Orthobiologics
Orthobiologics are natural substances that doctors use to help your body heal orthopedic issues. They include things like platelet-rich plasma (PRP) and bone marrow concentrate. Instead of surgery, these treatments use your body’s own healing powers to fix problems like joint injuries and arthritis.
Subscribe to the BlogHow Do We Get Coverage for Orthobiologics? The Problem With Assigning Success Rates to Specific Orthopedic Surgeries
How has Regenexx been able to get more than a thousand US employers to cover interventional orthobiologic (IO) procedures? One of the ways is to perform analyses of how IO procedures can help their employees avoid surgery, save them money, and reduce their time out of work. Today we’ll explore just one little piece of…read more
Kratom and Interventional Orthobiologics Procedures
As you know, I often write about what I experience seeing patients. While Kratom has been on the periphery of my consciousness like it probably has been for many physicians, this past week, it was thrust to the forefront. This “drug” sold in gas stations and online turns out to be a potent opioid receptor…read more
Upcoming Clinical Trials for Interventional Orthobiologics
Interventional orthobiologics is a field that’s gaining momentum every day. While legit players right now in the United States are sticking to things that are FDA compliant, like PRP, BMC, and MFat, several FDA clinical trials are winding their way through the system. This morning’s blog focuses on the ones I can find and invites…read more
We Never Looked: Treating the Joint vs. Joint+Ligs
One of the hardest things to do in orthobiologics is to teach patients that there are major differences between what clinic A offers when it says it can perform a “PRP” injection and what clinic B offers. These two procedures may be wildly different. Today I’ll explore that concept through a medical abbreviation called “WNL”. …read more
Why We Should Be Paying More Attention to Macrophages
Way back when in medical school, when the topic of macrophages came up, we learned that they were the garbage men of the body in that they got rid of bacteria and dead tissue. However, less known then was how these large cells assisted in tissue repair. So let’s learn about macrophages and their critical…read more
Radiofrequency Neurotomy of the Knee: What Could Go Wrong?
Radiofrequency is a technology I’ve covered many times on this blog. It’s basically a way for doctors to burn away the nerves causing pain. It’s becoming increasingly popular in the knee, so let’s review that today. In addition, we’ll review combing RF of the knee nerves with orthobiologics and whether that makes sense. What is…read more
My Favorite Blogs of 2022 and Happy 2023!
2022 has been an interesting year. From my perspective as a physician-scientist, this was the year that we began to see how much artificial intelligence (AI) will change the world and will make the changes we have experienced since the rise of the Internet look tame. Second, we began exiting the craziness of the pandemic,…read more
The New SIS Fact Finder Paper on Intradiscal Biologics
Is it safe to inject the intervertebral disc with orthobiologics? That’s the topic taken up by the Spinal Intervention Society (SIS) in a recent paper published by their Patient Safety Committee. After reading this paper, I have to say that I agree with some of the caution, but I also recognize that there is a…read more
