When it comes to your all-important hips, there are two concerning facts to keep in mind. First, your hips are the second largest weight-bearing joints (your knees hold the top spot), which means they can experience considerable wear and tear.
Second, the rates of hip osteoarthritis (OA) in the United States are on the rise — over the past three decades, the prevalence of hip OA increased by 25%, leaving a good number of Americans hobbling around.
If you find yourself in this group and osteoarthritis has you dealing with painful and stiff hips, it’s time for you to explore an exciting new approach to joint issues: regenerative orthopedics.
At No Mercy Sports Medicine in Miami, Florida, Dr. Moisés Irizarry-Román is always looking for ways to treat musculoskeletal issues without resorting to surgery. The use of regenerative orthopedics, such as stem cell therapy and platelet-rich plasma (PRP), is fast becoming a go-to tool.
Here, we look at how regenerative orthopedics can improve the health of your hips and restore your pain-free mobility.
Millions of Americans are affected by arthritis, and OA leads the charge, affecting at least 33 million Americans. Also called a wear-and-tear disease of the joints, OA tends to develop in active, weight-bearing joints most frequently — and your hips certainly check these boxes.
When OA develops in your hips, the protective cartilage that allows for easy gliding between the bones in your joints breaks down. When this happens, friction between the bones occurs, which leads to the joint pain and inflammation that are the hallmarks of hip OA.
One of the biggest challenges when it comes to OA is that cartilage doesn't regenerate — once it breaks down, it doesn't regrow. And as OA progresses, your joint pain can increase, which drives millions of Americans to joint replacement surgery — surgeons perform at least a half-million hip replacements each year in the US.
Our goal is to intervene earlier with regenerative orthopedics so patients can avoid, or at least delay, hip replacement. At No Mercy Sports Medicine, we offer two main types of regenerative orthopedics.
Stem cells are the building blocks upon which all other cells are created thanks to their ability to differentiate, which means transform into other cells.
Humans have the most stem cells during embryonic development, some carry into adulthood to help the body with repairs. With our stem cell therapy, we harvest these stem cells, usually from the marrow in your hip bone, and redirect them into areas that need a boost in regenerative capabilities.
When these stem cells arrive on the scene, they differentiate into the cells needed to repair and regenerate the connective tissues in your hip joints.
With PRP therapy, we tap another powerful biologic resource in your body — platelets. These cells are found in your blood, and they’re first responders when there’s damage. Your platelets first control any bleeding and then kick off the healing cascade by releasing powerful growth factors.
These growth factors create the ideal healing and reparative environment by calling on regenerative resources and controlling inflammation.
Each of these regenerative orthopedic treatments is safe because we’re using resources from your own body. They’re also minimally invasive — we use needles and not scalpels.
For hip OA, we often recommend a series of treatments to get your achy hips the resources they need to function better and less painfully.
When it comes to results, these occur gradually as the regenerative cells get to work and start rebuilding from within.
To learn more about how regenerative orthopedics can help with your hip OA, contact No Mercy Sports Medicine in Miami, Florida, to schedule an appointment with Dr. Irizarry-Román. You can call 305-614-6757 or send a message online using our online contact form.
