I write this part in frustration and part in amazement to hear on a regular basis that some patient needs a hip replacement, knee replacement or other joint by their doctor. The catch prase that scares the hell out of every patient that I come in contact with is, "Mr. Jones, your knee is bone-on-bone." But when I see the x-ray I see plenty of space between the joint telling me that it's not bone-on-bone. In one case I can tell you that the patient was told that they needed a knee replacement and the doctor didn't even look at the x-ray.
The buzz word with many patients over the age of 50 is "arthritis." Arthritis is the scarlet letter diagnosis of the 21st centruy. It seems that everyone has it and that the medications taken for it is somewhere in the BILLIONS in profits. The problem with that is there hasn't been any identifiable medication sited that was effective for degenerative arthritis....they just don't work. Yes, there are plenty of med's that help in the short term but what side effects are they causing in the long term?
A few months back a gentleman came to me by way of his friends referral. His friend told him that I took care of a lot of professional athletes and that maybe I could help him as well. He reported that he suffered with constant hip pain for the past 2 to 3 years. He reported that his pain consistently got worse over time to the point that if he played a round of golf he would be laid up for a few days with increased pain and swelling. He decided to listen to his doctor and have a hip replacement.
Now understand this...he came to me 1 1/2 years after the he had the hip surgery and still complained of pain. He reported that he had two second opinions telling him that the hip surgery was fine that it wasn't his hip that was causing the pain. The last opinion that was given to him was by a orthopedic surgeon who told him that it wasn't his hip that was giving him the pain but it was coming from his lower back. The doctor scheduled him for surgery of his lower back to fuse the lower vertebrae of his back. That's when he came to me for my opinion. He told me that he tries to play golf but if he does he suffers with pain for the next few days.
I consult with him and examine him and to me the problem isn't in his hip but in his muscles supporting his hip. There were several muscles that were not working properly that were not properly absorbing force. The force from his day to day activities was continually being passed from the muscles into the joint. It the muscles can't turn on and off fast enough it can absorb the force which in his case the force was being transferred up in the hip joint. That caused the area to produce inflammation which produced his pain.
Begining his treatment using a machine that I use with all of the athletes and patients in my office that allows me to locate the muscles groups that are shut down not absorbing the force. Once I identify them than I can work on turning on the neuromuscular function of that area. He was treated with a combination of a treatments, that I co-developed with two other doctors, that has shown to turn on muscles extremely fast. The combination of these specific procedures he began to regain the strength back, his range of motion improved and the pain went away. In fact, he was able to play his three day golf tournament at his golf club without any pain during or after. His total treatment time was less than one month.
Now here is my frustration. Yes it was rewarding in helping this gentleman get his life back but were my frustration lies is that he was scheduled for lower back fusion surgery. I can't imagine what would have happened if he went through with that surgery.
In many other situations we've been able to help patients not have surgery and build up the strength up properly so that the joint is properly supported by the muscles. Yes, I know it sounds far fetched but if you can get the muscles to turn on and off as quickly as possible they will do their job by properly supporting the joints.
This month I will be also introducing a new product that has been in the development for over 10 years in the treatment in degenerative arthritis. The best part about it is that it's all natural and we've shown unbelievable results with its use. I got involved years ago when I was playing golf with my Dad when his club went flying out of his hands. He was having a difficult time closing his fingers to wrap around the club. At the same time I was introduce to the product and I told them that I wanted to let my Dad use it on his hands. I gave it to him and to make a long story short in about 2 1/2 weeks my father regained total control of his hands being able to fully open and close his hands/fingers without any restriction or pain.
So I became a big believer of the product and now I'm offering it to my patients. If you know of someone who is suffering with arthritis of the hands, hips, shoulder, knees or anywhere else please let me know. I'm sure we can help them relive the pain and in many cases get rid of it for ever.
If you want to call me here is my office number....570-287-7070 and if you don't here is my email address...drc@conwayclinic.com Either way, I'm here to help and I'm sure we can find a way to relieve the pain.
