Treat Your Pain Naturally - Harness Your Ability To Heal And Restore Your Damaged Discs or Joints

The discs in your spine act as shock absorbers for your body.  The joints in your neck, back, and limbs control motion and flexibility. Over time and as a normal part of the aging process the discs and other joints in your body may wear out or become degenerative. This degenerative cascade may occur spontaneously with aging, or more acutely with injury. The pathway to degenerative disc disease or osteoarthritis involves a cycle of biomechanical factors, cellular processes, and inflammation that leads to cell dysfunction and cell death. This leads to degenerative intervertebral discs or other joints, and the associated chronic back pain and joint pain.

Fortunately this painful degenerative process can be addressed naturally with cellular medicine therapies - available to your here and now. Autologous cells and other regenerative cellular components are readily available from your own bone marrow, fat, and blood. These cellular components can be harvested and prepared using FDA guidelines, and then injected into the degenerative disc or joint of interest to treat the degenerative process and the associated pain.  

This cellular medicine therapy promotes decreased pain and increased function with quick recovery and minimal risks.

Cellular Medicine Therapy

Cellular medicine therapy utilizes your own autologous cells to replace or repair damaged tissues and cells. With current technologies and innovative products, many different types of autologous cells – harvested painlessly from your body - may be used as part of a cell therapy or treatment for a variety of diseases and conditions. Current cell-based therapies use autologous adult stem cells (MSCs and ADSCs), and platelet rich plasma (PRP) to promote repair and healing.

Bone marrow-derived mesenchymal stem cell injections, adipose-derived stem cell injections, and PRP injections are minimally invasive outpatient office procedures where your own autologous cells are harvested, prepared, and then injected into the degenerative disc or joint to try to repair and restore disc or joint structure and function and reduce the inflammation and pain - naturally.

These cell therapies, also known as regenerative medicine therapies, promote the natural repair response of diseased, dysfunctional, or injured cells and tissues using your own autologous cells or their derivatives.

The different types of cellular medicine injections can be used alone or in combination to treat injury or degenerative conditions of the spine and virtually any joint of the body.  The cellular healing mechanisms then work by promoting your body’s natural healing processes.  The different cellular injections are naturally rich in anti-inflammatory healing factors and growth factors that stimulate tissue healing.  These proteins induce angiogenesis, attract stem cells, and help repair the injured disc or joint.

Stem Cell Therapy

Stem cells are precursor cells - they are the cells of origin from which other cells are generated.  Autologous adult stem cells, the ones in your body, have the ability to divide into identical cells and stay in an undifferentiated state, and the ability to differentiate into specialized cell types.  

Two types of adult stem cells are hemopoietic stem cells (HSCs) and mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs). 

HSCs give rise to all of your blood cell components, including neutrophils, lymphocytes, natural killer cells, dendritic cells, macrophages, and monocytes.  HSCs are derived from bone marrow.

MSCs are multipotent adult stem cells that can differentiate into a variety of cell types, including bone cells (osteoblasts), cartilage cells (chondrocytes), muscle cells (myocytes) and fat cells (adipocytes).  MSCs are thought to be present in all organs in your body.  In adults, MSCs are present within different tissues and organ systems, the most common being bone marrow and fat tissues.

Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) are used in cellular medicine and regenerative medicine because of their ability to self-renew and their ability to differentiate into different cell types. 

Mesenchymal Stem Cells (MSCs) from Bone Marrow

Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) from bone marrow are multipotent stem cells that can differentiate into a variety of cell types, including bone cells (osteoblasts), cartilage cells (chondrocytes), muscle cells (myocytes) and fat cells that give rise to marrow adipose tissue (adipocytes). These MSCs are harvested and prepared from a bone marrow aspirate. The MSCs are then injected into the area of interest - i.e., the intervertebral disc, or the injured or arthritic joint.

Adipose Derived Stem Cells (ADSCs)

Adipose-derived stem cells (ADSCs) are cells obtained from your adipose tissue (fat). Adipose tissue is the most abundant source of mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) in your body making it readily available for cellular medicine therapy. Good news here - your fat generally gets better with age! ADSCs have low immunogenicity because they are a natural component of your body. ADSCs are able to self-renew, are able to differentiate into different tissue-specific progenitors, are able to migrate into damaged sites, and are able to act through autocrine and paracrine pathways.  These mechanisms are important in cell repair and regeneration. ADSCs are harvested and prepared from a simple liposuction. The ADSCs - and other regenerative components of the stromal vascular fraction - are then injected into the area of interest - i.e., the intervertebral disc, or the injured or arthritic joint.

Platelet Rich Plasma (PRP)

Platelet rich plasma (PRP) is autologous blood plasma with concentrated platelets. PRP is effective because the platelet concentrations in the PRP preparation are 5-10 times that found in your blood. The concentrated platelets help mediate natural healing because once activated, the platelets release many different growth factors, proteins and cytokines that promote cell and tissue repair and healing. This conglomeration of growth factors stimulate cell repair via anti-inflammatory, cell growth, immune signaling, and cell recovery pathways. PRP is harvested and prepared from a simple venous blood draw using a specialized FDA approved kit to centrifuge and concentrate the platelets. The PRP is then injected into the area of interest - i.e., the intervertebral disc, or the injured or arthritic joint.

Is Cellular Medicine Therapy Right For You? - ask a Brain Surgeon

The goal of cellular medicine is to treat the cause of the degenerative disc or joint as much as it is to treat the consequence of the degenerative disc or joint - the pain and loss of function of the disease. Successful treatment is multifactorial. The process starts with getting an accurate diagnosis, and then continues with considering treatment options, reviewing an informed consent, selecting the preferred treatment, and then getting precise and effective delivery of the treatment.

Jeffrey J. Larson, MD is a neurosurgeon, a scientist, and an inventor. He has more than 30 years experience. Dr. Larson will help you with your diagnosis and with which treatment is right for you.