More Colorado Regenexx Reviews: Upper Neck Pain and Headaches

This is one of the Colorado Regenexx reviews I really love. I first met AR in October of last year. She was a Colorado woman in her 50s who was an absolute mess-likely one of the lowest functioning patients I had ever seen. Her husband did the talking as she could barely communicate. Five weeks prior, she was rear ended while stopped by a bigger SUV travelling at highway speeds. Her husband offered pictures of the car, which was obliterated from the driver’s door back. Her seat back had broken due to the force of the crash and she was ejected into what was left of the back seat. She spent four days in a Colorado hospital because a CT Scan had detected an occipital bone fracture (base of the skull). At that point she was sleeping 20 hours a day and had severe dizziness, headaches, disorientation, and would fall often. She had also been seen by her Colorado family doctor who just gave her pills.

She was so bad that day that just getting her on and off of the exam table was a chore. She really couldn’t turn her head and many upper neck and head nerves were abnormal. From my exam, everything pointed in the direction of an upper neck injury. This made sense, as it would be almost impossible to fracture the base of the skull without also injuring the upper cervical facet joints and ligaments. These are the little joints that connect the head to the neck and the ligaments that hold the head firmly to the upper spine.

Our treatment was focused on using the Regenexx-PL and SCP procedures to inject her own growth factors from her blood platelets and concentrated whole platelets into her damaged upper neck facet joints and ligaments. We also focused on using trigger point dry needling to get the upper neck muscles back on line and then very gentle strengthening using an accelerometer on her head with visual feedback to engage the small upper neck muscles. From here she was transitioned into a more aggressive neck strengthening program using a BTE multi-cervical unit.

Her progress has been astounding over 6 months. I just saw her and discharged her back to full duty work. She has no more headaches, no longer sleeps all day, and has no more dizziness. Her neck strength has steadily increased and she now feels like she can work 40 plus hours. What was the deciding factor fer her? Injecting her own blood platelets to prompt healing of the damaged upper cervical facet joints and ligaments. With that, we got her to go from sleeping all day to be able to spend time upright and then to begin some rehab.

The upshot? Being a doctor who sees the most difficult patients all day can sometimes be tough. However, it’s patients like AR that make it all worthwhile. To be able to take a woman who is completely non-functional and unable to deal with being upright and out of bed for more than a few hours a day and to help her climb out of that deep, dark hole, is like magic. To compare that patient I met in October to the bight, funny, and vibrant woman I just discharged made my week!

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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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