Natural State Health Center Regenerative Medicine

What is Regenerative Medicine?

According to the Mayo Clinic, regenerative medicine “attempts to restore health by rejuvenating, repairing, or replacing damaged or degenerating cells, tissues, and organs. The goal is to restore form and function by relying on the body's ability to heal itself.”  It is emphasized that we are not trying to fight disease the way that we fight diabetes or cancer; we are trying to restore function and quality of life when we treat a patient with regenerative medicine. 

At Natural State Health Center in Little Rock, we take a holistic, multidisciplinary approach to your wellness journey.  Our chiropractors, physical therapist, massage therapist, and medical team work together to provide you with a treatment plan that encourages restoration of function and an improved quality of life.  Our baseline assumption is that your body has the ability to heal itself, with the right support. Symptoms are the language our bodies use to communicate with us. At Natural State, we work to translate those symptoms to understand the cause and to initiate healing. Regenerative medicine may offer some pathways to health by stimulating your body’s healing responses. 

Regenerative Medicine Using Platelet Rich Plasma Injections

Depending on your specific concerns, the medical team may decide to offer a regenerative injection to aid your body’s healing abilities.  An example of this type of therapy is platelet rich plasma (PRP), which uses the growth factor present in your blood to encourage other cells to come and heal a particular area, like a knee or a shoulder joint.  It involves taking a small sample of your blood to prepare for the injection on the same day.  Many of our patients have significant improvement in symptoms and/or function on the same day as the injection.  Within 3 months of receiving a PRP injection to the knee, over 90% of our patients state they no longer feel like they need surgery.  Because regenerative medicine does not involve artificial influence in the form of lab-prepared medications or surgical implants, the potential side effects are very low.  Your medical team will review them with you before your procedure, if applicable.  Your body is capable of healing itself when given the right tools, nutrients, guidance, and plenty of time. 

Regenerative Medicine Using Interactive Neuromuscular Stimulation

Neux is a muscle stimulator that uses INS (interactive neuromuscular stimulation). This allows for communication from the nervous system to the musculoskeletal system. When a person’s body senses pain it can often trigger the nervous system to go from a parasympathetic state (calm and relaxed) to a sympathetic state (fight or flight). When in a fight or flight response the body’s ability to accept healing drastically decreases. Through direct communication with the nervous system, the Neux can return the body to a parasympathetic state. Restoring calm allows for a better functioning nervous system, resulting in clients’ increased ability to heal. 

Many pain patterns come from nerve impingement, caused by an imbalance in the musculoskeletal system. Those impingements cause referred pain to other areas. Through INS we can find those neurological impingements and return proper function to the affected muscle or muscles. The properly functioning muscle/muscles allows the nervous system to function properly, relieving the root cause of the pain pattern. This in turn leaves a pain free, happy client. 

The next Neux benefit is performance and fitness. Using the Neux during exercise instantly stimulates 100% of the nervous system. The now stimulated neuro pathways allow for more muscle fiber recruitment from the first repetition, which results in more strength and endurance through less wear and tear on the body. Less time in the gym, more time for other things, plus better results...sign me up! 

Regenerative Medicine Using Extracorporeal Shock Wave Therapy

Pressure wave therapy, or extracorporeal shock wave therapy (ESWT), is a noninvasive treatment for soft tissue and tendon injuries. It involves delivering acoustic shock waves to the injured area in order to stimulate healing and relieve pain. It is a safe and effective method to deal with recurrent injuries and chronic pain.

Pressure wave therapy uses an acoustic wave with a high energy peak. It delivers that energy to the affected tissues through an applicator. The application of energy may cause some discomfort but the treatment typically lasts only a few minutes and the subsequent pain relief and accelerated healing more than make up for the temporary discomfort. Although you will be advised to rest the affected area for 24-48 hours after treatment, there are no side effects and no anesthesia is required. The effects of treatment are cumulative, and often three to five treatments are necessary to achieve maximum results.

Applying this energy to injured tissues and tendons does several things. First of all, it stimulates blood flow to the area. To heal, tissues need nutrient rich blood flow. Pressure wave therapy creates micro-ruptures in the capillaries in the affected area, which stimulates an increase in the factors that repair and create new blood vessels. The result is increased blood flow and quicker healing.

Next, pressure wave therapy activates mast cells. Mast cells are responsible for stimulating inflammatory response, which is important for healing, and they are also responsible for halting that inflammation once the injury is healed. Chronic inflammation that does not resolve is a source of pain and disease, so it is important that once it has done its job, the inflammatory response decreases and the body moves to regeneration.

Pressure wave therapy stimulates the production of pro-collagen which is necessary for healing. The body forms new collagen fibers to heal the injury.

Pressure wave therapy also works to dissolve calcification. Micro-tears can cause a build-up of calcium in an area, and the acoustic waves help break up that calcification so that the lymph system can remove it from the area.

These are all ways that pressure wave therapy stimulates healing and the regeneration of injured tissues. Pressure wave therapy also works directly on pain receptors as well, which is how it offers immediate pain relief. Pressure wave therapy can lower the concentration of substance P, which is a neurotransmitter that mediates pain information in the nervous system. This triggers pain relief. It also releases trigger points in the myofascial tissue, which results in pain relief as well.

What conditions can be treated by pressure wave therapy?

- jumper’s knee

- heel spur

- shoulder pain

- hip pain

- tennis elbow

- insertional pain (Achilles tendon)

- chronic tendinopathy

- medial tibial stress syndrome

- calcifications

As with many of these treatments, contraindications include pregnancy, the presence of implanted medical devices, any blood disorders, heart conditions, the presence of tumors, or the presence of infection or open wounds. 

Regenerative Medicine Using Pulsed Electromagnetic Field Therapy

Pulsed electromagnetic field therapy (PEMF) is a safe, effective method to speed recovery by restoring the body’s natural electrical balance and stimulating healing. It involves no drugs, no surgery, and has no side effects. It has been shown to reduce pain caused by fibromyalgia and musculoskeletal pain.

To understand how PEMF works, it is helpful to think of our cells as batteries. Each cell membrane has both positive and negative charges. These electrical charges make it possible for our cells to exchange potassium, calcium, and sodium ions. A resting cell is more negatively charged on the inside, and more positively charged on the outside. The electricity formed by this flow of charges carries signals throughout the nervous system. By directing low frequency electromagnetic waves in short bursts to the body, PEMF essentially recharges our cellular batteries, restoring their positive and negative charges. This optimizes the body’s ability to self-heal and self-regulate by restoring cellular communication. 

By recharging cells with a mild electromagnetic current, the release of pain and inflammation mediators can be slowed or stopped. PEMF also increases blood flow to the injured area, which speeds healing. 

PEMF is not a treatment for one particular condition but is a therapy that aims to optimize the body’s ability to heal itself. It has been used to speed healing of bones and tissues and to minimize pain of many kinds, such as post-surgical pain, osteoporosis, arthritis, fibromyalgia, joint pain and inflammation, neuropathy, and pain associated with other autoimmune diseases. 

A patient will usually sit or lie down and the device will be placed on the affected body part.  The patient will experience mild pulsation in the area being treated, but no pain. The length of a session and the number of sessions a person will need is dependent on each particular case. 

Who should not use PEMF?

Anyone with implanted electrical devices including pacemakers, cochlear implants, intrathecal pumps, etc., should not use PEMF because the magnetic field can disable or shut the devices off. If you have had an organ transplant and are on immunosuppressants, you should not use PEMF.

Anyone with active bleeding or a hemorrhaging condition (such as heavy menstruation) should not use PEMF. 

Pregnant women should not use PEMF. 

Regenerative Medicine Using a Transcutaneous Electrical Nerve Stimulator

A TENS unit operates by targeting the sensory nerves to disrupt pain signals and to stimulate the release of pain-blocking endorphins. Using a small, battery-operated device and electrode pads, a TENS unit sends small electrical currents to targeted areas of the body. Most TENS sessions last around 15 minutes, and they can be repeated as needed. 

TENS is often used to relieve pain caused by:

- Arthritis

- Tendonitis

- Bursitis

- Fibromyalgia

- Contraindications for TENS use include:

- Pregnancy

- Cancer or tumors

- Blood disorders

- Heart conditions

- The presence of implanted medical devices

- Infected or open wounds

Although some of these regenerative therapies appear to be similar, they each operate using different principles and target different areas. INS involves stimulating nerves with electrical impulses, but uses a different frequency than TENS or PEMF in order to specifically target motor nerves. TENS units use low-voltage electric currents at a different frequency to target sensory nerves and block pain. PEMF units use electromagnetic energy generated by a copper coil to target the body’s cells. ESWT uses sound waves to stimulate healing and reduce pain. When it comes to regenerative medicine at Natural State Health Center, we focus on personalizing treatment, and it helps to have a wide array of options available. 

At Natural State Health Center, we work to address the cause, to encourage the body’s healing ability, to provide support and information, and to make use of regenerative medicine to stimulate the body’s healing responses in a variety of ways. Our integrative team of medical specialists includes chiropractors, physical and massage therapists, and nurse practitioners who bring their unique experiences and perspectives to bear on the symptoms that are preventing you from experiencing health.