The knees work really hard to support the body, but they can deteriorate with age due to a breakdown of the soft tissues surrounding the knee joint. Stem cell therapy is a relatively modern form of treatment for knee pain. Here is a look at some of the facts and fictitious beliefs about the procedure. 

Fact: Stem cell therapy is helping people avoid knee replacement surgery. 

Stem cell therapy is commonly sought after by patients who need knee replacement surgery. Many of these patients are able to delay the procedure or possibly prevent it by getting stem cell treatment instead. 

Fiction: Stem cell therapy for knee pain is rarely effective. 

On the contrary, stem cell treatment for knee pain has been scientifically proven to be effective. More research does need to be performed so more concrete information is available, but it is fully expected that these studies will take place in the near future. 

Fact: The treatment involves using your own body's stem cells. 

Using your own body's stem cells may seem counterintuitive, but this is actually the best way for the treatment to be done. Your stem cells are present because they have a job to do, but they can be lacking in the knees as you get older. 

Fiction: Treatment involves using stem cells from people you don't know.

If you have the stem cell treatment done locally in the United States, your own stem cells will be used because this is the only thing legally allowed. International treatment may involve stem cells from other people, but this is more likely to cause adverse reactions than using your own cells. 

Fact: Knee pain stem cell treatment is a minimally invasive process. 

This form of stem cell treatment is not difficult to handle physically. You may have a little pain at the injection site on your knees and maybe a bit of achiness in your joint. 

Fiction: Obtaining stem cells is excruciating. 

Stem cells can be harvested from the bone marrow or even from the fat around the bones in your body, and this process is not a painful procedure. Most often, modern-day specialists use a cell-separation technique that involves extracting blood from one arm, filtering it to pull out the stem cells, and then repumping that blood through a vein in your other arm. Even bone marrow harvesting is not as painful as it once was; most patients walk away feeling like they have a bruise on one part of their body. 

For more information on knee pain stem cell therapy, reach out to medical health professionals near you.