Mark Raffauf’s Triumph: Overcoming Knee Pain with Regenerative Medicine

COURTESY PHOTO MARK RAFFAUF
Mark’s knee pain became a hindrance to his work with International Motor Sports Association. Rather than undergo joint replacement surgery, he opted for a regenerative medicine protocol and within a few months was realizing enough improvement that he resumed the activities he had been forced to abandon.

The closest anyone has come to writing a history of the International Motor Sports Association (IMSA) was written in part by Mark Raffauf, who went to work for the road racing circuit while it was still in its infancy.

At the time, Mark wasn’t too far removed from his own infancy.

Though he didn’t take an official position with the circuit until he graduated from college, Mark was just 14 years old when he started inspecting cars and hanging out with the folks who wound up creating the IMSA series.

Since then, Mark, 65, has held a variety of management, development and rules enforcement positions within the NASCAR subsidiary, including that of senior director of racing operations, which is the title he holds today.

Mark can also lay claim to the title of author because he co-wrote the book IMSA 1969-89, in which he shares his inside story of how IMSA was formed and grew into one of the world’s most popular racing series.

“I kind of got hooked on road racing after my brother and I bought a Porsche 911 back in the mid-’70s,” Mark says. “By then we had both been going to events and volunteering, and we kind of developed a reputation for doing a good job and doing our homework.

“That’s how it led to a career that actually started when I was still in college. I was traveling to races and working events, and I found my niche on the technical side of things such as regulations, performance and development. I can’t complain. It’s been a good career.”

A few years ago, Mark had every reason to complain — not about work, but about aggravating left knee pain. More recently, he found himself struggling with even greater pain in his right knee.

“The left knee turned out to be a buildup of fluid, and once they took the fluid out, I walked away and was fine,” Mark relates. “But then, about a year ago, the other knee started to bother me and, of course, I did everything you shouldn’t with that knee.

“For six months, I just kept walking around to the racetracks, doing my job, but before long I started to feel it because it got to the point where I couldn’t walk normally, walk any great distance or even ride a bike. I couldn’t do much of anything.

“I could still go to the gym and work out, but I had to avoid anything that would put any kind of stress on my knees, so there was no riding the stationary bike, and anything that required a 25- or 30-degree movement of my knee was off-limits.”

Mark’s job requires a lot of travel, and that also didn’t help his knee. Long walks through airports became agonizingly painful, and long stretches of inactivity while flying left him with a stiffness that he struggled to loosen.

By spring 2023, Mark’s knee pain had become an incessant hindrance. That prompted a series of visits to area orthopedists, all of whom diagnosed the problem as a deterioration of knee cartilage and recommended knee replacement surgery.

“But one of those doctors suggested to me kind of off the record that there are alternatives to surgery and that I might want to try one of those,” Mark remembers. “So, I started doing some homework. That’s how I found Coastal Integrative Healthcare.”

Body’s Building Blocks

Coastal Integrative Healthcare is a medical center dedicated to providing pain relief for a variety of ailments through advanced chiropractic equipment, modern technology and regenerative medicine.

The latter uses the foundation cells that naturally grow body tissue. When injected into damaged tissue, these foundation cells support a natural healing process by regenerating that tissue and stimulating the body’s natural repair mechanisms.

Because of this regenerative nature, many in the medical community, including those at the National Institutes of Health and the Institute of Medicine, consider regenerative medicine to be the future of medicine.

Timothy Steflik, DC, clinic director and president of Coastal Integrative Healthcare, is right there with them.

“Regenerative medicine is definitely on the leading edge of medical technology,” Dr. Steflik affirms. “It’s a great alternative to surgery because it regenerates the body instead of trying to fix it or cover up a problem with surgery. The real beauty of it is that it’s a one-and-done, in-office procedure that takes about 15 minutes and needs no anesthesia. It’s a simple injection of the cells that are cryopreserved in our office.
-Dr. Steflik

“For some patients, we administer the injections using color ultrasound to help guide us. We do that because we need to be very specific where the cells are placed. Once the cells are injected, patients can return to normal activities right away.”

Regenerative medicine can be used to treat peripheral neuropathy, arthritis, and muscle or tendon tears almost anywhere in the body, including knees and shoulders, ankles and wrists, hips, back and neck, Dr. Steflik details.

Not all patients are candidates for regenerative medicine. Someone with a complete tear of the rotator cuff, for example, would be encouraged to try other options first.

Mark first visited Coastal Integrative Healthcare in June. During his initial visit, he was given a thorough examination and a recommendation that strongly justified his decision to seek an alternative to the replacement surgery other doctors recommended.

“After they looked at my x-rays and the MRI, they said that, in their opinion, I didn’t need a knee replacement at all because I was a good candidate for regenerative medicine therapy,” Mark says. “They said it was all up to me, so I said, Let’s give it a shot.”

Worth the Shot

COURTESY PHOTO
Mark Raffauf

Thinking that his left knee might eventually become a problem as well, Mark opted to receive injections in both knees. He received those injections in late June, and by Thanksgiving, he was already reaping the benefits of them.

“These regenerative medicine treatments are amazing, because I have virtually no issues at all right now,” Mark enthuses. “In fact, both knees feel better now than they have in probably four or five years.

“I want to add, though, that I think one of the critical aspects to all of this is the physical therapy you do after the injections. That’s crucial because if you’re walking around incorrectly or favoring one leg over another, it’s not going to work as well.

“But the physical therapists I worked with there were exceptionally intuitive as to what I needed. They did a great job of realigning me and making sure I was regaining my strength in the right places and things like that, so I could not be more pleased with the results.”

Regenerative medicine injections trigger a regeneration of soft tissue. As a result, it can take several months to feel the full effects. Mark realized improvement within a few months and soon resumed the activities he had been forced to abandon.

“By the end of October, I was able to ride a bike again and do everything I wasn’t able to do for a year or two before that,” he notes. “And I continue to do the exercises they recommended because that goes a long way toward rebuilding the strength and muscle that you lost.

“So, I’ve given this regenerative medicine a pretty good shot, and I’m very happy I did because it’s worked out really well for me. After my initial meeting with Dr. Steflik, he pretty much turned everything over to his nurse practitioner, and they all did a great job.

“I have nothing but high praise for all of the people at Coastal Integrative Healthcare, and I would gladly recommend them and their regenerative medicine treatment to anyone dealing with a situation like I was.”