Let’s enter the new world of Cellular Orthopedics into which I graduated three years ago. Several months, ago, a long time friend was visiting his family in Chicago and stopped by to say hello. He told me about his skiing last winter and his hiking over the summer and fall. He also related he was seeing an orthopedic surgeon in the state where he now lived and that he had “bone on bone” in his knee. I launched into my customary spiel about his current level of athleticism, my cellular orthopedic initiative and the limits and risks of a knee replacement. Last week, a mutual friend told me that the out of state visitor had related “Mitch was right, I shouldn’t have done it”. He had undergone the Total Knee Replacement in spite of there being no limit in his recreational capacity and was now readmitted with an infected total knee prosthesis that might have to be removed to clear up the infection. Not being one to suggest “I told you so” but that’s what I am trying to get across to the patients I advise.
The Stem Cell Solution, Using the body’s almost magical repair kit to fix bad knees and hips-no surgery required is the title of an article appearing in the December, 2014, edition of The Saturday Evening Post, written by Sharon Begley, the senior U.S. health and science correspondent at Reuters. Last spring, the author had contacted me for an interview after having followed my Blogs unbeknownst to me. Ms Begley introduced herself and told me about an article she was writing for The Post to be published in June. I had forgotten about the interview until a patient came in last week and told me that she had read the article in the December issue. What I didn’t recognize at the time of the interview was that not only is the bone marrow a source of Adult Mesenchymal Stem Cells but of Growth factors and Cytokines as well that may be of equal importance. The opening of the article features my patient. In 2011,”I was in a bad way.” ”He was diagnosed with osteoarthritis, a degenerative disease eating away at the cartilage in his knees writes Begley.”The patient: ”and now I’m climbing stairs, have gone on two skiing trips, planning another, and playing golf in the summer.” “I am way beyond pleased.”
Tags: arthritis, athletes, Bone Marrow Concentrate, Concentrated Stem Cell Plasma, Hip Replacement, Interventional Orthopedics, joint replacement, Knee Pain Relief, Mature Athlete, Orthopedic Surgeon, Osteoarthritis, Pain Management, Regenerative, Regenexx-SD, stem cells, treatment