The Regenerative Medicine Approach and Why It’s Important in Chronic Pain Conditions

Intro
If anyone has dealt with chronic pain or nagging injuries that never seem to go away, they know how frustrating it can be to try to find answers. The purpose of this article is to help people understand why—when an injury turns from an acute issue to a chronic issue—it’s vital to start thinking about healing through a different algorithm.

 
When Inflammation Becomes a Pattern
Regulating inflammation is a valuable tool in the treatment of musculoskeletal injuries if it’s done in the right way. However, we want to emphasize that once an injury starts to stick around and you begin to show signs of a cyclical inflammatory pain cycle—one that keeps returning a few months past the initial injury or insult—it indicates the body is not resolving either the structural damage or the neurogenic inflammation present within the nervous system. [Other systemic causes of low-level inflammation can contribute to chronic pain, which overlap with the principles here in this article, but we will address these more directly in a different article.]
 
Time to Shift the Algorithm
Once an issue becomes chronic, your internal compass and treatment algorithm should shift. It’s time to place more emphasis on what is causing the inflammation to keep returning.

• Modulating inflammation can still be incredibly helpful.
• But when the body is in a prolonged inflammatory loop, it’s often a sign of unresolved structural imbalance.
• New direction: You must decrease inflammation by addressing the underlying dysfunction, not just the inflammation itself.
   
  The Regenerative Approach: Solving, Not Suppressing
  Taking a regenerative algorithm means:
• We are still aiming to decrease inflammation long-term. [By analyzing what the inflammation is trying to solve—we can derive what tissue or structure is dysfunctional.]

Once we know this, we can:

• Flip the old approach on its head.
• Direct the healing agents of the immune system to the affected structures.
• Shift the joint’s microenvironment.
• Promote long-term structural resolution.
• This, in turn, helps to shut off the repetitive inflammatory pain cycle.

 
Why This Matters at Otten Medical
Our regenerative approach employs:

• Thoughtful attention to detail.
• Individualized care strategies.
• A robust toolkit of solutions 
• At Otten Medical, attention to detail is the only way we know how to do things. That’s why we’re positioned to truly help patients struggling with chronic pain.