The Secret to Longevity: Banking Your Own Stem Cells
Stem cells—the most potent anti-inflammatories known to man—stimulate the body’s regeneration and repair process.
The Spectrum of Regenerative Treatments
Sports medicine, or regenerative medicine, is a specialized branch of medicine that deals with physical fitness and offers an array of treatments and prevention of injuries related to exercise and sports. There is a wide spectrum of regenerative treatments that help people recover and return to their active lifestyles after an injury. Unfortunately, none of these treatments are FDA approved yet. The goal of regenerative medicine is to help you heal and give you a higher quality of life. It is best to assess the various types of regenerative treatments to determine which type is most suitable for your condition. Not all regenerative treatments are equal in value and effectiveness. Each regenerative treatment has its pros and cons based on scientific evidence. The concept of regenerative medicine is regenerating damaged areas and repairing the cells. It’s a revolutionary approach that will change the way medicine is practiced. In many ways it’s similar to the discovery of penicillin in the last century. Our bodies are full of regenerative cells. It’s a matter of knowing how to apply this concept in a non-invasive, natural treatment and in the safest and most effective way. With anything new, lack of standardization can make it confusing to the patients as to what treatment they are exactly getting. It is becoming more and more common now for mushrooming stem cell clinics to use so-called external sources such as amniotic fluid, placenta tissues, and umbilical cords cells. Some even mis-label or call them baby cells; this gives a false impression that these cells may be more potent than one’s own cells. Currently, a whole host of companies are providing an array of stem cells that are being grown in laboratories that sterilize, harvest and package the cells with added stimulants, which are chemicals that can biologically alter the cells. How much efficacy is present in these cells after package and production is an important question to ask. Sterilization does not guarantee a foreign disease from entering your body because it is introducing cells from someone else’s body. This can be risky. Regenerative cells from your own body can be extremely safe provided they are harvested and isolated in a proper manner. Otherwise, they can be equally ineffective and even harmful. It’s high time the FDA regulates this industry before people lose faith in this wonderful discovery all due to the greed of a few snake oil salesman practices. Stem cell therapies have great potential. Let’s not over-sell their promise without proper research and evaluation. Let’s establish standardized protocols and safety standards that can assure some uniformity for treatments. The general intent of regenerative treatments is to regenerate and repair, not just provide symptomatic relief. Manipulation of cells such as adding chemicals or storing cells is neither safe nor effective. There is a risk of introducing foreign sources into your body. A metaphor to illustrate a current array of regenerative treatments is to compare it to that of consuming fruit juice. You can get fresh pressed juice from fruit itself, or you can get juice reconstituted from a concentrate, or you can drink something that is fruit flavored, mixed with other chemicals. Similarly in regenerative treatments, depending on the source of cells and concentration of application, it will determine great results or no results from that particular regenerative treatment. Make an informed decision by understanding the spectrum of regenerative treatments. Based in Newport Beach, CA, the Goswami Clinic is an innovative practice lead by Dr. Gaurav Goswami who treats sports injury, joint pain, back pain, arthritis, declining performance and more. Known for his non-conventional methods, Dr. Goswami specializes in regenerative sports medicine, providing advanced minimally invasive, non-surgical treatments to athletes of all ages and levels with the goal of returning them to optimal performance. Call 949-734-9696 to request additional information.
Amniotic Stem Cells Facts vs. Fiction
Like the search for the Holy Grail, a symbolic quest for the meaning of life and eternal youth, discussions in the stem cell medical industry about the most potent stem cells available have created an ongoing buzz around amniotic stem cells. What are amniotic stem cells, and what’s the intrigue around them? Amniotic stem cells are a mixture of stem cells that can be obtained from the amniotic fluid of a baby fetus in its sac. There are few cells in the amniotic fluid or as some call it “fetal urine.” Though rich in growth factors and certain other anti-inflammatory agents, their regenerative capacity is limited when compared to mesenchymal stem cells. However, many commercially available amniotic products are being used as regenerative treatments, specifically in orthopedics. The use of amniotic stem cells to reverse anti-aging has no scientific or medical backing, yet it is being marketed as a “beauty trend” to combat aging. Furthermore, the question becomes, as a foreign source added to your body, are amniotic products safe and effective? How does this compare with using your own stem cells to restore and naturally regenerate? We don’t have definitive answers to these questions yet. The hype around amniotic stem cells can be a dangerous claim. It’s often assumed that as you get older your own cells may not be as strong as needed to effectively repair, although there is no scientific basis to that argument. Currently, stem cell treatments, especially in orthopedics, can help repair and regenerate, but they do not turn the clock back by many years as some may assume. Sorry, no “fountain of youth” yet! Another reason patients may look toward an outside source is that they are apprehensive about the harvesting process. Though again, harvesting your own cells is a very short, minimally invasive procedure and leaves absolutely no footprint or scars. Some practices may not harvest your own cells for reasons of convenience and lack of familiarity or experience. For most of us, it’s easier to pull something out of a prepared vial and inject rather than performing a laborious process of preparing your own cells. These vials of amniotic fluid/cells become like “shelf products” and are used on as-needed basis with no real evidence of their efficacy and very little understanding of the potential risks involved. Right now, there are more questions than answers when it comes to amniotic products. Hopefully in time we will learn more about them. A more effective and promising, non-surgical treatment is regenerative cell therapy. Regenerative cell therapy or “stem cell therapy” in mainstream terms, utilizes your own regenerative cells to heal and restore your damaged ligaments, cartilage or menisci, whether it’s a knee, shoulder, hip or any painful joint in your body. Give your body a chance to heal itself naturally with your own cells rather than relying on an outside source. To learn more about regenerative treatments for your knee, shoulder or hip, call 949-734-9696 to request additional information or to learn more schedule an initial 1:1 evaluation. [activecampaign form=10] Based in Newport Beach, CA, the Goswami Clinic is an innovative sports medicine clinic lead by Dr. Gaurav Goswami who treats sports injury, joint pain, arthritis, declining performance and more. Known for his non-conventional methods, Dr. Goswami specializes in regenerative sports medicine, providing advanced minimally invasive, non-surgical treatments to athletes of all ages and levels with the goal of returning them to optimal performance.
Natural Treatments For Arthritis
Arthritis is so common that 1 in 3 over the age of 30 and 1 in 2 over the age of 50 suffer from this debilitating disease. However, the most common treatments for arthritis only provide marginal pain relief and don’t focus on regaining peak functional ability. With those kind of outcomes, it’s no wonder that people suffering from arthritis are turning away from traditional procedures and looking for more natural treatments.
What’s Wrong with My Knee?
With all our daily activities, sports, and mobile lives, our knees are our most prized assets for getting us around. We sometimes do not realize the pressure and strain we put on our knees and take it for granted until something gives.