CHARLOTTE -- A Charlotte doctor is introducing a new way to heal chronic joint pain - by using a patient's own stem cells.
Dr. Jason Tucker just opened iOrtho Biologix, and it's one of the first practices of its kind in the Carolinas. It's already gaining national attention.
Tucker says it's a simple therapy that can treat damaged tissue from an injury or chronic pain like arthritis by transferring "stem cells" from your own body fat or bone marrow to an area where you’re experiencing pain.
“We concentrate those cells, and simply, we throw the bad stuff out and keep the good stuff in and then we inject in a very precise fashion the good stuff into the area of problem,” said Tucker.
UNC-Chapel Hill Orthopedics Medicine Professor Dr. David Berkoff says so far the treatment shows benefits for certain people, but there's still a lot of research being done.
"This isn't going to regrow your knee back to when you were 18. This isn't going to be a magic fix, but we have a lot of patients who are adverse to surgical interventions for any number of reasons,” said Berkoff.
So he says the new treatment can be beneficial if you're a good candidate.
This stem cell therapy can cost several thousand dollars and it's not covered by insurance.
For more information, visit http://orthobiologix.com/