Tag Archives: joint replacement

18 Feb

Joint Replacement and Emotions

Letha Bone and Joint Health, Protect Yourself & Family, Surgery Comments 0

No surprise to me: Joint replacement surgery outcome and post-op pain is related to prior mental state. Yeah. If you are depressed, it is going to hurt more. Two new studies, presented at the 2012 Annual Meeting of the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons (AAOS), “suggest understanding an individual’s mental health status is an important factor for achieving the best outcome after surgery.” What is not said is that anti-depressant medicine may flatten vitality, increase weight gain and even slow immunity for some people. The studies used anti-depressant drugs as a sign that patients were depressed prior to surgery without considering the possible effects of the drugs. A sensitive surgeon may well sense what stress and surgical procedure his patient can tolerate. For people faced with surgery, it pays to take appropriate herbal tonics that support heart health and circulation such as hawthorn berry and herbs that speed healing – well before surgery. Heart herbs to avoid during the week or two prior to surgery include garlic a blood thinner that may increase bleeding during surgery. St. John’s wort may affect surgery drugs and should be avoided.

29 Jul

Stem Cell Injection into Blood

Letha Bone and Joint Health, Heart Health Comments 1

Yesterday, we took our new cats to the Vet in Rutland Vermont. Isn’t he pretty? One of the Vets there, Dr. Crossman, is interested in stem cells for regenerative medicine. He told us about a cat he treated for a congenital heart problem. He took stem cells from the teeth of another cat and injected the cells into the blood of the other sick cat. The cat with heart problems had been expected to live only a short time. But after the stem cell injection he is doing fine 2 years later! What news! The Vet has not documented the treatment because he is not a research doc. per se. But come on, guys: document your work in stem cells! He and other Vets are also injecting stem cells from the same animal into hip joints for arthritis… Also see the article I reported about Joint Replacement with stem cells.

29 Jul

Stem Cells Regrow Joints

Letha Bone and Joint Health Comments 0

Imagine how great it will be someday when you can replace damaged joints with a new one regrown from your own stem cells. This has been done! BBC NEWS: US researchers have developed a promising new technique that might one day enable doctors to regrow broken or diseased joints in patients. Writing in the The Lancet, US researchers say they have regrown the forelimb thigh joint of rabbits using their own stem cells. Scientists say they have shown “proof of principle” for the technique which could replace hips. It was the first time an entire joint surface had been regenerated with the return of functions, they said. The research could benefit patients with damaged hips, shoulders or knees.