Regenerative Medicine Is Worth A Shot

Wayne Reeves

The days of musicians taking the stage and letting their music alone carry the performance are over. No matter the genre, concerts are now multimedia events where video accents the music and giant screens bring the audience closer to the performer.
That’s good for concertgoers, and it’s been especially good for Wayne Reeves, a 63-year-old New Jersey resident and sound reinforcement specialist who has set up audiovisual systems for dozens of shows.
“We’ve done all kinds of concerts, including Emerson Lake & Palmer, Edgar Winter, Goo Goo Dolls,” Wayne details. “Those kind of events usually happen on the weekends; then during the week, we do a lot of corporate stuff.
“We set up video projectors, videotaping machines and the like for corporate meetings. We also set up Zoom meetings and do private events like weddings and birthday parties. We recently did a walkathon and a three-day Oktoberfest celebration.”
Wayne’s job requires a lot of heavy lifting, and he began to pay an increasingly uncomfortable price a few years ago when neck, arm and hand pain made his life miserable.
“I’ve dealt with some moderate neck and back pain ever since I was younger because of some pretty traumatic experiences I’ve been through,” Wayne reveals. “The worst was me crashing head-on with my motorcycle into a Mack truck.
“You put that together with the fact that as you get older, things just naturally start to catch up with you, and I reached a point where I had so much neck pain I couldn’t even get out of bed.
“The worst thing about it was that the pain didn’t just stop at my neck. It went all the way down my right arm and into the fingers on my right hand, and it gave me a cold, tingling sensation that sometimes got so bad it made my hand go numb.
“Not only that, but it made my arm feel as if it was all swelled up when it really wasn’t. It eventually got so bad that, after a while, I had to start calling out of work because I couldn’t use that arm for anything. It even kept me from sleeping sometimes.”
Wayne fought through the pain for several months, trying everything from over-the-counter pain relievers to medical marijuana for relief. When none of those remedies worked, he visited an orthopedist.

“I like the idea of using regenerative medicine to fix a problem rather than just masking the pain.” – Wayne

Wayne learned through the orthopedist that the cause of his pain was a couple of collapsed discs and a bundle of pinched nerves in his neck. He also learned that it could be months before he could be treated for the problem.
“This was during the rise of COVID in 2020, and it was hard to get an appointment with anyone,” Wayne explains. “The only good thing about that was that we were also slow at work. I also have a very understanding boss.
“That proved to be a good thing because I was talking to my sister, who lives in Florida, about all this. She started telling me about her husband, who had serious back problems and went to a doctor in Edgewater, got an injection of some kind and has been fine ever since.”

Body’s Building Blocks

The doctor Wayne’s brother-in-law visited is Timothy Steflik, DC, of Coastal Integrative Healthcare, a medical center dedicated to providing pain relief through advanced chiropractic equipment, advanced technology and regenerative medicine.
Wayne’s sister explained that her husband received regenerative medicine injections from Dr. Steflik for his back. Based on the treatment’s effectiveness, she urged Wayne to consider doing the same for his neck. Heeding that advice, Wayne called Coastal Integrative Healthcare.
Wayne then arranged to have copies of his medical records and images sent to the practice. A few days later, he received a call back saying he was a candidate for Coastal Integrative Healthcare’s regenerative medicine therapy.
The treatments use 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.
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.
Dr. Steflik, 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 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. Wayne was glad to hear he was not in that group.

Worth a Shot

Jordan Pysz / ifoundmydoctor.com Betty Calcagno

“It was on a Thursday that they called to tell me I was a candidate for the treatment, and they said they had an opening for an appointment the following Monday,” Wayne remembers. “I said, For a checkup? And they said, No, for the procedure.
“I couldn’t believe they could take me in that soon because I was having to wait months just to see a doctor in New Jersey. So, I got off the phone, booked a flight down to Florida and went to see them Monday. Just as they said, I got the injections that day.”
Wayne received two injections from Greg Salter, MSN, ARNP, in the back of his neck near the shoulders. He said the visit lasted about 30 minutes, and the injections were painless.
“I didn’t feel a thing,” he confirms. “About eight hours later, I was already starting to feel better. I spent that night at my sister’s house. During dinner, I said to her, You know what? I think the tingling in my right hand is starting to subside.”
The tingling continued to decrease over the next few days. In the weeks that followed, the neck pain and the cold, swollen feeling in his right arm dissipated as well. Wayne now considers those issues to be a thing of the past.
“I’m being honest with you when I say that it’s something I never even think about anymore,” Wayne adds. “The only time it comes to mind is if someone asks about it. That’s how good I feel now. It’s as if I never had the problem in the first place.
“I don’t know if that’s how it works for everybody, but I will say that I like the idea of using regenerative medicine to fix a problem rather than just masking the pain because who wants to take pain medication all the time?
“But that’s not the only reason why I recommend regenerative medicine and Coastal Integrative Healthcare. The other is that the staff there is just amazing. They were great to work with, and I would highly encourage anyone with neck, back or joint pain to visit them. They’re great and do great work.”

Stick It To Arthritis

Between her two stints as a nurse – first as an LPN and later as an RN – Betty Calcagno devoted so much time to raising her children that there was seldom time left for herself.
Of course, she has no regrets.
“When you’re raising four kids, your kids are your hobby,” Betty explains. “I remember heading off to bed early one night and one of them asking me, Why? I said, Because I have to get up early and feed all of you.”
Even Betty’s decision to become a registered nurse was made largely with her children in mind.
“We wanted our kids to have the best education possible, so we sent them to Catholic school,” she says. “Then we decided that we wanted to pay for them to go to college, and when you’re paying for four kids, well, you’ve got to go to work.”
Betty’s return to the workforce came at age 38. She spent the next 20 years primarily in a hospital setting before rounding out her career as a home hospice nurse.
Now 86 years old and well into retirement, Betty is living in a senior living community in Orange City. She moved there a couple of years ago from suburban Detroit in the hopes that the warmer Florida weather would ease her arthritis pain. It didn’t.
“I’ve been dealing with arthritis for a long time,” Betty confides. “I have it in both my knees, and it was so bad in my right hip that my doctor in Michigan wanted me to have a hip replacement. I didn’t want to do that.

“A lot of people are living into their 80s and 90s, and if this can make them feel good, they should do it.” – Betty

“After I moved to Florida, I started to feel the pain in my back and neck. My neck was really bad. I could hardly turn or lift my head, so I always needed to twist myself to do things. And then there were my hands – oh, the arthritis in my hands was awful.
“Just grabbing and holding things was painful. It wasn’t so bad that I couldn’t brush my teeth or hold a glass. But opening jars and things like that were hard for me. It was all very annoying and troublesome.”
Eager to alleviate her pain but determined to avoid surgery, Betty began to look for alternative treatments for her arthritis. She found one while reading an edition of Volusia Health Care News.
“I had been reading a lot about stem cell therapy because I had a few girlfriends and a niece who knew some people who had it done,” Betty explains. “I thought, If I can do that and feel a little better for however many years I have left, I’m going to do it.
“Then I saw the article in Volusia Health Care News and found out there was an office close to me that was offering regenerative medicine. I decided, Betty, if you’re really going to do this, here’s your chance. So, I made an appointment.”

A Big Difference

The practice Betty read about is Coastal Integrative Healthcare. During her initial visit there, she underwent a thorough examination that revealed a two-inch tear in her right shoulder and a one-inch tear in her left shoulder.
To correct those tears, Betty received regenerative medicine injections this past summer. She also received regenerative medicine injections in her hips, neck, shoulders and hands to alleviate her arthritis. Her pain soon began to subside.
“Not only that, but I’m standing much straighter now because my neck and hips feel better,” Betty exclaims. “My hands feel a lot better, too. Sometimes, if I’ve had a busy day, my back will start to hurt, but overall, I feel much better.”
Betty also went through physical therapy to help develop more strength and balance. The combination of therapies has made a big difference in her life.
“Not every day is the same, of course, but there are many days that I feel really good, and that’s what I was hoping for,” Betty enthuses. “If these injections give me a few more years where I feel better, they’ll be worth it. A lot of people are living into their 80s and 90s, and if this can make them feel good, they should do it. That’s why I recommend these injections to anyone.
“And I definitely recommend Coastal Integrative Healthcare. The clinic is just wonderful, and everyone there is so kind and helpful. Every time I went there, we ended up laughing and having a good time. I can’t thank them enough for what they’ve done for me.”

Wayne’s photo courtesy of Wayne Reeves