Regenerative Medicine

If you are experiencing a great deal of pain from an injury, using medication to cope with these symptoms can become a great risk itself. These prescribed medicines only cover up the symptoms and don’t address the root of the pain.

While pain medication and surgery have their uses in appropriate settings, many patients don’t know about one treatment option that could be the right fit for them: regenerative medicine.

Regenerative medicine is a variety of nonsurgical techniques to help heal ligament injuries, back pain, joint paint, and even weakness in the muscles and joints. The typical repair process is two to three months, but in many cases, significant improvements are noticeable before then. This procedure usually entails introducing a regenerative cellular state into an area of injury which promotes complete healing, growth, and regeneration of the needed tissue directly.

Acoustic wave therapy is a form of low intensity shockwave therapy (LI-SWT) which uses sound waves to deliver mechanical energy deep into tissues that can break up scar tissue and stimulate repair in a safe and effective nonsurgical fashion. It can be used on everything from muscles to joints and tendons to cellulite, facelifts and even erectile dysfunction.

The first and most important thing to understand about stem cell treatments is A) Who are you getting them from? B) What are you getting ? and C) Where are they going?

A) The Who is easy, ask the doctor how many hours they have trained exclusively in stem cell medicine, do they have certificates to backup more training than just a couple of weekend courses. Are they pursuing a board certification in this field? Has the doctor devoted him or herself to training with the foremost names in the field. Will the doctor be doing the treatments or will an assistant. Do not be shy about asking who the physician has trained with as there are very few well-established clinical training programs in this new and emerging science. Dr. Burress is proud of his in-depth and extensive training and feels he is by far the most highly trained provider in this field in the Villages area.

B) What are you getting? There has been a tremendous amount of misinformation regarding stem cell therapy, but don't feel bad, it’s enough to confuse anyone. Are they autologous transplants (meaning they come from your own fat or bone marrow from your own body, so there is low to no chance for rejection/infection) or are they allogenic grafts (usually from birth tissues) such as the umbilical cord? Many of the currently advertised birth tissue treatments today are not true stem cell treatments. If anyone is telling you that current commercially available birth tissue products have live stem cells in them you need to be aware that it is very both very unlikely and that the FDA does not allow the these products to be advertised as stem cell treatments. Even if they do not legitimately contain live stem cells, some products can provide cytokines and exosomes that provide excellent orthobiologic function, but they do have to be sourced correctly. Should you wish to obtain large amounts of legal umbilical cord derived mesenchymal stem cells there are ways to go out of country to obtain these products. There is more than a little debate about the best course of treatment but Dr. Burress can utilize and is trained in all these techniques and keeps up on the latest scientific discussions / regulations regarding these treatments. Legitimate stem cell therapy well-grounded in scientific research is safe and effective for many conditions.. If you don't come to us, feel free to call and use us as an information source about what product you are potentially being injected with.

For further information please visit the FDA website link highlighted here FDA Site (Click Here)

C) Where are the stem cells going to? In the best of cases, your stem cells are injected under precision guidance by a physician well versed in orthopedic injections. This helps to ensure that they go to the best possible location for your success. Your physician should be highly skilled in the use of both musculoskeletal ultrasound and fluoroscopy in order to ensure precision placement. While it is true that stem cells have an innate homing mechanism that guides them to inflammation and the places that they are needed most, un guided injections have a significantly higher failure rate than guided injections, as well as more pain. When you are dealing with a procedure of this significance, you want someone who knows right where to put the cells for their best effect.

Platelet Rich Plasma Therapy (PRP) is used for the treatment of ligament and tendon injuries and chronic degenerative joints. Conditions treated include tennis elbow, knee, shoulder, hip and ankle arthritis, knee ligament tears, partial thickness rotator cuff tears, plantar fasciitis and Achilles tendonitis. Platelets are fragments of cells that contain proteins necessary to help seal broken blood vessels. In an injury, it is the platelet mixture that responds first to help prevent bleeding. Their purpose is to implement tissue repair and prevent further injury to the body. Because of their natural healing factors, platelets help by restoring order within the body caused by injury. So PRP injections boost the recovery process by concentrating these healing efforts into the one area where it is needed the most.

One big reason people opt for regenerative medicine is because it can get at the true source of their pain in a very noninvasive fashion. Many alternatives to regenerative medicine require hospitalization, general anesthesia and its associated risks as well as extensive recovery time. With regenerative medicine there is no need for general anesthesia, no operating room, no significant recovery time following the procedure. You are able to have your procedure in an outpatient setting and can walk out of the clinic immediately afterwards and engage in your normal activity.

Book a consultation with us to see if regenerative medicine is right for you!