Your toe bone is connected to your foot bone
Your foot bone is connected to your heel bone
Your heel bone is connected to your shin bone
Your shin bone is connected to your knee bone
Your knee bone is connected to your thigh bone
Your thigh bone is connected to your hip bone
… and so the song goes on.
How are your bony connections? Do you feel like your joints are stiff, painful, aching or limiting your activities?
Joint pain, especially in the lower limbs, is increasingly common as people age. Unfortunately, especially in the early stages, there is a perception that it is ‘just getting old’ and the process is irreversible and not preventable, with one needing to stand by and await their fate! This is in fact not the case. Regenerative medicine, through the use of one’s own stem cells, can actually reverse some of these changes, creating a healthier environment within your joints, and consequently fewer ‘getting old’ symptoms.
At Clinic 42, we regularly see patients in their fifth right through to ninth decades who are wanting to take a more proactive approach to their joint pain.
Take for example an ex-tradesman, who now works in a more sedentary business-development role, who was advised in his early 40s he needed knee replacements due to significant pain and joint dysfunction. It was suggested to him that he best delay replacement as long as possible, especially at his young age, as they would likely need to be re-done in his later years. As a consequence, he became progressively more debilitated, and his pleasure activities more limited – he can now only do nine holes of golf and needs a cart and three days to recover. He can no longer run, and due to symptoms in his shoulder, even non-impact sports like swimming are also out of the equation. At 53, it is fair to say his quality of life has been significantly diminished, and he has come to us, keen to explore his options.
Or consider another patient of ours, a retired doctor who tweaked his knee playing tennis. Following orthopaedic opinion, detailed scans including MRIs, and diligent rehabilitation and strengthening at home, he was advised there was little that could be done for his pain, and he needed to wait for his symptoms to progress to be an appropriate candidate for joint replacement. Not wanting to accept this fate, he explored other options, including stem cells, and against the advice of his surgeon, has had very successful treatment. Completely pain-free within a month of the procedure, he’s extremely appreciative and satisfied, and building his fitness to return to the tennis court in time for summer.
Medicine is a rapidly developing field in so many respects, and it can be difficult even for doctors, as well as non-medical folk to have a good understanding of all the options available for given conditions. Likewise, some doctors can be slow adopters of new treatment approaches. Dr Joanna Romanowska and Dr Eloise Dickie at Clinic 42 feel compelled to offer safe, effective treatments to patients before they may have reached “mainstream medicine” as long as they are satisfied there is some sound scientific evidence. There is even research at Auckland University exploring the role of stem cells, and that is right on our back door!
What we know, is that for a number of individuals with joint ailments and other medical conditions, introducing their own stem cells (which have been extracted from the fat of their ‘love-handle’ region) either into the affected joint or intravenously, can result in significant improvement in symptoms of pain, stiffness, immobility and functional decline.
If this is something you may like to explore further, a free eBook can be downloaded from stemcellrevolution.com—the worldwide network of stem cell doctors that doctors Romanowska and Dickie are affiliated with. The book is titled The Stem Cell Revolution.
Likewise, the doctors at Clinic 42 would be happy to discuss your condition and suitability for treatment if you would like to tackle some of your ‘getting old’ symptoms head-on!
