Regenerative medicine treatment alternatives to knee surgery
Written by:
Sports medicine specialist
Published: 20/12/2021
Edited by: Conor Lynch
We recently had the pleasure to speak with esteemed London-based consultant sports medicine specialist, Dr Ralph Rogers, who provided us with a fascinating insight into the various regenerative medicine treatment options he typically provides to his patients. Read on to find out what exactly regenerative medicine is, and what age groups are most suitable for these non-surgical regenerative medicine treatment alternatives as effective treatments for conditions such as knee osteoarthritis.
What exactly is regenerative medicine?
Regenerative medicine is the process of regenerating engineering. In other words, it simply means replacing human cells to establish normal function. I harvest the blood and fat cells in order to establish a natural healing process within the damaged joint tissue.
What are the main regenerative medicine treatments that you offer?
We always try to offer the most cutting-edge treatments. At the moment, we offer Tenex, nSTRIDE, Platelet-Rich Plasma, as well as Lipogems.
Who would you typically offer these treatments to?
If somebody comes to me with knee osteoarthritis and does not want a knee replacement or feels as though they are not ready to have a knee replacement, I would then offer nSTRIDE or Lipogems. These are both minimally invasive treatments and will help decrease pain as well as do the world of good when it comes to increasing overall function.
What age groups are these treatment options suitable for?
These treatments are for everybody, from teenagers to people who are 90 years old. If you're around 50 years old and feel that you're too young for knee surgery, or again, may not want to have knee surgery, then we can use this treatment. This is a great, effective alternative to knee surgery.
How long do they usually last?
The beauty of the treatments that I provide are that all of them are outpatient treatments. They last less than 30 minutes, but you're usually in and out of the clinic within a couple of hours.
What is recovery time like?
The recovery time really depends on which procedure you've had, but we're looking along the lines of four to six weeks. One’s overall general health will also influence recovery time.
Somewhere around seven to 10 days after the treatment, we need to get you into rehab, because mostly what happens is that you've established a certain way of walking, a certain way of using certain parts of your body, which is mechanically incorrect. So, what we try to do is reestablish the biomechanics.
How successful is regenerative medicine treatment?
Overall, this treatment seems to be extremely successful, with success rates anywhere from 85 per cent to 87 per cent.
If you would like to find out more about the regenerative medicine treatment options that sports medicine specialist Dr Ralph Rogers offers, you can visit his Top Doctors profile today and book an appointment with him.