Helping the Active Aging Stay Active

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One of the things we do at Regenexx is helping active people stay active as they age. This morning we’ll go over Mary’s story, an active woman who is now mountain biking despite multiple roadblocks placed in her way due to injuries and aging. Let’s dig in.

The Orthopedic Surgery Dilemma

Perhaps the best way to introduce you to how we help aging active people stay active here at Regenexx is a story told to me by a patient about his brother. The brother imbibed the orthopedic surgery approach and had low back surgery when he had back pain that steroids couldn’t help. He then had a meniscectomy surgery on his knee and eventually a knee replacement. He’s nowhere near as active as my patient today, so what’s the difference? When my patient had back issues, instead of ever getting surgery, he had us use the Regenexx Proactive approach. A low back bulging disc and spondylolisthesis were treated with our platelet-based DDD injection procedure. His knees were treated with PRP. Hence, his body never suffered the physical damage that these big orthopedic surgeries can cause.

Are there times when orthopedic surgery is the only option? Yes. However, reducing the number you need or eliminating the surgeries that really don’t need to happen is the goal of this approach.

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Staying Active 101

I wrote a book years ago about this approach called “Proactive”. Meaning the idea is that by avoiding orthopedic surgery when parts get injured or degenerative, you’re much more likely to stay active as you age. The Regenexx physicians at sites like ours in Colorado where there are lots of us, get continually treated by our physician colleagues. A bad ankle here, a knee there, an aggravated back-the rotating bad body parts of aging athletes. To learn more about this approach, read my book below:

My Patient

Mary first came to me about her upper back pain, but mentioned one day that her orthopedic surgeon had told her she needed ankle ligament surgery and that the procedure was next week, but could I take a look to see if she could avoid surgery?  Sure enough, her ligaments were intact but stretched, but after a precise PRP injection into the ligament, Mary never looked back and never got that surgery. Through the years we’ve also treated her thoracic spine and shoulder. Dr. Pitts also recently treated a torn low back disc. At this point, she’s saved herself from at least several big surgeries.

I’ll let her speak below about how all of this worked out (this was an unsolicited testimonial she sent to myself and Dr. Pitts):

The upshot? We aging athletes need all the help we can get! If you’re in that category like me, then get hooked up with your local Regenexx clinic to avoid orthopedic surgery and keep yourself in the game or on the bike or trail as much and as long as possible!

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