Webinar Recap – 5 Key Takeaways About Your Body’s Healing Power

If you missed our recent webinar on regenerative medicine and stem cell therapy, or if you attended and want a quick refresher, here are the five most important insights from family nurse practitioner Joya Van Der Laan’s presentation on how your body can heal itself when given the right tools.

1. Your Body Has a Hidden Repair System That Can Be Reactivated

Your body was designed with an innate ability to heal itself, but chronic inflammation disrupts this natural process. When you have conditions like osteoarthritis or tendon injuries, prolonged inflammation prevents your body’s repair system from keeping up with tissue damage.

Regenerative medicine works by resetting the inflammatory environment in your joints and tissues. Rather than just masking pain like conventional treatments, regenerative injections using Wharton’s jelly from umbilical cords or platelet-rich plasma (PRP) introduce signaling molecules that quiet inflammation and recruit your own stem cells to the injury site. This activation of your body’s repair mechanisms leads to actual tissue healing, not just symptom relief.

2. Conventional Treatments Only Provide Temporary Relief (And May Cause Harm)

During the webinar, Joya outlined the star differences between traditional approaches and regenerative medicine:

Pain medications offer relief for just hours to days, come with significant side effects like hormonal imbalances and constipation, and cause zero tissue repair. Steroid injections reduce inflammation for weeks to months, but don’t heal tissue. In fact, repeated cortisone shots actually degrade cartilage and other tissues over time, potentially leading to joint replacement surgery. Surgery carries risks of anesthesia, requires weeks of recovery, has no guarantee of success, and still doesn’t address the underlying tissue breakdown.

In contrast, regenerative injections stimulate lasting healing by addressing the problem at its source, with minimal side effects and no invasive procedures required.

3. The Healing Timeline Is 6-12 Months (But You’ll Feel Better Sooner)

One of the most valuable insights from the webinar was understanding realistic expectations. Regenerative medicine isn’t magic that works overnight, but the results are substantial and lasting.
Immediately after injection, most patients experience pain relief as inflammation decreases.

Sometimes there’s a brief period of mild discomfort as the initial anti-inflammatory effect wears off, followed by gradual improvement as actual tissue regeneration occurs. The most significant healing occurs within the first two to three months, but the regenerative process continues for six to twelve months.

As Joya explained, patients often report at their one-month follow-up that they’re “pretty sure” it’s working. Still, by three months, they realize they’re able to do activities they couldn’t do before, such as getting on the floor with their grandkids, returning to golf or tennis, and climbing stairs without pain.

4. Not All Stem Cell Products Are Created Equal

Safety and efficacy depend entirely on the source and quality of regenerative products. The stem cells and growth factors used at Nourish House Calls come from umbilical cord tissue and amniotic fluid from healthy births, not from aborted fetuses, a common misconception Joya addressed directly.

The lab Nourish works with exceeds FDA standards for testing, including screening for COVID antibodies and spike proteins. These tissues are “immune-privileged,” meaning they don’t trigger rejection responses in your body. For most joints, patients receive 80 million cells per injection, while IV treatments contain 180 billion cells.

The webinar emphasized that many clinics use inferior products or make false claims about how stem cells work. The injected cells don’t actually become your new cartilage. Instead, they act as signaling molecules that activate your own stem cells to do the repair work.balanced nutrition, limited sugar, and gentle physical therapy, often see even better results.

5. Treatment Plans Are Personalized Based on Your Specific Condition

There’s no one-size-fits-all approach to regenerative medicine. During the webinar, Joya shared several patient success stories that illustrated different treatment protocols:

A former athlete with severe knee arthritis received three injections over nine weeks (two PRP followed by Wharton’s jelly) and avoided the joint replacement his surgeon recommended. A patient with debilitating Achilles tendinitis who was using a cane received just one or two injections and was walking without assistance within weeks. A neuropathy patient experienced 70% improvement after just one PRP injection.

Costs range from $2,500 for a single Wharton’s jelly injection to $12,000 for comprehensive treatment involving IV stem cells, multiple PRP sessions, and adjunct therapies. Joya evaluates each patient’s imaging, symptoms, and goals to recommend the most effective protocol, whether that involves a comprehensive approach or a more conservative treatment plan.

Frequently Asked Questions

1. Is stem cell therapy safe?

Yes, when obtained from reputable sources. The umbilical cord and amniotic tissues used are immune-privileged and come from extensively screened healthy mothers. The products undergo testing that exceeds FDA standards, making them safer than many conventional treatments, including long-term pain medications and surgery.

2. How long does it take to see results?

Most patients experience immediate pain relief from reduced inflammation within days to weeks. Meaningful tissue healing occurs over 2-3 months, with continued improvement for 6-12 months. Results vary depending on the severity of the condition and the individual’s ability to heal.

3. Why doesn’t my doctor recommend this?

Most conventional doctors aren’t trained in regenerative medicine because it’s not taught in medical schools. Additionally, there are currently no insurance billing codes for these treatments, and insurance-based practices typically only offer treatments for which they can bill. It takes 10-20 years for new research to become standard practice in conventional medicine.

4. Does insurance cover regenerative treatments?

Currently, no. These treatments are cash-based, though you can use HSA or FSA accounts. Some patients submit claims for partial reimbursement using CPT and diagnosis codes provided by Nourish House Calls.

5. Who shouldn’t get stem cell injections?

Patients with active cancer, those requiring truly surgical repairs (like complete tendon tears), people who can’t modify their diet or activity levels for a few weeks, and those whose jobs require heavy physical labor immediately after treatment should explore other options first.

Ready to explore if regenerative medicine is right for you?

Watch the full webinar on our YouTube channel or schedule a free 30-minute consultation here to discuss your specific situation and treatment options.