In the grand scheme of things, cartilage is often the last thing on your mind when you think about your body and health. But it’s nearly impossible to function when this crucial joint tissue starts to break down.
That’s because cartilage is the slippery, shock-absorbing cushion covering the ends of bones. When this tissue is healthy, these bones glide seamlessly over one another, creating little friction.
It’s also prone to damage from injuries, repetitive strain, and general wear-and-tear. And when that occurs, swelling, pain, and diminished function occur.
Unfortunately, this cartilage also has very limited ability to heal or grow back on its own. Until now.
As a leading provider in Meridian, Idaho, Dr. Jared Tadje stays up-to-date with the latest advancements in orthopaedics medicine.
Your joint cartilage may have limitations on its own, but here’s how Dr. Tadje at Tadje Orthopaedics can help.
If you’ve ever hurt yourself, even with a minor paper cut, you’ve seen your body’s remarkable ability to heal firsthand. There may be some blood, a scab eventually forms, and finally, a pink or white scar might remain. Voila! You’re back to normal again.
But this doesn’t happen to joint cartilage.
Unlike other tissues in your body, joint cartilage doesn’t contain a blood supply. Without it, there’s limited access to the healing properties involved in the repair process.
So, when cartilage sustains damage or deteriorates, it’s often gone for good.
Or is it?
Thanks to advancements in medical treatments, the short answer is: Not necessarily.
Now, experts like Dr. Tadje can give damaged cartilage a healing boost with therapies that deliver vital growth agents directly to the area.
These targeted injections can help regrow tissue in areas where the body can’t do it alone — and they’re providing life-changing results.
The overall goal of regenerative medicine is fairly straightforward: Heal the body to ease symptoms and restore function.
There are many different methods that yield results. At Tadje Orthopaedics, Dr. Tadje uses platelet-rich plasma (PRP) therapy and orthobiologic treatments to address cartilage damage.
During PRP therapy, Dr. Tadje uses vital growth factors in your blood to activate the healing process in your joint cartilage.
This treatment starts with a blood draw. Then, we place a sample in a centrifuge machine to separate the healing agents from the blood.
Finally, Dr. Tadje injects the concentrated growth factors into your damaged cartilage.
Orthobiologic treatments also activate the healing process, but they use stem cells instead of PRP.
Stem cells can become almost any tissue in the body. So when injected into damaged cartilage, they can become healthy new cartilage cells.
Dr. Tadje typically performs orthobiologic treatments using a sample of your bone marrow that we harvest and prepare for therapeutic injection.
Both PRP and orthobiologic treatments are showing exciting results in studies.
In fact, a PRP study on people receiving treatment for cartilage damage related to knee osteoarthritis showed effective pain reduction of around 62%.
Individuals receiving orthobiologic treatment for the same problem saw more than a 50% reduction in pain levels, and it lasted up to two years.
But neither PRP nor orthobiologics provides symptom relief overnight. Instead, these treatments can take a few weeks or months to provide optimal outcomes. After all, it takes time for your body to heal on a cellular level.
Dr. Tadje could also suggest a series of treatments for the best results.
Do you have cartilage damage? Don’t wait to lose any more joint function. Contact Tadje Orthopaedics to book a consultation with Dr. Tadje in Meridian, Idaho, today.
