Dr Sudheer Dara explains importance of taking precautions and preventing degeneration
Long-term ‘wear-and-tear’ of the body, eventually suffer from degeneration, leading to chronic pain and medical intervention.
Hyderabad: In our day-to-day activities, sometimes even without realizing, many of us tend to physically overstrain ourselves. And, if this becomes a daily habit, then such individuals, due to long-term ‘wear-and-tear’ of the body, eventually suffer from degeneration, leading to chronic pain and medical intervention.
“Typically, housewives will not have more than 2 hours of work in the kitchen but end up standing at least for 10 to 12 hours a day. Similarly, a large number of teachers suffer from chronic pain in their joints due to degeneration because they spend anywhere between 10 and 12 hours standing. Individuals must guard themselves from such unnecessary degeneration of muscles, ligaments and cartilage that ultimately cause chronic pain in the joints,” says Founder and Director of Hyderabad-based Epione Pain Management Centre, Dr Sudheer Dara.
Since 2018, Dr Sudheer through his pain management facility has been trying to make people aware of the importance of taking precautions and preventing degeneration. In the last half-a-decade, the pain management specialist has treated over 16,000 patients through regenerative therapy after conservative treatments failed and surgery was not an option, with a success rate of 65 percent to 85 percent.
“In modern medicine, at least in India, individuals over 50 years suffering from a variety of pains at shoulders, ankles, knees etc do not have enough management options. They are administered painkillers and physiotherapy but eventually the pain comes back and they are advised to undergo surgery,” Dr Sudheer says.
He believes in measures to avoid unnecessary strain on joints in daily lives and the need to explore regenerative therapy, which could be better and safer options for individuals.
What is regenerative medicine?
The most common joint pain among individuals above 50-years is chronic knee pain due to cartilage degeneration, which is the connective tissue that protects joints and bones and acts like a shock absorber. Once the thickness of the cartilage is reduced due to constant wear-and-tear, the bones start rubbing against each other, causing chronic pain.
“We measure the cartilage thickness and pinpoint the exact region where its thickness has reduced. Later, we take patients’ own blood and process it. The blood has platelets and they have growth factors, which are extracted and injected exactly where the cartilage loss is more and causing pain. Eventually, at that point, the cartilage grows back and patients experience gradual reduction of chronic pain,” Dr Sudheer explains.
The entire treatment process, including the number of treatment sessions, through regenerative medicine is personalized, as damage to the cartilage, ligaments and tendons that hold muscles and bones together, varies among individuals.
1. Avoid unnecessary strain in daily lives that cause degeneration of joints
2. Explore regenerative medicine before undergoing major joint replacement surgeries
3. Joint pains in shoulders, ankles, knees, spine etc can be treated by regenerative medicine
4. Regenerative therapy includes Platelet-rich plasma (PRP) and stem cells therapy
5. Over 16, 000 patients treated through this therapy
What is platelet-rich plasma therapy?
In PRP, patients’ blood is collected and processed into plasma, which is rich in growth factors. These growth factors are lead to generation of degenerated structures like cartilage etc
Stem Cell Therapy?
Stem cells are the mother cells from which new cells are formed. Bone marrow aspirate is taken and processed to form stem cell. These stem cells are injected in the area of degeneration.
