For decades, orthopedic pain management followed a familiar script: rest, anti-inflammatories, maybe a steroid injection and, if all else failed, prescription painkillers. Unfortunately, that script comes with fine print too. Anti-inflammatories can raise blood pressure, steroids can damage surrounding tissue, and opioids carry risks everyone knows too well.
The Center for Advanced Orthopedics and Sports Medicine (CAO) is offering patients a different path to recovery, from a class IV medical laser system, to customized platelet-rich plasma injections and physician-guided CBD treatments. These alternatives share a common goal: to help the body heal itself with as few downsides as possible.
Dr. Kyle Casadei, orthopedic and sports medicine specialist with CAO, provides insight on the alternative treatments providing patients with the recovery and relief they need.
Q: What is laser therapy and how does it work?
A: Our laser therapy is a handheld device that is gently applied to the surface of the skin. It’s not invasive, and many patients say it feels like a warm massage. It dilates the blood vessels and activates growth at the cellular level, sending more healing factors to the area to stimulate your body’s own natural healing response. It also decreases inflammation and calms the pain receptors.
The downsides are very low. Unlike steroid injections, there is no risk of damaging the surrounding internal tissue and because nothing breaks the skin, there’s no risk of bleeding or infection. Each treatment takes about 10 minutes, and we usually do six sessions over three weeks.
Q: Who is a good candidate for laser therapy?
A: There are a lot of patients who can benefit from it. It might be someone whose back seizes up after a weekend of gardening, an athlete with an injury who has a tournament coming up and wants to get the swelling down fast, or a patient who has dealt with back pain for years and wants to loosen up their back so they can get more out of physical therapy. It can also be used to jumpstart recovery after surgery, including knee replacement, by promoting wound healing and reducing swelling in those early stages.
Q: What is PRP and who can these treatments help?
A: PRP stands for platelet-rich plasma, it is a regenerative therapy that uses your own blood’s concentrated platelets to accelerate healing. We draw your blood like any other blood draw, spin it in a machine that pulls out the platelets, which are your body’s natural healing factors, and inject them back into the problem area. Everything happens on site, same day, in about an hour. PRP can be helpful for arthritis, tennis elbow, patellar and Achilles tendonitis, plantar fasciitis, hip bursitis, labrum or meniscus tears, partial UCL (Tommy John ligament) tears, and partial rotator cuff tears.
Q: How effective is PRP?
A: PRP is highly effective because it doesn’t just mask your pain, it addresses the root cause. While traditional steroid injections offer temporary relief for a few months and can actually weaken tissue over time, PRP can actively repair damaged tissue, offering longer-term healing and lasting relief. The deep cellular repair from PRP typically takes two to three months to fully kick in. We frequently combine PRP with laser therapy. The laser provides a dual benefit: it accelerates the overall healing process and delivers faster initial pain relief, keeping you comfortable while the PRP builds lasting results.
Q: Can CBD really be an alternative to opioids?
A: For the right patient, yes. Some patients can’t take anti-inflammatories because they’re on blood thinners, have kidney disease, or have high blood pressure. Muscle relaxers can make people drowsy and many people want to avoid narcotics, so we’ve found that the CBD treatments can be a good alternative for all these factors.
Q: Are CBD Treatments Safe?
A: Yes! We partnered with a company whose products are third-party tested, so you know you’re getting exactly what’s on the label. There’s no THC, so no sedation, no problem driving and no risk of testing positive on a drug test. CBD treatments can be administered through a cream, a soft gel and a sublingual spray. Some surgeons pair the soft gel and sublingual spray after surgery to help patients reduce their opioid use or come off opioids sooner.
Alternative treatments like these represent more than new tools; they reflect a shift in how medicine approaches healing, working with the body’s own repair systems rather than simply masking pain, and offering options to patients who once had few.
That evolution is exactly why the CAO team of physicians and professionals make it a priority to stay on the cutting edge, investing in new research and the latest technology, tracking third-party outcome data and continually expanding what is offered. The best care isn’t just about treating patients today, it’s about making sure they have access to the safest, most effective options medicine has to offer tomorrow.
Ready to explore whether these treatments are right for you? Call the Center for Advanced Orthopedics and Sports Medicine at 248-377-8000 to schedule a consultation.