Stem Cells and Osteoarthritis

What is Osteoarthritis?

Osteoarthritis can be referred to as a degenerative arthritis or degenerative joint disease. Osteoarthritis can be defined as a group of mechanical abnormalities which involves the degradation of joints, including the subchondral bone and the articular cartilage.

Some symptoms one might experience include: tenderness, joint pain, locking, stiffness, and at times an effusion is experienced. When the bone surfaces become less protected by the cartilage, the bone will be exposed and becomes damaged. And as a result of diminished or decreased movement that is a subordinate to pain, the regional muscles may weaken, and the muscles might become more slack.

Can Stem Cells Help With Osteoarthritis?

Stem cell therapy has been tested and found to induce a visible healing activity in animals with different forms of arthritis. For example, a company known as Vet-Stem usually make use of Stem Cells in horses that has various forms of joint deformities in order to accelerate their healing procedure.

And apart from the healing of damaged Tissues, Stem Cells possesses the unique ability to modify the immune system in order to shut off any form of pathological responses and still maintain the ability to fight against disease. Through the application of Umbilical Cord Tissue-derived Mesenchymal Stem Cells, we have observed improvements in patients with osteoarthritis being treated in our office.