Orthopedic Care of the Mature Athlete
You say you used to ski but have given it up because of arthritic knees? You feel embarrassed because as a former heli-skier, you are limited to groomed blue slopes. There is still an opportunity for you to regain the thrills of yesteryear, getting high on happiness, wearing the latest in ski fashion or resurrecting that 20 year old one piece, as you shoos through that untracked fresh eight inches. Yes, I’m talking to you Ms, Mrs. or Mr. million mile ski suit. Be it at ages 30 or 85, Platelet Rich Plasma and Bone Marrow Aspirate Concentrate may offer the opportunity to feel that Rocky Mountain High again.
CMH is blasting me weekly; the live cams on Vail Mountain show the beginnings of a great ski year. Mexico instead of the Rocky Mountain West, I don’t know about you; but I am not ready to quit. There is a fix, a new set of skies and a course of regenerative medicine. The results of Concentrated Stem Cell Plasma when indicated or Bone Marrow Aspiration Concentrate have been exceedingly affective in restoring my recreational athletic patients to their respective sports; you don’t have to quit. During my career as a joint replacement surgeon, in general, hip replacement recipients returned to a very active lifestyle. The same cannot be said following knee replacement surgery. While those who undergo a unicompartmental knee replacement have reasonable chance of return to skiing, there is a limited life expectancy of that design owing to progression of arthritis in the remaining portion of the knee. As well, the recent significant increase in hip prosthetic short term failures associated with product recalls should give pause to anyone without stage four advanced osteoarthritis or aseptic necrosis.
While it is true, I launched my regenerative medicine approach to arthritis six months ago, the preliminary successes of patients with stage two and three arthritic disease returning to recreational and competitive athletics has been marvelous to observe. This Wednesday comes the ultimate test. A 67-year-old avid bicyclist and skier will undergo a bone marrow aspiration concentrate (BMAC) procedure to his left knee. I have previously written about him as my biking buddy who I have kept going-actually kept him ahead of me on the bike- with Platelet Rich Plasma Concentrate early this summer. Now he is at a skiing crossroads as I have a CMH Million Foot Powder suit; he has a three million vertical suit. His trip this year is to The Columbia River Basin is scheduled for March. The concern is that it won’t happen unless he takes the next step with Regenerative Medicine, Stem cells from BMAC. I’ll keep you posted on the result or even better, send you some picture from the helmet mounted camera.