If you have been dealing with a joint or muscle injury that has not fully resolved with rest, physical therapy, chiropractic care, or other conservative treatment, you may be wondering whether regenerative medicine is a reasonable next step.
At Accelerate Health, our regenerative medicine program uses platelet-rich plasma (PRP) and bone marrow aspirate concentrate, commonly called BMAC. Both treatments use material collected from your own body and prepared for injection into a specific injured or degenerative area.
However, not every regenerative medicine program uses the same processing methods, laboratory standards, or level of physician involvement. Our program is built around detailed Greyledge laboratory analysis, individualized biologic processing, and procedures performed by a double board-certified physician, Dr. Justin Merkow, MD, a Harvard-trained, board-certified anesthesiologist and interventional pain specialist. Every PRP and BMAC injection at Accelerate Health is performed by Dr. Merkow. That combination of diagnostic imaging, physician-performed procedures, and Greyledge’s individualized lab processing is a level of clinical oversight that’s unusual for a typical chiropractic office, better, frankly, than what most competing offices, including many orthopedic and specialist practices, offer.
We currently offer these treatments for extremity conditions involving areas such as the shoulders, knees, and elbows. We do not currently perform regenerative procedures involving the spine at our offices, because those procedures require specialized imaging and procedural capabilities we don’t have on-site, for spine-related cases, we refer to Dr. Merkow’s surgery center in Lone Tree, where those procedures can be performed.
What PRP and BMAC Treatment Actually Are
Platelet-rich plasma, or PRP, is prepared from a sample of your own blood. The blood is processed to separate and concentrate platelets and other components that support your body’s natural healing response, then injected directly into the injured area.
Bone marrow aspirate concentrate, or BMAC, uses a related approach: cells collected from your own bone marrow with regenerative potential, processed and concentrated to support tissue repair. Both are non-surgical, both use material drawn from your own body, and both are aimed at injuries that haven’t fully responded to more conservative care. Neither is instant, healing happens over weeks, not days, as your body responds to treatment.
Chiropractic care, physical therapy, dry needling, and other conservative modalities remain part of the picture even for patients who are candidates for PRP or BMAC. This isn’t a treatment we push on every patient who walks in with joint or muscle pain, and it isn’t a replacement for the rest of your care, it’s a tool we bring in when conservative treatment has plateaued or when trying to delay or prevent surgery.
What We Treat With This Approach
Our regenerative medicine program focuses on these areas:
- Shoulder injuries, including complex rotator cuff tears, BMAC is especially effective here, often avoiding the need for surgery
- Knee conditions, including arthritis, meniscus tears, and collateral or cruciate ligament sprains
- Elbow conditions, including tennis elbow (lateral epicondylitis) and other tendinopathy
These are the extremity conditions where we’ve seen this approach make a meaningful, consistent difference for patients who haven’t found relief elsewhere. If your case falls outside these areas, that doesn’t mean regenerative medicine is off the table entirely, but it does mean the conversation starts with an honest assessment of whether it’s actually the right fit, please reach out for a consultation to discuss your specific case.
Questions Worth Asking Before You Commit
If you’re weighing whether regenerative medicine is right for you, a few questions are worth having answered before you move forward:
- How does my specific injury compare to the cases this treatment tends to help most?
- What would my realistic recovery timeline look like?
- What happens if the treatment doesn’t fully resolve my symptoms?
- How does this fit with the physical therapy or chiropractic care I’m already doing?
- What imaging confirms my diagnosis?
- Do I need an MRI, X-ray, or diagnostic ultrasound before treatment?
- Will imaging be used to guide the procedure?
- How do you know which tissue is actually causing my symptoms?
We’d rather walk through these directly during your consultation than have you guess at the answers beforehand.
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Fill out our form to request an appointment, and our team will be in touch to confirm your visit.
What to Expect at Your Consultation
Your first visit is an evaluation and conversation, not a sales presentation.
We will review your injury history, current symptoms, previous treatment, medical history, and any imaging that is available. An accurate diagnosis is essential before recommending PRP or BMAC. Depending on the condition, this may require an X-ray, MRI, diagnostic musculoskeletal ultrasound, or a combination of imaging studies, we have on-site X-ray at our Lakewood office and can refer out for MRI when it’s needed; ideally an MRI used to guide treatment is no more than 12 months old.
Diagnostic ultrasound can be especially valuable for evaluating tendons, ligaments, muscles, and certain joint structures in real time. It may also help confirm the location and extent of an injury and determine whether a regenerative procedure is appropriate.
If you do not already have the imaging needed to accurately diagnose the condition, we may recommend or order additional imaging before proceeding. We do not recommend regenerative procedures based only on the location of pain or a brief physical examination.
If your condition appears appropriate for regenerative medicine, we will explain:
- Whether PRP or BMAC may be more appropriate
- Why that option is being recommended
- What imaging supports the diagnosis
- How the material is collected
- How Greyledge analyzes and processes the preparation
- How the physician performs the procedure
- What discomfort or restrictions to expect
- How rehabilitation may be incorporated afterward
- What a realistic timeline for improvement may look like
If you are not a good candidate, we will tell you. Depending on your situation, we may recommend continued physical therapy, changes to your chiropractic or rehabilitation plan, additional diagnostic imaging, or consultation with another specialist.
Why Physician Experience Matters
Every regenerative procedure at Accelerate Health is performed by Dr. Justin Merkow, MD, a double board-certified physician with advanced training in anesthesiology and pain management.
That matters because the quality of a regenerative procedure depends on more than the material being injected. It also depends on:
- An accurate diagnosis supported by appropriate imaging
- Appropriate patient selection
- Review of X-rays, MRI findings, or diagnostic ultrasound when indicated
- Understanding the anatomy surrounding the treatment area
- Precise image-guided needle placement
- Management of procedural risks
- Integration of the procedure with rehabilitation, chiropractic care, and physical therapy
Regenerative treatment should not be recommended simply because a patient reports pain in a particular joint. Imaging helps identify the actual injured or degenerative structure, determine the severity of the condition, and rule out findings that may require a different treatment approach.
Some outpatient regenerative programs delegate major portions of the procedure or rely on clinicians with limited procedural training. At Accelerate Health, Dr. Merkow reviews the diagnosis and relevant imaging himself, determines the treatment plan, and accurately delivers the Greyledge-processed preparation to the intended tissue.
Setting Realistic Expectations
Regenerative medicine gets talked about online in ways that sometimes oversell what it can do. We’d rather set expectations honestly. It’s not an instant fix, it doesn’t work identically for every patient, and it isn’t the right choice for every joint injury. Greyledge tracks patient outcomes across providers nationwide, so we’re able to give you realistic, data-informed expectations based on how similar cases have actually responded, rather than a generic promise. What it does offer, for the right candidate, is a meaningful non-surgical option when more conservative treatment has plateaued.
How This Fits With Your Existing Care
Regenerative medicine isn’t meant to replace chiropractic care or physical therapy. For most patients who end up being candidates, it’s a complement to treatment they’re already doing, chiropractic adjustments, soft-tissue work, shockwave, laser, dry needling, aimed at a specific joint that hasn’t responded the way the rest of their recovery has. Your chiropractor or physical therapist here will be part of that conversation, since they already know your case and your history.
Why This Program Is Based in Lakewood
The actual procedure (the blood or bone marrow draw, the Greyledge lab processing, and the injection itself) happens at our Lakewood location, because that’s where our lab lives. If you’re a Denver patient and this treatment is right for you, you’ll come to our Lakewood office specifically for that appointment. It’s a short trip, and it means the procedure happens with the right equipment on-site rather than being outsourced.
Everything leading up to that point, your initial consultation, your exam, and the conversation about whether you’re a good candidate, can happen right here in Denver.
Is This a Long-Term Priority for the Practice?
Yes, and we’ll say that plainly. Regenerative medicine is an area we’re actively investing in and building out, because we’ve seen it help patients who had otherwise plateaued with conservative treatment. Right now, that means a focused, extremity-only program, with spine cases referred to Dr. Merkow’s surgery center in Lone Tree. Long term, we’d like to expand what we’re able to offer directly, though that depends on further investment in imaging and equipment.
Frequently Asked Questions
Yes. An accurate diagnosis should be established before a regenerative procedure is recommended. Depending on the injury, this may require X-rays, an MRI, diagnostic musculoskeletal ultrasound, or a combination of imaging studies.
Imaging helps identify which tissue is injured, determine the severity of the condition, and confirm whether PRP or BMAC is a reasonable treatment option. If you do not already have appropriate imaging, we may recommend or order it before scheduling the procedure.
Yes. Diagnostic musculoskeletal ultrasound may be used to evaluate tendons, muscles, ligaments, and certain joint structures. It provides real-time imaging and can help confirm the location and extent of an injury.
Ultrasound is used to guide the physician during procedures so the preparation can be delivered accurately to the intended tissue.
It depends on your specific condition and how you’ve responded to prior treatment. We’ll evaluate that directly during a consultation rather than assuming based on your symptoms alone.
Both use material from your own body to support healing, but PRP concentrates platelets from a blood draw while BMAC uses cells collected from bone marrow. They’re used for somewhat different situations, which we’ll walk through based on your diagnosis and imaging.
Not at our offices, those procedures require specialized imaging and equipment we don’t have on-site. We refer spine-related cases to Dr. Merkow’s surgery center in Lone Tree, where he’s able to perform them.
At our Lakewood location, where our Greyledge-processed lab is based. Denver patients who are candidates for treatment will come to Lakewood specifically for the procedure appointment.
This varies by patient and condition. We’ll walk through realistic timelines for your specific case during your consultation, informed by Greyledge’s outcome data from similar cases.
Coverage for regenerative medicine is not currently available with general health insurance.
Find Out If You're a Candidate for Regenerative Medicine
If you’ve been dealing with a shoulder, knee, or elbow injury that hasn’t responded to more conservative care, it’s worth having an honest conversation about whether regenerative medicine could help.