Stem Cell Therapy is a non-surgical procedure which utilizes the stem cells from the patients’ own body reserves to help heal the injured area. This procedure has gained popularity in recent years due to its success ratio.

Every organ in the human body is made up of cells. These cells help in the smooth functioning of each particular organ. Every day, millions of these cells die and new cells are produced within the body. This process is called degeneration and regeneration of cells. These new cells are generated from a specific cell in the body, known as the ‘Stem Cell”. The Stem Cell is in essence a parent cell which functions just to replace the new cells with old ones. Stem cells are primitive blood-forming cells that normally live in the bone marrow. They divide and mature into all the different types of blood cells (red cells, white cells and platelets), including the cells of our immune system.

When a number of cells come together, they form a tissue. When the tissue itself is damaged, the degeneration rate of cells goes higher than the regeneration. As a result, there is complication in the functioning of that organ, with pain and weakness.

When the body is unable to regenerate cells as fast as the rate of degeneration, new stem cells need to be introduced to the part of the body where the complication is faced, in this case, the knee. This procedure is well tolerated by patients and not considered difficult.

• A special needle is inserted into the bone to withdraw marrow blood, which contains the stem cells. This need also extracts concentrated platelets, which are introduced into the injured area after the stem cells.
• The harvested bone marrow blood is then concentrated through a lab process, where the stem cells are separated from the marrow blood; and is re-injected exactly into the injured tissue.
• Once the stem cells are injected into the injured area, the platelets are again injected to keep the stem cells active for a long time. If stem cells are the seed in a lawn, then the platelet rich plasma can be considered as fertilizer.
• When the stem cells are re-injected, they improve the natural repair process of degenerated and injured tendons, ligaments, and arthritic joints.

There are two major types of stem cell transplants: Autologous and Allogenic. Autologous is the type when the stem cells are withdrawn from one’s own blood (Mesenchymal Stem Cells) while in Allogenic procedure, the stem cells are withdrawn from a donor’s blood.

The fact that Stem Cell therapy is relatively pain-free makes it a viable alternative to knee-replacement surgery. Most patients return to normal activity following the procedure and are able to avoid the painful and lengthy rehabilitation periods that are usually required to help restore strength, mobility and range-of-motion following invasive joint surgeries. Furthermore, patients are far less vulnerable to the risks of surgeries, such as infection and blood clots.

The major difference between any other treatment and stem cell therapy is that it doesn’t just suppress the pain and other symptoms but works on actually recreating the new cells in the damaged body. It is a healing process for the knee. Many believe that Stem Cell therapy is the best substitute for knee replacement.