What you Should Know About Bone Marrow Injections for Arthritis

A great deal of research has been done, and experts are now concluding that bone marrow injections can be used to effectively treat arthritis in the knees, as well as other joints throughout the body.

Many doctors have already been offering this type of treatment for arthritis, although it is yet to be considered standard practice. Because it has not yet become standard practice, it would be worthwhile for potential patients to have an understanding of just what bone marrow injections are, and how they can be used to combat arthritis.

What are bone marrow injections?

Stem cells are located all throughout your body, including the bone marrow. They are quite special because they have the capability of dividing and replicating themselves. Not only that, but they can also transform themselves into different types of cells.

Although stem cells don’t provide a useful purpose to the body in and of themselves, they can develop into cells that do serve an important purpose, like transforming into cartilage.

When bone marrow is harvested from your own body, the stem cells included can be concentrated and then re-injected back into your body into an area where damage has occurred or where pain is being experienced. When stem cells are inserted into a specific environment, they can transform to fulfill a particular need of that section of the body. For example, when stem cells are inserted into an area that has damaged cartilage, the stem cells will convert into cartilage tissue to help heal the damaged tissue.

Who is a good candidate for bone marrow injections?

Almost anyone who is suffering from a problem with their blood cells, such as leukemia or lymphoma, as well as people with degenerative disc diseases, benefit from bone marrow injections. There is also considerable evidence that suggests patients suffering from severe arthritis can receive considerable benefits from bone marrow injections. A large body of research shows that younger patients with relatively mild cases of cartilage damage or osteoarthritis will get the most benefit from the injections.

Injections for arthritis

If you're considering the process of bone marrow injections for the treatment of arthritis, Dr. Don Buford, founder of Texas Orthobiologics in Dallas, Texas, is one of the few orthopedic surgeons who specializes in this kind of treatment. Dr. Buford can retrieve the necessary bone marrow cells right in the office in a procedure that involves minimal discomfort.

These bone marrow cells have the capability of regenerating, and when they are concentrated into bone marrow concentrate (BMC), they can be re-injected into the patient on that same day. The whole process takes only about 20 minutes as an outpatient, but you could start feeling the effects of arthritis subsiding very quickly, and you might enjoy the positive results achieved for a long period of time.