Short interview (July 28, 2019 upload) between Dr. Greg Eckel (interviewer) and a patient, Malcolm, about Malcolm's stem cell injection for chronic right hip pain. Malcolm reports ~10 years of hip pain, was told in his mid-40s he might need a hip replacement within 5–6 years, and one week after the stem cell procedure his pain dropped from highs of 7–8 down to about 3 or less. He also reports reduced stiffness, decreased scar-tissue tenderness, improved blood flow sensation, and reduced nerve tingling in his shoulder blade.
Questions this video answers
About 10 years.
44 (he is 49 at time of interview).
One week post-procedure.
Before: up to 7–8 on bad days; After (one week): has not gone over about level 3.
Chapters
So what, Malcolm, what were your initial complaints for wanting to do the stem cells initially?
I came in with some pain and stiffness in the right side of my body. In my hip?
Yeah. And how long have you had that?
10 years, probably.
Yeah. And you're pretty active?
Yeah, yeah. Fairly active, yes. Great.
And what. What did that. What did that hip pain. Did it stop you from doing anything or how often was it coming up?
It didn't, but it hurt all the time. There was some level of pain or stiffness of discomfort anywhere from on a good day down to a 3 or 4, up to a 7 or 8.
Up to a 7, 8. Did it ever stop you from doing anything?
It didn't stop me from doing anything. But you just pushed through it. You pushed through it? Yeah.
Okay. And what. How did you arrive at or how did you make that decision to take the plunge on stem cells?
Well, my. The. The only other option if it kept getting worse was a hip replacement. Yeah.
Right. When I first met you, that was on the table.
Yes. I was told, let's see, I'm 49 now. I was 44. That I need a hip replacement within five or six years. Yeah. So it's close. But I managed to fight it off a long time. But I do a lot daily stretching and mobility and concerted effort to try to keep it as health healthy as possible. For sure. I figured what I have to lose, and I read about some stem cell therapy, and it sounded like it was something that was real.
Yeah. Awesome. And so we're one week post procedure. What. Will you share with us what's going on for you?
Sure. I still have a tiny bit of pain, but I haven't in the week since I got the injection.
It.
It hasn't gone over, like, level three. Okay. Anytime. Yeah. It feels as if the joint's been lubricated somehow, as if I've been stretching it a lot. Like I said the other day, but I hadn't done anything. I think yesterday was the first time I kind of started to move it, oddly enough. Yeah. After I move a lot, it feels better. Yeah. The area feels. I can feel like the blood flow is getting in there now. So there's definitely a big difference.
Awesome.
In how it feels. Yeah. Just the entire area feels like all the swelling that has kind of been in there. Sure. I could describe it. It's kind of gone away. It's like I'm on a permanent sort of handful of ibuprofen. I could describe it.
Interesting, but.
Interesting how it went to the worst. The problem spot. I have other areas that feel better. I had some nerve tingling in my shoulder blade. Yeah, that has kind of subsided this week a lot. Yeah.
Oh, and you had mentioned. So our last visit, you had mentioned that there was some scar tissue that you're noticing also changing.
Yeah, yeah, yeah. And that has. Definitely has less pain and annoyance than it did a week ago.
Wow. One week.
I was gonna go have it checked out. Yeah. Because it kept growing and it was starting to get painful to the touch. I was kind of concerned about it. Yeah, I noticed that that's kind of hurts less, too, now. That's awesome.
Cool. Well, I'm excited. We'll kind of do a little series of these as you progress through here. But I really appreciate you sharing your story with me and hopefully with the world here as we kind of work on change in medicine, so thanks.
That's quick. You get that? Yeah. You sure you're not snoozing over there?
