SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (KELO) Regenerative medicine focuses on using the bodys own repairing mechanisms to heal damaged tissues or organs. Sanford Health is one of the national leaders in this branch of medicine, and their expertise caught the attention of the NFL Alumni Association.

Staying healthy and finding pain relief is a common concern for NFL players once their playing days are over.

Personally Ive had 25 plus surgeries. So Ive been in the regenerative space personally trying to find solutions for the last six years, NFL Alumni Member Billy Davis said.

Billy Davis, along with Kyle Richardson have been a part of the NFL Alumni Association for years, and have dedicated their time to providing members with an understanding of available health care options.

When you get to be the 40, and 50, and 60 years of age, you start to look at okay, what can I do to stave off that surgery. What are the therapies that help me with pain, NFL Alumni Member Kyle Richardson said.

One therapy that has some potential to address those issues is regenerative medicine.

So were taking the components of the cells that have that type of ability to fix an injury, and maybe relocating them into a shoulder tear, or to a knee pain, Dr. David Pearce said.

Sanford Health has conducted two FDA-approved clinical trials using stem cells to treat injuries in the shoulders and legs.

The next steps will be that well be able to offer this to individuals as a standard of a care, as an alternative to surgical procedures, Dr. Pearce said.

Its the therapys potential thats giving the NFL Alumni Association some hope moving forward.

It was essential that I knew that other guys were experiencing the same things Im doing. Experiencing the same deficits, and same challenges. This was just a great platform for an option for guys to have and we wanted to get with the best, and I think we found it with Sanford Health, Davis said.

Davis and Richardson were in Sioux Falls for the last three days, learning about the science of the medicine as well as Sanford Health.

See the rest here:

Sanfords Regenerative Medicine research draws interest of NFL Alumni Association - KELOLAND.com