Avoid Joint Replacement Dallas: Why Regen Experts Was Created
- cassis101
- 3 hours ago
- 3 min read
By Deborah Westergaard, MD | Regen Experts powered by Pain Experts
For more than two decades, I practiced traditional interventional pain medicine in Dallas after fellowship training under world-renowned physicians Dr. Gabor Racz and Dr. Prithvi Raj.
At that time, we were using the most advanced interventional techniques available. We were helping patients in ways that many practices were not yet able to offer.
And we made a real difference in many lives.
But one advantage of practicing medicine for decades is perspective. I was able to observe patients not just for months or years—but often over 10, 15, even 20 years.
That long-term view began to change the way I thought about musculoskeletal medicine.
The Problem: Managing Pain vs Preserving the Joint
For many patients, the tools available in traditional pain medicine focused on managing symptoms rather than preserving the joint itself.
Patients often returned year after year for steroid injections.
We also performed radiofrequency nerve ablation, which can provide meaningful relief by interrupting pain signals coming from the joints of the spine.
However, over time medicine learned more.
When we treat the nerves that supply spinal joints with radiofrequency ablation, those same nerves also provide innervation to important stabilizing muscles of the spine, including the multifidus. Treating those nerves can therefore denervate muscles that help support spinal stability.
At the same time, research has increasingly demonstrated that repeated corticosteroid injections may contribute to cartilage degeneration within joints.
Meanwhile, I watched another pattern emerge.
Patients who had progressed to joint replacement surgery often returned later with post-operative pain issues requiring further treatment.
Observing patients over decades changed how I practice medicine.
Pain relief is important — but structural preservation is the real objective.
Avoid Joint Replacement Dallas: A Different Goal
Today my Dallas practice has evolved into a concierge regenerative orthobiologic practice called Regen Experts.
The objective is straightforward:
Preserve the natural joint whenever possible.
Using carefully evaluated orthobiologic strategies such as:
• Platelet-rich plasma (PRP)• Bone marrow concentrate• Image-guided regenerative procedures
the goal is to support joint structure, bone health, and long-term function before degeneration progresses to the point where joint replacement becomes the only option.
Joint replacement surgery can be an excellent solution when a joint is truly beyond repair. Many orthopedic surgeons restore mobility and quality of life for patients every day.
But the earlier question we should be asking is this:
Can the joint still be preserved?
For patients seeking to avoid joint replacement in Dallas, that evaluation is the most important first step.
Evidence Supporting Joint Preservation
Encouragingly, the scientific literature is beginning to support what many regenerative physicians have observed clinically.
Orthopedic surgeon Dr. Philippe Hernigou has published multiple long-term studies evaluating concentrated bone marrow injections into the subchondral bone of arthritic knees.
These studies found that bone marrow concentrate injections into the knee bone were associated with significant delays in knee replacement surgery, sometimes for many years, and in many patients surgery was avoided altogether.
Examples of Hernigou’s peer-reviewed work include:
Hernigou P et al. on bone marrow concentrate injections delaying knee arthroplasty in osteoarthritis
Published in International Orthopaedics (2021)
Key finding: Subchondral implantation of MSCs was more effective at postponing TKA than intra-articular injection (20% vs. 70% of knees required TKA over ~15 years in this randomized bilateral knee study).
2. Hernigou P et al. on subchondral bone marrow concentrate cell therapy for knee osteoarthritis
Published in International Orthopaedics (2021)
Key finding: Subchondral BMC injections (compared to TKA on the contralateral knee) provided sufficient pain relief and function to postpone or avoid TKA in many cases, with bone marrow lesions on MRI being predictive of outcomes.
Regen Experts: Orthobiologic Regenerative Medicine in Dallas
Regen Experts was created to bring a higher level of joint preservation medicine to Dallas and the Park Cities.
This is not factory medicine.
It is careful evaluation, advanced imaging guidance, and regenerative strategies designed for people who intend to remain active for decades.
The long-term vision is clear.
If regenerative medicine continues to advance the way current research suggests, I believe we may see a future where joint replacements become far less common than they are today—perhaps even rare in selected patients by 2030.
That is the mission behind Regen Experts.
Avoid Joint Replacement Dallas
If your goal is to avoid joint replacement in Dallas, the first step is determining whether your joint is still biologically viable.
That evaluation happens before surgery is scheduled.
Many patients are told they are candidates for joint replacement.
But in some cases, they may also be candidates for joint preservation strategies that support the natural joint first.
The best joint replacement is often the one that never becomes necessary.
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