There are few treatments that provide reliable relief to patients with these problems, and some treatments such as anti-inflammatories and corticosteroid injections (cortisone) can have negative effects, and often fail to provide sustained relief. Some studies even show that corticosteroids can worsen cartilage damage in joints making patients and practitioners search for other options including biologic treatments.

Biologic treatments include:

What Are Stem Cells?

Stem cells are cells in the body that can differentiate into (become) more than one other type of cell. This means that they have the potential, with the right signals, to become bone, cartilage or other useful tissue types. More importantly, stem cells provide signals to other cells around them. Many of these signals are anti-inflammatory, providing the potential to decrease symptoms of inflammation (pain, swelling, loss of function) in many bone and joint conditions.

Regenerative Medicine

The use of biologic treatments has been coined regenerative medicine. With a complex understanding of the biology of stem cells there may come a day when cartilage can be regenerated and arthritis can be reversed. At present, biologic treatments are showing promise in improving patient symptoms. Platelet-rich Plasma has some studies that suggest it can provide relief of knee pain from arthritis for up to a year or more. As the use of stem cells becomes more common there may be similar findings.