A ligament is composed of pliable tissue that connects bones and cartilage. With too much use, ligaments often get injured. A strain is an injury to a ligament or muscle. Excessive twisting and pulling and overexertion leads to the strain.
The traditional modality used to treat a sprain was "RICE." This stands for: Rest, Ice, Compression, and Elevation. You need to rest the affected strain area, use ice and compression to control the swelling and pain, and elevate the spot to help with blood flow. RICE usually works and helps treat strains in a few weeks. But some individuals have weak areas on their body; it could be their knee, ankle, foot, calf or groin. They repeatedly strain these spots. Multiple injuries of this type are called chronic ligament strains.
Chronic ligament strains are painful. Treatment methods have been limited, mainly RICE. But in recent years medical researchers have developed very advanced techniques to treat chronic ligament strains. One of the most positive and beneficial modalities is to have orthopedic surgeons incorporate stem cell therapy for the patient.
Stem cell therapy used by orthopedic physicians are often used in conjunction with surgical procedures. At the cutting edge forefront of this research is The Institue of Regenerative & Molecular Orthopaedics. There are many types of stem cells used for treating and healing the injured. Rocketing to the very top of the list are mesenchymal stem cells. Another type, hematopoietic cells, incrporate the human body's "plasticity" function to regenerate new tissue for ligaments and tendons. Embryonic cells are not that popular anymore with surgeons.
Dr. Joseph Purita utilizes HGH and PRP injections to treat many injurious ligament conditions. HGH stands for human growth hormone, while PHP is defined as platelet rich plasma. Both are effective to supplement stem cell therapy. The Institute incorporates these treatment modalities with a nearly 85% success rate.
When you strained a ligament, it's now very comforting to know that you don't have to suffer alone with just an ice pack anymore. You can heal much faster and your ligaments will bounce back even stronger. It's important that as many people as possible be aware of this type of treatment.