Regenerative Medicine Erases Arthritic Pain

Jordan Pysz / ifoundmydoctor.com
Lorraine Gill turned her Harley into a motor trike to make it easier to ride.

For their 63^rd wedding anniversary two years ago, Clarence Gill bought his wife, Lorraine, a shiny, electric blue Harley-Davidson^® Fat Boy^® motorcycle to match the one he had been riding for years. Lorraine’s bike was quickly modified, however.

“I had it turned into a trike to make it easier for me to ride,” Lorraine says.
And ride she does. Though Clarence has since passed away, 85-year-old Lorraine still rides regularly. In fact, she recently returned from a rally of the Eastern Pennsylvania Retreads Motorcycle Group, which bestowed quite an honor upon her.
“We rode from the Pocono Mountains out to Lancaster, which is about a 2½-hour drive,” Lorraine details. “After we got back, the group gave me a trophy and a plaque for being the oldest female in the group.”
Following the Pennsylvania rally, Lorraine and her son and daughter-in-law loaded their bikes onto a trailer and traveled south to North Carolina, where they joined another group riding the Blue Ridge Parkway. This trip wasn’t quite as rewarding as the first.
“The first day we were there, my left knee started hurting really bad,” Lorraine laments. “It was killing me, so I didn’t ride that day. I went out the next day, though, and we wound up riding 120 miles before we even stopped for lunch.
“By the time we got back, my left knee was really hurting, so I took it easy for the next day or so. Then, a few days later, a group was going out and I decided to go with them. This time, we rode 101 miles. When we stopped, my knee hurt so bad I couldn’t walk.
“A bunch of people went hiking, but I stayed back, which turned out fine because a lot of people stopped to chat with me and take pictures with me and my bike. But I knew I had to do something about my knee.”
Lorraine knew exactly what to do because two years earlier she addressed a similar problem with her right knee. This after her family doctor told her there was nothing he could for the arthritis pain that was crippling her.
“My doctor told me I was just going to have to live with it, but I didn’t want to live with it, so I started looking around to see what was out there,” Lorraine recalls. “Then one day I saw some information for this place that did stem cell injections.”

Body’s Building Blocks

The place Lorraine found is Coastal Integrative Healthcare. It’s a medical center dedicated to serving the community and providing pain relief through advanced chiropractic equipment, advanced technology and regenerative medicine.
Regenerative medicine uses the foundation cells that grow tissue throughout the body. When these cellular products are injected into damaged tissue, they support the natural healing process by regenerating that tissue and stimulating the body’s 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.

“I have no pain in either of my knees now.” – Lorraine

“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 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.
“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 arthritis, muscle or tendon tears, and peripheral neuropathy almost anywhere in the body, including the 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. Lorraine, however, was twice deemed a good fit for the advanced therapy.

Worth a Shot

“The first time was after I went to see them about my right knee,” Lorraine confirms. “The first thing they did was take an MRI of my knee, but not long after that, my husband passed away, and I didn’t stay in contact with them.
“A little while later, my son came down to help me with everything, and when he asked what I was doing for my right knee, I told him I hadn’t gotten back to the doctors. He said, Well, you need to get it taken care of, so let’s give them a call.”
Lorraine’s call led to a meeting with Dr. Steflik and his staff. A few days later, Lorraine received the injections into her right knee. Since then, Lorraine has had no problems with what she used to refer to as her “bad knee.”
“That knee hurt so bad that I couldn’t put pressure on my right leg and lift my left leg up to get onto my bike,” Lorraine details. “I couldn’t even walk sometimes, and when I went to the grocery store, I had to lean on the cart and just kind of drag that leg along.

Lorraine Gill looking in the rear view mirror of her bike.

Lorraine has no pain in her knees after her regenerative medicine injections.

“Ever since I received the injections in that knee, everything has been fine. That knee was so strong that my son was afraid I was going to ruin it again by babying the other one, which is why I got the injections in my left knee.”
Lorraine received those injections in June. She says she believes her left knee is responding to the injections even faster than her right knee did because she was doing things she had been avoiding for years.
“I have no pain whatsoever in either of my knees now, so I can get up in the morning and go for a walk or get on my bike and go for a ride. I can do anything,” she adds. “I feel great, and I can’t tell you how long it’s been since I felt that way.
“I used to wake up every morning with pain in at least one of my knees, and I’d go to bed the same way. And for so long, nobody seemed to know what to do about it, so I can’t tell you how happy I am that I found Coastal Integrative Healthcare.
“I love the people there. They’re like family to me now because they’re all so nice and caring, and the injections weren’t painful at all. I appreciate what they’ve done for me so much that I’ve already recommended some friends to them.
“I gladly recommend anyone to them. They definitely get two thumbs up from me.”