Our Lakewood office is the only Accelerate Health location with an on-site lab, which means it’s where our regenerative medicine procedures actually happen: blood or bone marrow draw, Greyledge lab processing, and injection, all in one place. If you’ve been referred here from our Denver office, or you came directly because you’re dealing with a joint injury that hasn’t responded to more conservative care, this is where treatment takes place.
We focus this program on shoulder, knee, and elbow conditions, including rotator cuff tears, knee arthritis, meniscus tears, ligament sprains, and tennis elbow (lateral epicondylitis, or more broadly, tendinopathy). These are some of the extremity injuries where we’ve consistently seen PRP and BMAC therapy make a real difference for patients who’ve plateaued with physical therapy or chiropractic care alone, reach out for a consultation if your condition isn’t listed here.
How PRP and BMAC Therapy Work
PRP therapy uses a concentrated sample of your own platelets, drawn from your blood and injected directly into the injured area to support your body’s natural healing process. BMAC (bone marrow aspirate concentrate) uses a related approach: cells collected from your own bone marrow, processed by Greyledge to concentrate their regenerative potential, then injected to support tissue repair. Both are non-surgical outpatient procedures using material from your own body. Nothing synthetic, nothing donor-based.
Neither treatment is instant. Healing from a regenerative injection happens over weeks, not days, as your body responds to the treatment. We’ll walk through a realistic timeline for your specific condition.
Determining If You're a Candidate
Not every rotator cuff, knee, or elbow injury is a fit for regenerative medicine, and we won’t tell you otherwise just to book a procedure. Your candidacy depends on a few factors:
- How long you’ve had the injury
- What other treatments you’ve tried
- What imaging shows about the extent of the damage
Some cases respond better to continued physical therapy or a chiropractic-focused approach, and we’ll say so directly if that’s what your case calls for. If you are a candidate, we’ll walk through exactly what to expect: how the procedure works, what a realistic recovery timeline looks like, and what activity restrictions apply afterward.
What Happens During Your Procedure
Your appointment starts with a blood or bone marrow draw. From there, Greyledge processes the sample to isolate the platelets or cells needed for your treatment, and Dr. Justin Merkow, MD, performs the injection directly into the affected joint or tissue. The entire visit typically takes place in a single appointment, and most patients are able to leave the same day with clear aftercare instructions.
Aftercare and What Comes Next
Once your procedure is complete, a few things typically apply:
- PRP and BMAC elicit an inflammatory response that is quite intense initially but resolves within a few hours, with only mild to moderate residual soreness at the injection site for a few days
- Activity modifications are crucial for the first one to two weeks
- Follow-up appointments track how your body is responding
- Full results build gradually, often over several weeks to a few months
We’ll give you specific, written aftercare instructions before you leave, so you’re not left guessing about what’s normal and what’s worth calling us about.
Book Your Appointment
Fill out our form to request an appointment, and our team will be in touch to confirm your visit.
What We Don't Treat With This Program
We want to be direct about the limits of what we offer at this location. We do not perform spine-related regenerative procedures here, that requires imaging equipment we don’t have on-site. We refer those cases to Dr. Merkow’s surgery center in Lone Tree, where he’s able to perform them.
Right now, our on-site program is extremities-only: shoulders, knees, and elbows. That’s a deliberate choice, not a limitation we’re trying to hide. Building this into a fuller regenerative medicine branch over time is a genuine long-term goal for the practice, and we’d rather grow it carefully than promise more than we can currently deliver.
Setting Realistic Expectations
We’d rather be direct than oversell this treatment. Regenerative medicine isn’t instant, it doesn’t produce identical results for every patient, and it isn’t right for every case. Greyledge tracks outcomes from providers across the country, so we can give you average outcome expectations based on real prior cases rather than a generic promise. What it does offer, for the right candidate, is a genuine non-surgical option once more conservative treatment has stopped making progress.
Why Accelerate Health for Regenerative Medicine
Most general chiropractic or PT practices don’t offer regenerative medicine at all. Patients typically have to seek out a dedicated regenerative medicine clinic separately, starting over with a provider who’s never seen their case. Here, it’s integrated with the rest of your care, your Greyledge-processed treatment is performed by Dr. Merkow, a double board-certified physician, and your chiropractor or physical therapist already knows your history, your prior treatment, and how your recovery has progressed. That context directly informs whether and when a regenerative procedure actually makes sense for you, and chiropractic care, needling, or shockwave often continue alongside it rather than stopping, this isn’t meant to replace that part of your care.
Tracking Your Progress After Treatment
We schedule follow-up check-ins after your procedure specifically to track how your body is responding, not just to confirm you’re comfortable. If progress is slower than expected for your specific condition, that’s information we use to adjust your broader care plan, not something we ignore until your next scheduled visit.
Frequently Asked Questions
Rotator cuff tears, knee arthritis, meniscus tears, ligament sprains, and tennis elbow (lateral epicondylitis / tendinopathy) are the most common, reach out if your condition isn’t listed here.
Most patients tolerate it well. There’s some discomfort with the injection itself, and we’ll walk you through what to expect and how to manage it afterward.
This depends on your specific condition and how you respond. Some patients see meaningful improvement after a single treatment; others benefit from a follow-up.
No, not on-site, we don’t have the imaging equipment needed for spinal regenerative procedures. We refer those cases to Dr. Merkow’s surgery center in Lone Tree.
No. This procedure is available to any patient who’s a good candidate, regardless of which location you normally visit.
Most patients can resume normal activity fairly quickly, though we typically recommend easing back into higher-impact activity while your body responds to treatment.
Any imaging you’ve had done, a list of treatments you’ve already tried, and a clear sense of how the injury has affected your daily activity.
Book Your PRP or BMAC Consultation
That level of follow-through is part of what makes this program different from a one-and-done procedure clinic. If you’ve been dealing with a persistent shoulder, knee, or elbow injury that hasn’t fully resolved with more conservative treatment despite genuinely giving it time, a regenerative medicine consultation is worth having.