After reading my first column about stem cell therapy you may be thinking about asking your physician to learn more about how it might help your specific health issues. It can offer one of the most therapeutic approaches for some diseases and health problems, including joint pain, osteoarthritis and sports injuries.
A study published in the Journal of Translational Medicine showed that after a stem cell injection individuals with knee osteoarthritis reported pain reduction and increased mobility as well. Some patients even had cartilage regeneration showing up on follow-up MRI scans.
Another research piece published in the American Journal of Sports Medicine showed how athletes with rotator cuff tears experienced faster healing with stem cells than with surgical treatments alone. In addition, the Journal of Orthopaedic Surgery and Research found that stem cell therapies are particularly effective in enhancing the healing of tendons and ligaments, such as in Achilles tendinopathy or tennis elbow.
They demonstrated how stem cells can promote the growth of new collagen, a key protein involved in the structural integrity of tendons. Both professional athletes and people leading a more sedentary lifestyle can experience these injuries and health issues, so if any of these are affecting you it might be a good idea to look deeper into a stem cell treatment option.
Stem cell therapy offers a significant promise due to its regenerative capabilities. These include potentially regenerating damaged tissues, whether that is a heart muscle following a heart attack, cartilage in osteoarthritis, or neurons in neurological diseases such as Parkinson’s.
It could also reduce the need organ transplants, offering instead the ability to use a patient’s own stem cells for treatment, thus minimizing the risk of immune rejection. Additionally, stem cell therapy could be personalized to target the specific genetic mutations that are responsible for diseases, and can be used in labs to test the safety and effectiveness of new drugs, potentially speeding up the development of new medications without the need for early-stage human testing.
Some of the most promising and well-researched areas include hematologic or blood-related disorders, such as leukemia. Some neurological disorders, such as Parkinson’s, Alzheimer’s and multiple sclerosis are particularly devastating because neurons, once damaged, typically cannot be regenerated. However, with stem cell therapy that might be possible.
Type 1 diabetes is caused by the destruction of insulin-producing beta cells in the pancreas. Stem cell therapy is being researched as a potential method to replace these lost cells, restoring insulin production in patients.
Stem cell treatment for eye diseases too have shown promise in regenerating damaged corneal tissue, offering potential treatments for conditions that lead to blindness, such as macular degeneration and retinitis pigmentosa.
All of these benefits and potential future treatments almost sound too good to be true. However, medicine always involves looking out for new studies coming almost every day, giving us hope to find solutions to many chronic and severe conditions that soon can be healed or reversed.
Nonetheless, we must consider preventive medicine first, which comes from what you eat and how you treat your body and mind. So again, so much comes from choosing to live the healthiest lifestyle and most active life that you can.
In part 3, I would like to discuss how to prevent some of the lifestyle diseases and how to promote and support our own stem cell production naturally.
References:
National Institutes of Health. “Stem Cell Basics”. https://stemcells.nih.gov/info/basics/stc-basics
Mayo Clinic. “Stem cells: What they are and what they do”. https://www.mayoclinic.org/tests-procedures/bone-marrow-transplant/in-depth/stem-cells/art-20048117
U.S. Food and Drug Administration. “Consumer Alert on Regenerative Medicine Products Including Stem Cells and Exosomes”. https://www.fda.gov/vaccines-blood-biologics/consumers-biologics/consumer-alert-regenerative-medicine-products-including-stem-cells-and-exosomes
ScienceDirect. “Histologist”. https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/medicine-and-dentistry/histologist
National Library of Medicine. “U.S. National Football League Athletes Seeking Unproven Stem Cell Treatments”. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4236032/
National Library of Medicine. “Intra-articular treatment options for knee osteoarthritis”. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC6390843/
National Library of Medicine. “The 100 most impactful articles on the rotator cuff: an altmetric analysis of online media”. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC9468194/
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Ayda Ersoy is a nutritionist (Dip.C.N., Dip.S.N.); master trainer (CPT ACE, NCSF, CanfitPro); registered yoga teacher; founder, Health Angel Nutrition, Fitness and Wellness; and founder, SMS (Stability, Mobility Strength) Intuitive Training System.
