Lafayette, LA (PRWEB) February 15, 2016
When Dr. Thomas K. Bond opened TotalCare Health & Wellness Medical Center he had a vision for Louisiana’s first Regenerative Sports Medicine clinic; soon he may see his vision making a dream come true on the U.S. Men's Olympic Gymnastics team.
At 32 years old, Baton Rouge native, Matthew Hicks, could be one of the oldest Olympians to ever compete on the gymnastics team. However, it wasn't his age that brought him to Dr. Bond, "I was being held back by injuries. At the 2008 Olympic trial, I was ranked third in the country and I hyper-extended my knee, but I kept competing. In 2009, I re-injured it and by 2012 I had a cartilage replacement surgery."
The resulting severe arthritis in his knee, after so many injuries and multiple surgeries, is what led him to look for treatment beyond yet another surgery. Hicks chose the only physician in Louisiana board-certified in and practicing Regenerative Medicine, and one of only 30 in the country. Dr. Bond has become one of the most experienced Regenerative Medicine specialists in the nation as he's performed thousands of injection procedures over the past decade.
“Regenerative Medicine is a sub-specialty of medicine that utilizes various techniques and processes to stimulate cellular repair or healing of damaged tissues,” said Dr. Bond. “By utilizing an integrated approach of Regenerative Medicine, we have been able to help hundreds of patients, including world-class athletes.”
"I did my research, this is cutting edge stuff and it was right here in Lafayette," says Hicks.
But it's not just for the elite, every day ailments can be eased and sometimes even cured by Dr. Bond and his team. Some of the primary Regenerative Medicine interventional procedures being utilized by Dr. Bond are the world famous Regenexx Procedures used by numerous professional athletes, including ex-LSU Tiger & NFL star, Jarvis Green. The Regenexx Procedures are a set of autologous, adult stem cell and blood platelet-based procedures which assist the patient’s own healing system. For many patients, these novel stem cell procedures can offer an alternative to major invasive joint replacement surgery for specific patients with common degenerative joint conditions, such as osteoarthritis. These stem cell procedures utilize a patient’s own stem-cells to potentially help heal damaged tissues, such as, tendons, ligaments, cartilage, spinal disc, or bone - naturally.
For Hicks, the inventive techniques could take him to Rio and possibly to a spot on the Olympic podium, "I'm the kind of guy that is always searching for betterment, I had incredible will and talent and my knee was holding me back. I've found this, it's new, pioneering, and it's changed my life."
Hicks had his procedure in August 2015 and says he immediately saw and felt results. He has no doubt he'll be ready for the Olympic trials in June; in fact, he's already training again.
Dr. Bond says Mathew Hicks’ story is only one of the many that his approach to medicine has saved. Improving a person's life is the goal, no matter what their dreams are, “Our focus has always been on the patient as a total person – many times a patient is facing major surgery, say a knee replacement, but no one has spoken to them about losing weight, or they have a social situation in their life at that time which prevents them from going forward with the surgery – close to retirement, for example. I literally have hundreds of patients who were told several years ago by their Orthopedist they had to have surgery – there were no other options. These patients continue to this day to live functional lives and have still avoided the recommended surgery”.
Regenexx physicians, like Dr. Bond, have safely performed more than 22,000 procedures to date and produced more published research on orthopedic stem cell therapy than any other group in the world.
Dr. Bond lives and practices in Lafayette, LA.
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