Regenerative Medicine

Regenerative medicine is a medical treatment that helps your body heal itself using its own cells. These cells are drawn from blood or bone marrow, and contain specialized components that prompt your body to start the healing process.

Regenerative medicine can help you:

Regain mobility and function after an accident or trauma
Get you back to playing at peak performance after a sports injury
Restore and maintain an active lifestyle if you have a degenerative condition such as osteoarthritis
Reduce pain in joints, muscles, ligaments, and tendons

Two specific types of cells that we use in regenerative medicine include platelet-rich plasma (PRP) and stem cells. Our doctors have many years of experience injecting regenerative cells into damaged tissue to promote healing and provide pain relief.

All of our procedures are done in our Torrance, Los Angeles office as an outpatient. There is no need for general anesthesia or a hospital stay. Our beautiful and relaxing office setting will put you at ease from the moment you walk in.

Call us today for a personal consultation to see how regenerative medicine might be able to help you. We can be reached at (310) 437-7399.

Platelet-Rich Plasma (PRP)

Your own blood contains platelets and plasma, which are biological compounds that can help your body heal. To isolate the platelet-rich plasma, we draw blood from your arm and spin it in a machine called a centrifuge.

After it spins for about 10 to 15 minutes, the heavier red blood cells collect at the bottom of the vial, and the platelets and plasma rise to the top. Blood plasma is often called “liquid gold” because of its yellowish appearance and valuable healing properties.

Over the last few decades, medical science has discovered many uses for this liquid gold. Blood proteins, clotting factors, and cells that promote new growth are found at concentrations of up to nine times greater in PRP than in whole blood.

Once the platelets and plasma have been isolated, they are drawn up into a syringe and are ready to be injected into the body. At Pacific Pain & Wellness Group, we treat joint damage, ligament and tendon tears, and muscle injuries with PRP injections.

After the solution is injected into injured tissue, it activates the body’s healing process. It accomplishes this in several ways:

Bringing in oxygenated blood
Sending in nutrients to feed new cells
Signaling cells to begin healing.

Platelet-rich plasma contains concentrated amounts of proteins and growth factors, which help your body mend damaged tissue. Several injections may be needed over a period of weeks or months to produce the desired results.

Many patients find that PRP injections reduce pain and help their body recover in ways that were not possible before. To get the best results from PRP treatments, your doctor will likely prescribe physical therapy and regular exercise.

PRP can be an especially effective treatment if you suffer from a degenerative disease such as osteoarthritis. Injections can heal and repair existing joint damage. It may also help you maintain joint tissue integrity throughout the duration of your disease if injections are given periodically.

Stem Cell Therapy

Stem cell therapy can also be used to heal and repair. Just like PRP, stem cell therapy is injected directly into the damaged area where healing needs to take place. The difference with stem cell therapy is that it works on an entirely different level than PRP.

Stem cells are found in tissues such as fat and bones. The highest concentrations of stem cells in the body are found in the marrow of the hip bones. Bone marrow is located in the center portion of your bones.

In order to gain access to it, it must be removed (aspirated) using a needle. This extracted liquid is called bone marrow aspirate concentrate (BMAC). We perform this procedure right in our office; only light sedation and a local anesthetic are needed.

Once the BMAC has been removed from your hip, we spin it in a centrifuge machine to isolate your stem cells and platelets. Stem cells have the ability to differentiate into other cells in the body wherever they are placed. For instance, if stem cells are injected into an injured ligament, they can differentiate into connective tissue to repair the ligament with new cells.

Knee osteoarthritis is one of the most common causes for chronic pain in older adults. This degenerative disease involves the breakdown of cartilage in the knee joint.

Eventually, the bones rub together without this joint cushion, causing severe pain. Cartilage tissue has a very poor blood supply, so when it gets injured or begins to break down (as occurs with osteoarthritis), the body is unable to repair it.

Stem cell therapy injects stem cells, platelets, and growth factors into damaged cartilage, prompting new tissue growth and healing. Not only that, but injections also bring in oxygen-rich blood and nutrients to the area so that it heals as quickly.

Conditions that Respond to Regenerative Medicine Therapy

Poor wound healing:

PRP and stem cell therapy can be used to promote healing in wounds that have not closed up in the expected amount of time. This can occur with people who smoke because nicotine reduces blood flow to the skin, impairing wound healing.
Regenerative medicine can also promote wound healing in people with diabetes. Diabetics tend to have poor circulation and a higher risk of wound complications. When wounds are healed in the proper amount of time, this reduces the incidence of deadly skin infections and sepsis.

Injuries and degenerative disease:

Regenerative medicine effectively treats torn or injured ligaments, plantar fasciitis in the foot, pulled muscles, injuries to the rotator cuff in the shoulder, joint sprains, and bursitis.
Injections can also reach tissue that has been damaged due to a disease process. The most incredible aspect of this healing treatment is its ability to isolate (blood or marrow) and relocate your body's specialized cells via injection.

By relocating these powerful cells, your body jump-starts its healing process so you can recover your mobility and function. One of the biggest advantages to PRP and stem cell therapy is its effect on pain.

These treatments help the body to repair itself, which can lead to less inflammation. Once swelling is decreased, pain is reduced as well. Many of our patients are able to get back to doing what they love because they are in less pain.