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Traveling the World After Advanced Stem Cell Therapy

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You work hard all of your life to save a little money to see the world and travel. However, when you get there, the simple things you’ve always depended on, like being able to walk a few blocks or being able to go up or down stairs, are painful. In fact, instead of traveling the world, you’re housebound. That’s Anne’s Regenexx story that she recently shared on Facebook.

Most of What Are Being Called “Stem Cell” Procedures Out There Aren’t Real Stem Cell Procedures

If you read this blog, you know that many providers play games with the term “stem cell.” They use dead amniotic or cord blood products and claim it’s a live stem cell procedure. Or they use products like Lipogems (a fat-processing kit) and claim that’s a stem cell procedure, even though there aren’t many free and available stem cells in these procedures either. In looking through Anne’s records this morning, the same thing happened to her.

Anne was initially treated with PRP and a fat graft in Texas. In reviewing her notes this morning, what was interesting was that her provider in Texas claimed that the simple fat graft was a stem cell procedure. This is common, however, as there is nothing about a simple, 100-year-old-plus fat graft procedure that makes it a “stem cell” procedure. To understand why, check out my video below:
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What Was Wrong with Anne?

Dr. Markle first evaluated Anne in 2017 at our Colorado HQ site. At that point, Anne had suffered an ankle fracture, and the long-term results of that injury plus surgery was moderate arthritis in the ankle, bone marrow lesions (the talus ankle bone was dying), and damaged tendons/ligaments. She also had pinched nerves, bulging discs, and arthritic facet joints in her neck and low back. Finally, her kneecap had arthritis with bone problems, her knee ligaments were torn up and lax, and her meniscus was torn. Anne desperately needed a whole-body approach to diagnosis and treatment. While her prior prolotherapy and fat graft had helped, she still had issues that needed to be addressed.

What Type of Treatment Did She Have?

Anne had the full spectrum of treatment that we offer. This included platelet growth factor epidurals, high-dose PRP facet injections in her neck and back, a same-day stem cell treatment, and, finally, a culture-expanded stem cell treatment in Grand Cayman.
In particular, Anne had advanced placement of these things using fluoroscopy and ultrasound. Check out Dr. Markle below using C-arm fluoroscopy to inject just one of the ligaments (the ACL) that Anne had issues with:

Anne Didn’t Have the Fake Stem Cell Therapy Offered at Chiro, Orthopedic, and Age Management Offices

Realize that, as shown above in the video, each procedure Anne had done was a one- to two-hour precise image-guided injection. Meaning, you can see just how complex it is to place stem cells into the ACL (anterior cruciate ligament) of the knee. Anne had many different joints, ligaments, tendons, and spinal levels injected, all with the same procedure complexity.

What Anne didn’t have was a nurse in a chiro office taking five minutes to inject dead amniotic tissue into her knee. She also didn’t have an orthopedic surgeon who doesn’t know what he or she doesn’t know blindly injecting cord blood into her knee. In this case, the surgeon thinks he or she is injecting live stem cells but is, in fact, only injecting dead tissue. You get the idea. What Anne had was night and day different from what most providers call “stem cell therapy.” In fact, only a handful of providers worldwide would have the expertise to perform the procedures Dr. Markel offered.

How Did Anne Do?

This is her comment:

“Anne P. reviewed Centeno-Schultz Clinic — 5 star

So grateful. Pain is gone and I am off the NSAID dependency…today I hiked almost 5 miles of NC trails. Last year a torn meniscus and PCL not to mention 9 herniated discs and ankle ligament and bone lesions prevented even “down the block” walks. Now no more synovial cysts and my under patella pain from arthritis has disappeared w the A2M shot in April. Thank you, Dr. Markle and the CS Clinic! You have saved my happiness. I can travel the world again instead of housebound.”

The upshot? I’m so glad that Anne is doing better and can now travel the world. While she had gotten some help with lower-level therapies, like prolotherapy, PRP, and a simple fat graft (erroneously billed as a “stem cell” procedure), she needed actual advanced platelet and stem cell procedures to get her back to being a world traveler and hiker!

Chris Centeno, MD is a specialist in regenerative medicine and the new field of Interventional Orthopedics. Centeno pioneered orthopedic stem cell procedures in 2005 and is responsible for a large amount of the published research on stem cell use for orthopedic applications. View Profile

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NOTE: This blog post provides general information to help the reader better understand regenerative medicine, musculoskeletal health, and related subjects. All content provided in this blog, website, or any linked materials, including text, graphics, images, patient profiles, outcomes, and information, are not intended and should not be considered or used as a substitute for medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Please always consult with a professional and certified healthcare provider to discuss if a treatment is right for you.

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