques, including bone marrow therapy to treat a variety of painful spine and joint conditions.
This holistic approach can reduce your reliance on pain medications and can help you heal from the inside out.
What to know about bone marrow therapy
Bone marrow aspirate concentrate (BMAC), or bone marrow therapy, uses bone marrow from your own body to halt progression of degenerative conditions and to heal soft tissue damage in the spine and joints.
The mesenchymal stem cells in your bone marrow have the unique ability to regenerate into musculoskeletal types of cells. Accurate placement of a high concentration of these cells are thought to stimulate your body to heal itself.
As new cells grow, they replace damaged ones in your body that cause inflammation and pain. By treating the underlying cause of these issues, we can help you find long-term relief of your symptoms, so you can stay active.
When to consider bone marrow therapy
You may be a candidate for bone marrow therapy if you have a musculoskeletal injury from a work-related injury or sports injury that causes pain or disability. This treatment may be your first option if Dr. Penhollow determines it’s right for you.
You may also consider bone marrow therapy if you’re not interested in taking medications to control your pain or if other therapies aren’t working well, if you have a moderate degree of degenerative osteoarthritis and do not want to undergo joint replacement or spinal fusion.
If you have chronic pain, Dr. Penhollow recommends that you schedule a diagnostic evaluation at Precision Regenerative Medicine. She may suggest bone marrow therapy to treat injuries to your:
- Bones
- Joints
- Nerves
- Spinal discs
- Cartilage
- Muscles
- Tendons
- Ligaments
The goals of treatment are to use your own bone marrow to heal your injury naturally and improve your overall function now and in the long term.
What to expect during your first bone marrow treatment
The bone marrow Dr. Penhollow uses in treatment comes from your pelvic bone. To achieve the high concentration of cells needed for your therapy, she prepares it in a centrifuge, a device that quickly spins the materials to separate the bone marrow aspirate from the red blood cells.
The resulting concentration of mesenchymal stem cells and other anti-inflammatory mediators and cytokines are what Dr. Penhollow injects into damaged areas of your body, such as your joints, muscles, and discs. She follows a customized treatment plan uses fluoroscopy, a real-time X-ray technology, to collect the bone marrow aspirate and either fluoroscopy or ultrasound to guide the needles into the right targets.
Immediately after your treatment, your pain may increase temporarily. It takes time for inflammation to decrease and for the body to start to heal areas damaged by injury or disease. As new cells grow in the weeks after your injections, you should notice a decrease in pain and an increase in mobility.
By healing the damaged areas of your body, you can expect your results to be long lasting. Another benefit of bone marrow therapy is that many people only need one treatment to see results. You may also be able to postpone or perhaps even avoid surgery when you harness your body’s own ability to heal itself.
While the full benefits of BMAC are still investigational, clinical studies have demonstrated reduction in joint stiffness, relief of pain, and enhanced cartilage and bone healing.
Schedule a consultation online or call Precision Regenerative Medicine today to find out if bone marrow therapy is right for you.
