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Getting the Most Out of Regenerative Medicine
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by Sheila Julson
r. Eliesha Evans, a board-certified functional medicine physician and owner of Regen Med Pain Relief Clinics – New Berlin, specializes in regenerative medicine. However, Evans emphasizes that regenerative injectables are not a stand-alone therapy, but instead part of a broader approach that involves addressing complicated medical issues and dysfunctional movement patterns. Natural Awakenings recently spoke with Evans to learn how to get the most from these evidence-based, cutting-edge, new regenerative treatments.
What inspired you to change the focus of your chiropractic practice toward regenerative medicine? It started when I attended a board certification program in functional medicine at Cleveland Clinic. It became obvious to me that we had many more options to restore and regenerate people’s health than ever before. When I graduated from that program, I started to implement an integrated regenerative medicine practice by hiring a medical doctor and a nurse practitioner, and by acquiring the support services needed to mirror the integrated functional medicine program at Cleveland Clinic. Basically, what patients need to know is that the treatment programs for people
to stop the degenerative process in their joints is finally here. The most important thing to know for patients seeking regenerative medicine injections is that a successful intervention rarely starts with the injections. Too many clinics start and stop with the injections, completely bypassing the functional problem which created the issue in the first place. Many times, the reason joints are degenerating is because the forces going through them are abnormal. These abnormal movement patterns often are a result of injuries over time which have festered, resulting in muscle weaknesses, and/or limb length discrepancies resulting from surgical interventions. These structural issues must be treated before implementing regenerative injectables—otherwise you’re just wasting time and money. At Regen Med Pain Relief Clinics, we have cuttingedge, evidenced-based therapies to help restore normal joint function. A joint system that’s firing correctly allows the regenerative injectable a fighting chance of success.
What are some steps you take at Regen Med Pain Relief Clinics prior to or in conjunction with regenerative therapy? First, we all take a “whole person” approach to treating our patients. Our doctors give our patients the opportunity to tell them all
Dr. Eliesha Evans about their health history which serves as a guide for the examination process. Our examinations include, but are not limited to, posture evaluation, an orthopedic exam of spine and extremities, a functional neurologic exam and a video gait evaluation. We investigate any medications that may also be causing pain. We also look to see if there’s a “piling on phenomenon” —such as a bad hip causing a limp and, therefore, referring pain into the knee. Sometimes there are a multitude of issues that must be resolved. Our doctors look at the entire kinetic chain to make sure we’re restoring function to the whole mechanism. Once the doctors have identified any and all problems which need to be resolved, a treatment plan is formulated to include any number of regenerative treatments in the clinic. The most unique of our therapies are the Robotic Multi-Lock Class 4 Lasers we have been acquiring since 2010. The robotic component is extremely important, because when you’re delivering class 4 laser therapy, you have to make sure that you’re delivering the laser light at the correct rate for maximum effectiveness. This is an integral part of regenerating the tissue because it brings oxygen to the cells so that the cells can heal.
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