Regenexx Stem Cell Procedures

[mistress2003]

I am fairly new to this blog/site and looking for some help and feed back.

 I am a 51 year old male that needed a hip 5 years ago and have been fighting it off as long as I can. I finally made a decision that I have to do something. I have been researching for months now in and out of the Surface Hippy site and I am back and forth to either do a THR or to do a resurfacing and what device to use.

Then I found a clinic in Colorado called Regenexx that performs a unique procedure with stem cells and they think they can help. I am waiting to see if I am a candidate for the procedure.

I am looking for feed back if anyone has had a Regenexx procedure done.

Any suggestions would be appreciated
Sincerely
Lou
 
 

[Dannywayoflife]

I personally have seen no evidence as yet that stem cells are anywhere near being able to regenerate cartilage.
Personally I think at present it's a waste of time and money. Resurfacing is proven and an excellent way to repair the damage. But you need to be a good candidate use a TOP SURGEON(that is the biggest factor to success) and use a proven device such as the bhr and others.

Hope this helps

Danny

[hernanu]

Hi Lou,

I believe some folks here have had stem cell injections, don't know if they were Regenexx. I'll let them tell you their story.

If and when you are ready for some sort of implant, I would recommend an HR given my own experience (assuming you're a good candidate).

You have several excellent HR surgeons either in Colorado or near it, but a surgery like this is worth traveling for.

Good luck and keep us informed.

[chuckm]

Lou, I'm 47 and now that I have had my left hip resurfaced (I am 8 months post op with a BHR), here are some facts about my new hip:
1) What I thought would be a concession to not keeping my native hip, it turns out it is not. It acts and performs like a normal hip. And I play soccer regularly.
2) The arthritis is gone. It's not going to get progressively sorer and stiffer every year - like my other hip is.
3) Arthritis is often a combination of cartilage loss and changes to the bone including its shape. The surgery returned the mechanics of my hip to the way they were before arthritis set in.
4) with the above three items in mind, statistics on the BHR (with a skilled experienced surgeon) are so extraordinary, I don't see how trying to regrow some cartilage in a 5-year beat up hip can compare to what us hippies have.

Just my own research has shown that normal looking bone joints that have isolated cartilage defect can benefit from growing cartilage in the area. But joints that are worn and arthritic, not so much you can do to regrow.

Chuckm

[John C]

Hi Lou,
I did have the Regennex stem cell injections five years ago. It went very badly, and I had my hip resurfaced a little over six weeks later.
They said that my reaction to the injections was very unusual. I had walked with a fairly bad limp before the injections, though I was still very active in my sport careers like skiing and windsurfing. After the injections, I was unable to get around at all without crutches, and could not even get into a pool without getting severe pain whenever I moved my leg. This continued to get worse and worse for six weeks after the injections, which is when I decided to go for the resurfacing, which has worked out very well.
I did feel that there a few things in my case that were handled very poorly by Regennex. In fairness, they did say that my case was borderline in terms of whether the treatment would help, and that my reaction was very unusual.
If you would like more details about my unhappy experience, send me PM on this site, and I will forward more details of my experience.

John

[Pat Walter]

Hi Lou

Sorry to hear you have hip problems. I removed your other post because it was the same as this one.  It just makes it easier to have one discussion about a topic at a time.

I have never heard about anyone that had a successful stem cell treatment for hips.  I read hundreds and hundreds of stories, but of course don't know every ones story.  I can say that of the over 100,000 hip resurfacing patients that exist, none of us would have had major surgery if there was another good solution that was FDA approved.  It is nice to see that a procedure has been used a long time like the BHR for over 17 years and has excellent outcomes.  Hopefully, there will be other options sometime in the future, but it seems now that stem cell growth of cartilage does not work very quickly or very well.

Please let us know if you try it and what your outcomes is.  We will all be interested.

Good Luck.

Pat