Karl Anthony Towns takes a licking. Will he keep on ticking?

A natural slow-acting healing process

Once harvested to the necessary concentration, these stem cells are then injected into the injury site as well, often guided imagery in the form of either ultrasound or fluoroscopic (low dosage X-Rays) assistance.

Stem cells are the cells that can transform into the type of cell tissue needed by the body. So they are the ‘repair cells’ that actually migrate to the injured site and begin to fill in the gaps that occur from micro-tears and other damage.

The video below discusses the outpatient procedure (albeit with an advertisement feel to it at the end, sorry). There is a great deal of information on both therapies readily available to the public as well.

And so, the two radically progressive treatments actually complement one another. The platelets act like the orange pylons and road signs that redirect traffic toward the injury site. Stem cells then become the latticework that is used to frame and then actually repair damaged tissue at the actual injury site.

The National Library of Medicine has a fascinating and informative abstract (if you are into that sort of thing, lol) titled Stem-cell therapy and platelet-rich plasma in regenerative medicines: A review on pros and cons of the technologies. If you want to learn more about the individual and combined use of the technology, I recommend starting there.

While the procedures are becoming more and more popular, particularly as an alternative to more invasive strategies like surgery, the use of both stem cell treatment, and platelet-rich plasma injections are only in their infancy. The strategy has been used for arthritis, sprains, strains, some skin tissue repairs, hair loss, cosmetic uses like smoother and younger-looking skin, and more. These treatments are not yet approved by most insurances because, while the results appear promising, there have not been sufficient numbers of trials and case studies to formally examine and judge the cumulative results of the treatment.

Healing starts slowly but immediately. And because the therapy exclusively used the body’s own building blocks, there is little to no risk of rejection. The entire regimen is typically from one to three injections into the injured site. Results of diminished pain can take anywhere from four to six weeks to notice positive results.