Home › Blog › Climbing the Inca Trail with Knee Arthritis: #RegenexxActive

I have always wanted Regenexx patients to send me photos of stuff that they can do now that they couldn’t attempt before treatment. However, I’ve mostly just had these sent to me without a formal request. To rectify that situation, I would like to start a new social-media hashtag called #RegenexxActive. Let me explain.

When Our Body Doesn’t Cooperate

We all have things we really want to do, but first life gets in the way. Kids, a job, a career…all conspire to put many of those things off until “someday.” However, for some of us, when someday becomes today and we have the time to get out there and climb that mountain or visit that special place, our body won’t allow it. A knee or a back or an ankle or a shoulder just has too much pain. At Regenexx, we’ve always specialized in allowing patients to get to those dreams without invasive surgery.

#RegenexxActive

It’s fun for physicians to get pics sent to them by patients who are doing the things they love again thanks to our precise imaging-guided, high-dose stem cell and platelet procedures. This sometimes just happens on its own, like Cliff’s picture today. However, I want pictures sent to me by our patients from all over the world as they conquer things they thought they would never do again, thanks to a Regenexx procedure.

Cliff’s #RegenexxActive Story

Cliff was 53 when I first evaluated him in Grand Cayman in the summer of 2016. He had had knee pain since his 20s and had several surgeries. These included bilateral ACL reconstructions and debridement procedures. He was diagnosed with knee arthritis and began trying hyaluronic acid injections, which helped some, but he didn’t get dramatic relief.

When I first evaluated him, his MRIs showed full-thickness cartilage loss on the inside compartment, a small meniscus, no ACL graft left, and many lax ligaments. In November 2016, he returned to Grand Cayman to have his culture-expanded stem cells injected, using precise X-ray and ultrasound guidance, into the areas without cartilage and into multiple ligaments. He just contacted me with his 18-month outcome:

“Hello,

Wanted to pass this update on to Dr Centeno.

Three years ago I could barely work my job in construction from the pain in both my knees. After years of appointments, steroid and expensive viscosupplement shots as well as prescriptions and over the counter NASAID’s, I finally found The Centeno-Schultz Clinic.

Two years ago I committed to the Regenexx-C procedure in Grand Cayman for both of my knees.

Here is a recent picture at the end of a four day grueling hike on the Inca Trail in Peru. Almost 40 miles of countless stone steps winding over two 13,000 foot passed on steep rocky terrain. I am not completely pain free but do no longer experience the debilitating arthritic pain that I used to feel.

I am grateful for being able to enjoy this unforgettable hike that I never would have attempted four years ago! Not to mention how my day to day life has improved without the constant pain.

Thank you for all you do to heal people! Sincerely, Clifton Prince”

The upshot? Get out there and try those things that before your Regenex procedure you thought you would never do again and send me a pic. If you’re on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, or LinkedIn, use the hashtag #RegenexxActive and ping us so we can get it featured on the blog. As a doctor, one of the things that makes my day is seeing my patients and those treated by our network sites doing all sorts of crazy stuff!

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