fbpx

How Stem Cell Treatment Changed the Game for a Sports Referee

In his job as a sports referee, Randy W. would typically run 3-5 miles during the course of a game.  In a typical season, Randy would log up to 100 miles of running that consisted of abrupt starts and stops back and forth on hard playing surfaces. It was only a matter of time before the wear and tear on his knees resulted in severe pain in both knees, requiring Randy to seek medical help.

Randy did not want to be one of the 600,000+ patients who undergo knee replacement surgery every year.  He wasn’t ready to give up doing the athletic activities that had always been a part of his daily life. He was worried that surgery would limit his ability to stay active, making his efforts to lose the extra weight that he gained during his forties even more difficult. For Randy, surgery was something to consider only as a last resort.

He knew about professional athletes who received stem cell treatment for injuries that, if left untreated, could potentially become career-ending conditions. He heard the stories about speedy recoveries and how stem cell treatments enabled these athletes to continue their professional careers. Randy wasn’t ready to give up his career in sports officiating; instead, he scheduled a consultation with a board-certified physician at Denver Regenerative Medicine.

At the time Randy was seen by a physician, his pain level in both knees had progressed to a level of 7- 8 almost every day. (“10” on a pain rating scale is used to indicate the pain is so unbearable that it renders the individual unconscious.)  The pain made it difficult to walk and difficult to sleep at night. After an evaluation by the physician, and a lengthy discussion about available treatment options that Randy might consider, Randy decided to pursue non-surgical treatment and requested stem cell injections in both of his ailing knees.

Healthy stem cells were harvested from Randy’s own body and injected into both of Randy’s knees. Randy also elected to have some of the harvested stem cells placed in a ‘bank’ so that he could use them at a later time.  Within several weeks after his injections, Randy was delighted to report that his knee pain had decreased from a level of 7-8 to 1-2.  His response to the initial treatment was better than he had anticipated. To further accelerate and enhance the results of his treatment, Randy decided to use the stem cells he had ‘banked’ for additional stem cell treatments.

Randy is once again back in the game, enjoying pain-free movement in both knees!

By |2022-10-07T23:38:35+00:00July 9th, 2018|Regenerative Medicine|Comments Off on How Stem Cell Treatment Changed the Game for a Sports Referee