Is Your Body Capable of Healing Itself? What Regenerative Medicine Actually Means
By Emily Quigley, PA-C
Medically reviewed by Robert Rankin, MD — Board Certified, ABPM & Interventional Pain Management
[Publication Date] · Estimated read time: 5 min
The Question We Hear More Than Any Other
Every week, patients sit down in our office and ask some version of the same question: “Is there anything besides surgery or cortisone shots?” They’ve usually already been down the standard road — physical therapy, anti-inflammatories, maybe a steroid injection that helped for a while before the pain returned. They’re not looking for a miracle. They just want their life back.
The answer we give them — and the reason Dr. Rankin has structured a significant part of his practice around regenerative medicine — is this: your body already knows how to heal. What regenerative medicine does is give it better tools to do the job.
What “Regenerative Medicine” Actually Means
The term gets thrown around a lot, often in ways that are either overhyped or vague. Here is the physician’s version.
Regenerative medicine refers to treatments that harness or concentrate your body’s own biological healing agents — cells, growth factors, and proteins — and deliver them precisely to the tissue that’s damaged. Rather than masking pain or replacing a joint, the goal is to support the natural repair process at the cellular level.
The two most established and widely studied approaches in outpatient orthopedic and pain medicine are:
Platelet-Rich Plasma (PRP) — A concentration of your own platelets, drawn from a simple blood draw and processed to contain 5–10x the normal level of growth factors. Platelets are your body’s first responders to injury. They release signaling proteins that recruit healing cells and initiate tissue repair.
Bone Marrow Aspirate Concentrate (BMAC) — A concentration of cells drawn from your own bone marrow, typically from the back of the hip. BMAC contains a mix of stem cells, growth factors, and anti-inflammatory proteins. It represents a more advanced biological intervention, appropriate for more significant tissue damage.
What These Treatments Are — and Are Not
We want to be direct about something, because patients deserve honesty more than they deserve a sales pitch.
Regenerative medicine is not a guaranteed cure. It is not appropriate for every condition or every patient. And the quality of the procedure matters enormously — image guidance, processing technique, injection precision, and physician training all directly affect outcomes.
What regenerative medicine can offer, for the right patient, is a meaningful chance to reduce pain, improve function, and potentially slow or reverse degenerative changes — without surgery, and without the systemic side effects of long-term medication use.
The evidence base is strongest for conditions like knee osteoarthritis, rotator cuff tendinopathy, lateral epicondylitis (tennis elbow), and certain types of spinal pain. Research continues to expand, and Dr. Rankin reviews the literature regularly to ensure what we offer our patients reflects the current science.
Why Physician-Guided Care Matters More Than You Think
One of the most important things Dr. Rankin emphasizes as an interventional pain specialist is that where the needle goes matters as much as what’s in it.
Dr. Rankin performs all regenerative injections under image guidance — fluoroscopy or ultrasound — to verify precise placement. A PRP injection that misses its target by a few millimeters may not reach the damaged tissue at all. This is one of the key differences between a physician-directed regenerative medicine program and the many walk-in “stem cell clinic” offerings that have proliferated in recent years.
As a board-certified physician in pain management, Dr. Rankin evaluates each patient comprehensively before recommending any regenerative treatment. That includes reviewing prior imaging, understanding the mechanism and timeline of injury, and honestly assessing whether the patient is a good candidate — or whether a different approach would serve them better.
Is This Covered by Insurance?
Most regenerative medicine procedures are not currently covered by major insurance carriers and are provided on a self-pay basis. This is an important practical consideration, and we never want a patient to feel pressured into a financial decision. We discuss costs transparently, upfront, and in the context of what outcomes are realistic for your specific situation.
For many patients who have already spent years cycling through covered treatments that didn’t resolve their pain, the cost of a single regenerative procedure compares favorably to ongoing copays, medications, and lost workdays.
The Right Next Step
If you’ve been told surgery is your only option, or you’re frustrated with treatments that only manage your pain rather than address its source, a regenerative medicine consultation may be worth exploring.
At Better Health Medical Center, we take a thorough, evidence-based approach. We’ll review your history, examine your imaging, and give you an honest assessment of whether you’re a candidate — and what realistic outcomes look like for someone with your specific condition.
Schedule a consultation
Better Health Medical Center · 505 W. Market St, Suite 100, Georgetown, DE 19947
Phone: 302-899-7588 · Email: info@bhmcde.com · www.bhmcde.com