Dedicated athletes, both professional and amateur, are always looking for an edge. Attaining peak performance, staying competitive, and continuing to achieve goals are always top priorities. However, all human bodies are susceptible to injury in competition and training. Stem cells offer a new alternative to quickly and efficiently heal injured tissue naturally.

Injuries happen. They may develop as a result of improper training or use of equipment. Very often, they are inflicted by repetitive stress or overuse brought on by the ongoing training in which most competitive athletes engage on a regular basis. Repetition of motion can place focused stress on particular joints, tendons, and ligaments. Improper form, technique, or even fatigue from over-training can also produce over-use injuries, causing strained, stretched, or even torn ligaments.

In recent years, a great many prominent professional athletes have personally elected to use stem cell therapy instead of major surgery because stem cells are often the most effective way to speed their recovery and alleviate pain. Athletes are now able to minimize post-injury pain and downtime, as well as achieve more complete healing – allowing them to quickly get back to their optimal performance.

STEM CELL THERAPY

         Professional athlete Manning Sumner’s experience with stem cell procedure

The stem cells we use at the Osteopathic Center are mesenchymal cells, medicinal signaling cells, adult cells that are very potent. They signal tissue-specific stem cells and site-specific stem cells to activate. You can think of them as cellular packets of high potential that are directed to where the body has a need to fix something. They are able to mobilize in response to an injury. Your body has these cells, but often not enough to overcome an injury. By injecting stem cells, we can give your body more of what it uses to heal.

Practitioners use mesenchymal stem cells found typically in your own bone marrow, adipose (fat) tissue, or from amniotic fluid or umbilical cord tissue obtained after a live birth C-section from a healthy mother. These harvested stem cells will speed the recovery in the injured area by becoming the messengers necessary to begin the healing cascade. The stem cells may be combined with amniotic tissue that acts as an allograft, allowing the stem cells to properly adhere and help regenerate the surrounding affected tissue. Typically, stem cells are administered to the affected injury area with the aid of ultrasound imagery, allowing the cells to be inserted with precision.

While many professional athletes don’t publicize their use of stem cell therapy, it has become quite widely used because of its effectiveness, making it a professional’s well-kept secret. Pro athletes of every sport are making use of this proven technology, looking for that competitive edge – reducing their recovery time and assisting in rapid regeneration of damaged tissues.

        Watch professional athlete Ron Ortiz’s stem cell procedure 

For both professionals and fitness fanatics, stem cell therapy offers injured athletes major hope that simply did not exist before. Cartilage can be repaired before ligaments are fully torn, partial tears can be fixed without surgery, and faster recovery times can now be expected with minimally invasive procedures.

Initially, stem cell therapy was financially unrealistic for many people. It was used only by those with a professional athlete’s salary and need to perform on the field. But today, stem cell therapy is much more cost-effective. Even though insurance companies haven’t yet started to cover it, prices are much more accessible, and often offset by the fact that surgery and rehabilitation costs can be avoided altogether.

Since this new technology has now proven to be effective and increasingly accessible, anyone interested in finding a way to speed the process of recovery from injury can consider it as a viable treatment.

Interested in stem cell therapy? Set up a consultation and we will review the specifics of your injury or degenerative situation. We will conduct a thorough analysis of your pain — what does it feel like, how long have you had it, what is revealed when looking at the area in motion with ultrasound as opposed to stationary scans like X-rays. This allows us to give you a tailored and personalized approach, enabling you to return to your active lifestyle as quickly as possible.