David Klepper, 69, had severe left shoulder pain rated 8-9/10 that kept him from daily tasks. He chose regenerative therapy instead of surgery and could reach for a cup after a month, then do lawn work and manual labor by four months. His right shoulder, treated surgically years earlier, recovered more slowly.
Questions this video answers
David Klepper.
69 years.
8–9 on a scale of 1 to 10.
Left shoulder.
Right shoulder (surgery performed by Dr. Schacter a number of years earlier).
Chapters
I've got Dave with us, and Dave's done an amazing thing. It's been impressive. It's been impressive. I'm going to let him tell his story. All right, Dave, so give me your full name, if you don't mind.
David Klepper.
Okay. And then what's your age, brother?
69.
Really?
69 years young. Oh, you bet.
You came to us for your shoulder. I'm not going to tell which one right now, but you came to us for your shoulder and you were in a lot of trouble, right? Oh, yeah, he had some problems.
I started losing range of motion in my shoulder. The pain increased, you know, 8, 9 on a scale of 1 to 10. And life just started, you know, diminishing. You know, I am active. You know, I do ride motorcycles and stuff like that. But you know what? It even hurt to get in a truck just to drive. Just by virtue of the ergonomics of where you're, you know, this shoulder was in pain. Went to my family doctor and they recommended surgery. And I've known you from years past, and it's like, huh, If I'm going to have surgery, you're going to be the one to do it. And that's what led me to come here. And then you turned me on and says, wait a minute, there's a different program other than surgery. We can do the surgery. But you know what, you're going to be in a sling for like nine months. And it's like, no, I'm not going to be in a sling for nine. Like I said, I'm 69. I don't need anybody cutting on me unless it's absolutely necessary. So that's why we went with.
Now we were going to be in a sling for six weeks. Let's be honest, nine months is a little bit much, but.
Just about anything. Yeah, I am right handed. But you know what? Your right hand needs a partner. You know, so, I mean, building a shelf out in the garage, you know, you couldn't. The range of motion wasn't there. I mean, at some point in time, you know, boom. This is as far as I could raise my arm. You know, if I needed to raise it, you know, I'd have to do one of these and stretch and pain just to reach. So, you know, even to reach, I couldn't even drink a cup of coffee with it because. Couldn't reach over to get it.
Yeah.
And the quality of life just totally diminished. And it's like, no, I gotta do something.
Not acceptable. No, not acceptable. I know that you had known us, I know that you'd heard a little bit about this other stuff.
Would a doctor recommended surgery. And like I say, I've known you from the past because, you know, you did some work on another shoulder, which we will not mention right now. But it's like.
After each procedure, a physical therapist told me 36 hours after the procedure, you know, don't even come back. You know, don't do any physical therapy. But at the same time, after each procedure, went home, put a heating pad on my shoulder and just took it easy for a day.
Awesome.
Probably six weeks.
Yeah.
Yeah, probably a six week point.
So much faster than surgery, right?
Oh, heck yeah. And that's what I liked about this is instead of sitting here.
In a swing.
Still, I started immediately. I started to be able to do a few things here and there. Yeah, the range of motion wasn't in there. But you know, after about a month, it's like I can actually reach over and grab my cup of coffee now. I could actually start doing things.
That's amazing.
Anything and everything.
That's great.
This weekend I was with the American Legion. We sank about eight poles in the ground so we could redo a fence. You know what, Four months ago, I wasn't going to have my hands on a post hole digger, you know, it just wasn't going to happen. But you know, mow my lawn. Weed eating, running the weed eater around your lawn. You can do it now. And it's like just little thing every day. Yeah, I know. Lawn work, you know. Yeah. And chore. But you know what, it's neat now to say, you know what? Four months ago I couldn't do this. Four months ago I had to have my son do this because I couldn't. And it's like, you're giving me chills, man.
This is awesome.
Do it, do it.
And it's not covered by insurance, right?
Oh, no, it is not covered by insurance. There are entities out there that you can go through to, you know, if your checkbook's a little tight, there are entities that you can go through. And I'll tell you what, I went through clinic care and Clinicare is easy to work with. They got different payment plans and stuff like that. So awesome, man. You know, it's not that bad, but no, it's not covered by interest. But at the same time, nobody likes to be cut on. You as a surgeon, don't like to cut on people unless you absolutely have to. You know, let's face it, not if you can do something by non invasive means. Hey, do it.
Facts. That's facts. All right, brother, let's show the good stuff. All right, so this gentleman, we did surgery on one side, and we did regenerative therapies on the other. So raise that arm all the way to the front and come all the way up out to the side and all the way up. Cool. And the cool thing is the right shoulder has less range of motion. I did surgery on that a number of years ago. And the left shoulder is what we did as regenerative therapies on. And it's looking amazing. All right, brother. Thank you, Dave.
