by A physician who specializes in orthobiologics can use naturally-occurring substances, such as cells, tissues and growth factors found in the body, to treat musculoskeletal conditions. These treatments are less invasive than surgery and may help increase healing and reduce pain.
Orthobiologics can be autologous or allogeneic. A doctor can harvest platelet rich plasma (PRP) from the patient and then inject it into their tendon to promote healing.
Most orthobiologics are autologous and can help bones, joints, muscles, or tendons heal by stimulating the body’s natural healing processes. Often these substances are simply injected or placed in the area of injury.
Blood-derived Orthobiologics include things like platelet rich plasma (PRP), which is a concentration of platelets that contains many different growth factors and cytokines that promote healing. Other blood-derived orthobiologics include stromal cells and mesenchymal stem cells.
The Global Orthobiologics Market is estimated to be valued at US$ 6,515.2 million in 2022 and is expected to exhibit a CAGR of 5.9% during the forecast period (2022-2030), Research study by Coherent Market Insights.
Injecting concentrated PRP or BMAC into the damaged facets of the neck joint using X-ray and ultrasound guidance for precise placement. This helps to reduce pain and inflammation as well as stimulate healing of the articular cartilage in the neck. It also seems to help augment microfractures when used in conjunction with these treatments.
If pain or injury has not responded to traditional treatment options like physical therapy, bracing and/or anti-inflammatory medication, then orthobiologics may be the answer. These treatments use natural substances to help bones, joints, muscles and tendons heal faster and improve function.
PRP is a popular example of an orthobiologic used to treat joint issues such as rotator cuff tendinitis, which often responds very well to this treatment. It is done in-office and has a very quick recovery period.
In some cases, PRP can be repeated yearly to help speed up and promote the growth of new tissue to help repair a tear. Other types of orthobiologics are called extra-cellular matrices or ECM, which act as a scaffold to fill in the voids of torn tissue for cells to grow over. Examples include fat grafts and birth tissues derived from amniotic membranes and umbilical cords.
Orthobiologics help tendons, ligaments, muscles, and bones heal themselves and can delay the need for surgery. Some of these substances are injected into the injured tissue at a higher concentration than what is produced naturally, which boosts the body’s healing ability.
The Orthobiologics that are most commonly used by our physicians include PRP, bone marrow aspirate concentrate (BMAC), recombinant human bone morphogenetic protein and demineralized bone matrix. These agents can be injected into the area of injury to help promote vascularity and bone formation.
The exact mechanism of action for many of these regenerative agents is not fully understood. It appears that most act by influencing inflammation. They may increase an inflammatory response or reduce it. This has important implications for the clinical use of these products. As they are non-pharmacologically synthesized, their safety is harder to assess than for other medications. They also tend to be more expensive than pharmacologically synthesized drugs, making them less accessible to a large section of the population.
The body is naturally equipped to heal a cut on the finger, whereas certain musculoskeletal injuries and conditions require assistance.
These biological preparations can contain autologous or allogeneic cells, platelets, proteins (in solution or encapsulated), cytokines, growth factors, etc. They can be used to treat tendons, ligaments, cartilage, bone and muscle.
In case of a severe neck joint *facets* injury that won’t heal on its own, a doctor might inject a concentrated sample of the patients bone marrow *stromal vascular fraction* into the injured area using x-ray guidance to help with healing.
Many patients confuse BMC and MFAT with stem cell procedures. There is only a miniscule amount of stem cells in these injections. Off-the-shelf amniotic and placental tissue injections aren’t true stem cells either and should be avoided at all costs.
