Taking The Proper Steps After Regenerative Medicine Therapies

Considering regenerative medicine therapies for degenerative arthritis, or a musculoskeletal condition (such as back or neck pain) can be a big step.  It should be noted that the FDA has strict rules regarding “Stem Cell” therapy and that stem cell therapy is only one facet of a holistic regenerative medicine approach.  But before you step into treatment, you probably want to know what happens after the procedure. Planning to do regenerative medicine therapy means that you have to be ready for aftercare – such as what precautions you should take, and if there are any steps you to need perform to ensure the best possible outcome. Here’s a guide and our personal recommendations for taking the proper steps after regenerative medicine therapy: 

How Will I Feel After Treatment? 

Generally, there is little to no recovery time after regenerative medicine therapy. If a patient’s job is not physically demanding, they may not need any time off work. We do recommend, however, that you don’t overdo it. In many cases, it wise to simply go home and rest afterward (this is especially true for adipose derived structural support cell procedures). Depending on what type of   procedure is performed (whether it be adipose-derived support cells, or placental-derived human cellular or tissue based products -HCT/Ps), patients most often walk out of our office with no complications or discomfort and continue with their daily activities.

Use Pain as an Indicator After Treatment

With adipose-derived support cell procedures, expect bruising from the harvest site to last or several days to weeks.  The first few days is probably the most amount of time that a patient will feel pain, but even then most patients are just fine with Tylenol type analgesics.  When returning back to your daily activities and progressing to do more as the weeks go by, always remember that pain is an indicator for reaching your limits. During this time, you may perform light exercises, like going on an elliptical or biking, but we recommend avoiding heavy weight bearing activities.

If you do an activity or move in a way that causes pain, then slow down or stop. Patients usually experience no complications when jumping back into their daily routines, but that doesn’t mean they should ignore what their body is telling them. You need to work at a pace that allows your body to heal and recover properly. Don’t test the limits of your body’s capabilities – let the body tell you what to do.

Heal More Than Just the Treated Area 

On top of listening to your body, you also have to be able to provide for it. If you’ve committed to receiving treatment and spent the money to receive it, then why not do everything possible to make sure it works?

Those who are interested in regenerative therapies will benefit if they also focus on improving overall health and recovery. Patients have a 90-day post-procedural window to provide any advantage they can and do whatever it is they can to aid their recovery. If you decide to get a regenerative therapy done, then it’s time to muster up the attitude and rehabilitate the body as well – for example learn how to reeducate those muscles that are is inhibited, stretch what is tight, and strengthen what is weak.

The goals are to regenerate the site of injury or damage, restore function of the grafted site and its associated structures, and improve the quality of life. So don’t be surprised if your doctor has further recommendations that may help. As these rehabilitation steps are accomplished, pain-free activity should increase.

Typically, after 2 weeks we will see you on a follow-up visit.  We will evaluate your progress and tell you if additional or more aggressive care is needed.  In an ideal world, regenerative therapy treatment will have reached its full potential within 90 days, or 3 months. It’s during this time that we will work most closely with the patient to help ensure that they get the greatest improvement possible.

If you’re ready for regenerative therapy or want to see if you’re a suitable candidate, call us at 1-864-235-1834 or contact us here. Or, to learn more , just click here.