Orthobiologics are a form of regenerative medicine that stimulates the body’s natural healing process to help you recover from an injury. This sports medicine treatment has been extensively studied and is ideal for injuries and conditions that do not respond to conservative treatments such as physical therapy, medications or other types of injections.

Here’s more about how orthobiologic injections work and how to request an appointment with University Orthopaedic Associates if you’d like to learn more about this treatment.

What Is Orthobiologics?

Orthobiologics is an emerging field of sports medicine that seeks to harness the body’s own healing potential to treat an injury or degenerative condition. 

When used in sports medicine, orthobiologics can:

• Reduce pain and symptoms of degenerative conditions, including osteoarthritis
• Reduce inflammation
• Enhance your body’s healing potential  
• Delay or prevent the need for surgery
• Accelerate and aid in the body’s healing process after orthopaedic surgery
• Improve your quality of life

This regenerative therapy is an ideal alternative for those who want to avoid surgery or who have an orthopaedic injury that does not respond to physical therapy, bracing, medications and/or cortisone injections. Orthobiologics can often help you avoid side effects and allergic reactions that can occur with medication use, as the injections use your own bodily tissues and cells in the injections.

Injuries and conditions shown to benefit from orthobiologics include:

• Tendinopathies, including tennis elbow and patellar tendinopathy
• Early arthritis
• Avascular necrosis (death of bone tissue due to lack of blood supply)
• Rotator cuff repair recovery (can help with tendon repair and healing)
• Nerve inflammation
• Meniscus tears
• Labral tears
• Degenerative disc disease
• Plantar fasciitis
• Fractures
• Strains and sprains

Many times, orthobiologics are combined with other non-surgical treatments to treat and heal an injury, including nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs), physical therapy and cortisone injections.

What Are Orthobiologic Injections?

Orthobiologics are currently given as injections. Available orthobiologics treatments include the following.

Platelet-Rich Plasma (PRP)

PRP uses platelets and white blood cells taken from your blood to stimulate your body’s natural healing ability. This treatment is shown to be particularly helpful with multiple areas of orthopaedic surgery and sports medicine. It has been extensively studied as a new treatment option over the last 15 years and is now available in our offices. 

During PRP therapy, a small amount of blood is drawn from your arm and placed into a centrifuge to isolate a high concentration of platelets. The specialized machine can help separate the PRP into high and low leukocyte counts to personalize the injection to the type of injury you are treating. The PRP is then injected back into the site of your injury to jumpstart the healing process.

Bone Marrow Aspirate Concentrate (BMAC)

BMAC therapy is somewhat similar to PRP, but it involves removing bone marrow instead of platelets from the soft, central part of your bone. After being placed in a centrifuge, the concentrated bone marrow is injected back into your injured tissues. Also, like with PRP, BMAC is shown to be highly effective at healing bones and fractures.

Hyaluronic Acid/Viscosupplementation

Viscosupplementation is typically used to treat osteoarthritis in the knee. It involves injecting the knee with hyaluronic acid—a naturally occurring substance your body produces to lubricate the joints. This particular orthobiologics treatment can reduce pain and improve range of motion in arthritic knees.

When Would Someone Require Orthobiologic Treatment?

You may want to consider treatment with orthobiologics if your sports injury or condition is not improving after trying conservative treatments such as RICE (rest, ice, compression and elevation), bracing and physical therapy. Orthobiologic injections may also be the right option for you if your goal is to avoid surgery or the side effects that often present with medications and cortisone injections.

Ask your orthopaedic doctor about your options for orthobiologic treatment and to find out whether you’re an ideal candidate. An orthopaedic specialist can perform an exam, review your medical history and guide you toward the right treatment.

University Orthopaedic Associates offers a wide range of orthopaedic services, including orthobiologic injections for sports injuries. Contact the UOA Sports Medicine specialists today at (732) 537-0909 to request an appointment if you need treatment for an orthopaedic injury.