OK, fellow injured horsemen, look at this -
I didn’t realize they were doing stem cell therapy & platelet rich plasma therapy on people here. Did you?
http://www.antiagingjax.com/stem-cell-therapy-jacksonville.html
Way cool. Cutting edge ideas in human medicine actually available - not too common - cool
I’ve got some bad shoulders that could benefit from this.
Tell me what you think.
Try pm’ing Whicker. She is the resident expert on this stuff.
Thanks Red Mares, will do.
I think these therapies will be the next great thing. Seems prohibitively expensive, though, in people, for now. But I bet if could fix a lot of people.
Sad that the cost and red tape will prevent people using these methods and we just get further arthritic/degenerated in the meantime.
I guess if you fix the problem, though, that doesn’t make much money for the surgeons, drug companies, etc. 
Not really cutting edge per se. This has been around for athletes for quite awhile. One of our volleyball players, who is an advisee, had PRP for muscle tears. Said is was insanely painful. She couldn’t walk for a few days afterward.
As for places such as the website you display, many are under investigation by the FDA as they tout unproven/untested/ineffectual therapies. For example, their discussion of using stem cells for RA is completely false and in some ways, very dangerous. No treatment has ever been shown to regenerate cartilage directly in the joint, even stem cells. Surgical intervention is the best using transplanted chondrocytes but even then the aggrecan matrix may not fully develop.
Stem cells DO NOT fix problems. Unless the underlying differentiation pathways are intact, the stem cells are simply digested by residing macrophages.
True, RA. I do agree that it is not that cutting edge. But it is something that should be developed more.
Well written and knowledgable post. Thanks.
I think Whicker went to Johns Hopkins for treatment.
Glad RAyers popped in because this stuff really confuses me a great deal. I’m told that IRAP is available for humans (it’s called something else), too.
If so, and it is as effective in humans as it can be in equines, I’d choose IRAP over repeated steroid injections in a split second.
And for spinal injections - why aren’t drs using HA or other substances instead of just plain steroid? (I’m thinking of facet joints which are high motion joints) Repeated steroid use would seem to be contraindicated. And yet - out comes the needle.
It’s perplexing.
The FDA hasn’t approved HA or other substances for all the joints. No for ankles or shoulders. Arggh says she with bad shoulder but happy knee
after shots this summer.
Our Governor (Rick Perry) had some sort of spine surgery using stem cells…
not sure of all details, apparently cutting edge/experimental.
[QUOTE=BasqueMom;6025506]
The FDA hasn’t approved HA or other substances for all the joints. No for ankles or shoulders. Arggh says she with bad shoulder but happy knee
after shots this summer.
Our Governor (Rick Perry) had some sort of spine surgery using stem cells…
not sure of all details, apparently cutting edge/experimental.[/QUOTE]
Actually, HA is commonly used in human joints. The only thing that is not FDA approved is IV HA such as Legend. I know plenty who get HA in shoulders, elbows, even spine in the SI, etc. Injections into the facet joints in the spine are very dangerous due to surrounding nerves and the very small joint spaces. You need to really have some x-ray guidance.
As for more on stem cells, the other big thing is WHERE the cells come from, how the line is expanded before re-implantation, and how much time between the two. There is no way it can be done in a day or even two (a hint into if something is fraudulent).
Whicker asked me to let all y’all know she is having computer problems and can’t post until it’s fixed. But when she comes back she’d be happy to discuss her treatment in detail.
She experienced what some of you might think is a freak accident. She was galloping her horse and was taken out by a deer. For foxhunters, this isn’t unheard of, unfortunately. Pretty bad back injury and she’s come a long way.
She did not receive treatment at Hopkins, but by a Dr. in Northern Virginia. Sorry I didn’t get that right.
RAyers, thanks for the info on HA. I’ve had facet injections under guidance. It seems to me that after diagnostic injections isolate the facet(s) as the source of pain, that HA could be used in conjunction with steroids. The Dr is already injecting under guidance, so why not add a substance that can actually help? Same thing with IRAP. It could mitigate or even eliminate the need for RFA. RFA is fantastic but the joint continues to degrade.
Not really the right board, but I thought I’d interject that here at my clinic (I’m at a VCA ortho/rehab vet hospital) we do stem cell injections for DOGS :eek:. I was floored when I started working here and discovered we did it. Apparently owners swear by it for arthritis treatment.
That is super, Irken !
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