Alternatives to Surgery: Joint Repair and Injuries

by Dr. TyRonda Smith

Imagine, one day you're working out, or lifting something over your head, and you start to notice a pain in your shoulder. You feel like your mobility and range of motion have decreased, and you keep feeling this ache in the back of your shoulder, just nagging at you. The pain starts to get worse, but you're managing daily, until one day, it bugs you so much, you finally decide to come in and get imaging. An MRI reveals a labrum tear in the shoulder joint, and you're thinking, "Boy, I really don't want to get surgery". 

So then, what can you do? The answer is in Extra-Cellular Vesicles.

Now you're probably wondering, "What are these vesicles?" Extra-cellular vesicles work to cause cells throughout the body to communicate with each other over long and short distances. All cells have these vesicles, that can work in various ways. However, extra-cellular vesicles derived from mesenchymal stem cells can have a great affinity for healing tissues, and so can be very beneficial for you in treating this injury without surgery.

There is a great research article about all of the potential uses written in the Journal of Translational Medicine you can read more about here.

So, let's say you decide to try this treatment approach, and after a couple of weeks to a couple of months, your shoulder is now feeling a lot better. I bet you'd wish you had done it sooner, right? This is something that I hear often from patients who have waited 5-10 years to deal with shoulder, knee, ankle, and elbow injuries. 

If this sounds like you, or maybe you have a different type of joint injury that's causing you pain, and you want to try alternatives to surgery, don't wait to feel better. Come into Chambers Clinic and let's see if these treatments are right for you.