Regenerative medicine: Using your body to heal itself

As life goes on, people get older and their bodies start to break down. Joints and tendons become painful making everyday life a little more difficult. While things like cortisone shots will help give people short-term relief, one Pocatello doctor is using your own body to help you see long-lasting results.

Dr. Anthony Joseph of OrthoIdaho has been using regenerative medicine to help heal his patients for more than a decade.

Knee arthritis, as well as joints, tendons and back discs, are the most common uses of this practice.

Extracting blood, or bone marrow, and then spinning it and separating it into different layers, Dr. Joseph is able to offer patients a longer lasting aid than a cortisone shot while offering an alternative to surgery.

While some pain and discomfort are associated with the injections, usually lasting a few days, patients generally see relief in four to six weeks which lasts approximately two years.

And while there are other doctors in the area who use the treatment, it’s still not very popular. The “cutting edge” technique has been around for a while but many still aren’t sold on.

“I wasn’t sold on it from the start. In fact, I was very skeptical,” Dr. Joseph said.

But after two years of research, Joseph was able to analyze the results and see the difference.

“It was far and away better than any treatment we’ve had for the conservative treatment for knee arthritis,” he said.

Joseph has had the PRP (platelet rich plasma) treatment done on both of his knees for arthritis. His last treatment was nearly two years ago and only recently had he been feeling like he could use another.

So what’s the downside to going for something like this? According to Joseph, nothing.

“There’s really not a downside. I wish there was, but there’s really not,” he explained.