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Joint pain can have a variety of causes, such as overuse, an injury, or medical conditions like arthritis which goes with inflammation.

Whether it’s mild or severe, joint pain can interfere with your day and restrict movement.

We specialize in treating joint pain with platelet-rich plasma (PRP) injections and exosome therapy.

Joint pain causes

The most common causes of joint pain include:

  • arthritis;
  • sports injury;
  • bursitis;
  • tendonitis;
  • overuse;
  • gout.

Arthritis does its damage by breaking down cartilage, the tissue that helps cushion your joints, leading to friction and pain when bones rub together. Arthritis can also cause inflammation in your joint lining.

PRP injections promote new cartilage development

PRP can help your body recover from tissue damage more quickly. It uses blood platelets from your own body to promote natural healing. You probably first heard about platelets for their ability to get your blood to clot when you have a cut in your skin. But did you know that they also release proteins called growth factors that help rebuild injured tissue?

PRP injections contain a higher concentration of platelets and growth factors than naturally occurs in your blood. One of our providers takes a sample of your blood and separates the platelets. Then we inject the platelet-enriched solution into your affected joint, and tissue repair gets a boost.

Lessen inflammation and improve joint function

Besides rebuilding damaged tissue, PRP injections also reduce inflammation and pain and stimulate joint lubrication. This lubrication eases joints’ stiffness and restores more of their overall function.

One study gave PRP injections to patients with osteoarthritis in their knees. After six weeks, each patient had less pain and stiffness, and better knee function.

How to lessen joint pain

Whether your joint pain is from arthritis, a sports injury, or one of the many other possible causes, you can find relief from PRP treatment. When you visit one of our offices, our provider performs a thorough exam to pinpoint the origin of your joint pain.

Once we find the cause, we start building your PRP treatment plan. Your joint health might improve with only one PRP injection. But if your pain is from a degenerative condition like arthritis, additional injections can slow the progression.

Osteoarthritis: Exosomes Treatment

Exosomes are small membrane bubbles (40–150 nm) containing complex RNAs and proteins. Many cells can secrete exosomes in physiological and pathological states. They are mainly derived from the vesicles formed by the collapse of lysosomal particles, which are released into the extracellular matrix after the fusion of the outer membrane and cell membrane.

Almost all types of cells can secrete exosomes, which naturally exist in body fluids, including blood, saliva, urine, cerebrospinal fluid, and milk. Exosomes are considered to be specific vesicles and participate in intercellular communication.

When exosomes are secreted from host cells into receptor cells, exosomes can regulate the biological activity of receptor cells by carrying proteins, nucleic acids, and lipids. Exosome-mediated intercellular communication mainly through the following ways:

  1. Exosome membrane proteins can bind to target cell membrane proteins and activate signal pathways in target cells.
  2. In the extracellular matrix, exosome membrane proteins can be cleaved by proteases. The cleaved fragments can act as ligands to bind to receptors on the cell membrane, thus activating intracellular signaling pathways.
  3. The exosome membrane can fuse directly with the target cell membrane, and non-selectively release proteins, mRNAs, microRNAs (miRNAs), and long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs).

When exosomes are first discovered, they are considered as a way for cells to excrete waste. Nowadays, with a large number of studies on their biological sources, material composition, transportation, intercellular signal transduction, and distribution in body fluids, exosomes have been found to have a variety of functions.

Exosomes can participate in immune response, antigen presentation, cell migration, cell differentiation, tumor invasion.

Osteoarthritis (OA) is a kind of degenerative disease, which is caused by many factors such as aging, obesity, strain, trauma, congenital joint abnormalities, joint deformities.

The disease is more common in middle-aged and elderly people and occurs in the weight-bearing joints and joints with more activity (such as the cervical spine, lumbar spine, knee joint, hip joint, etc.).

Excessive weight-bearing or the use of these joints can promote the occurrence of degenerative changes. The clinical manifestations include joint swelling, joint stiffness, joint movement limitation.

The main symptom is joint pain, often rest pain, which is manifested as pain after rest. After a moment of activity, the pain is relieved, but after too much activity, the pain is aggravated.

Another symptom is joint stiffness, which often occurs in the morning or after the joint maintains a certain position for a long time in the daytime. Joint swelling can be seen in the affected joints. There is a sense of friction or “click” sound during the activity. Muscle atrophy and joint deformity can be found in severe cases.

The paracrine of nutritional factors, including exosomes mediated secretion, plays an important role in MSC-based OA treatment mechanisms.

There is evidence that the paracrine of exosomes may play important roles in the repair of joint tissue. Exosomes isolated from various stem cells contribute to tissue regeneration of the heart, limbs, skin, and other tissues, and exosomes derived from MSCs may inhibit the pathological development of OA.

For more information and to get free advice please contact us here.