One of the highlights of my trip to Tanzania in 2012 was visiting the Ngorongoro Crater and Conservation Area. They have the largest lions on the planet. I got very close as part of my invitation by the director of park services.
Along with elephants, lions, gazelles and zebras, I got to see wildebeest, the almost-extinct black rhino and giraffes.
I was lucky enough to photograph this giraffe on my trip to Ngorongoro Crater in Tanzania.
I am always awed when I see these magnificent creatures in their native environment. They thrive the same way they did thousands of years ago.
But when these animals are taken from their natural habitat and locked up in a zoo, they start coming down with the same chronic diseases that affect us in the West.
Let me explain…
Recently, Mahali, a 14-year-old giraffe in Colorado’s Cheyenne Mountain Zoo, was suffering with terrible arthritis pain in his hoof.
Zoo vets treated him with nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs and other pain meds. But nothing worked.
Then vets from Colorado State University took over. They took 100,000 stem cells from Mahali’s blood and injected them into his inflamed leg. Six weeks later, Mahali was dramatically improved. Thermal images showed a huge drop in inflammation.
This was the first time stem cell therapy had been used in a giraffe. But it’s already been used to successfully treat arthritis in horses, elephants, mountain lions, tigers, wolves and dogs.
Stem cell therapy has also been used successfully to treat people with chronic joint pain and osteoarthritis.
Stem cells are your body’s master cells. They can be transformed into virtually every cell type. They help regenerate injured tissues.1
And they let your body do what it was naturally designed to do: heal itself.
I combine stem cells with platelet-rich plasma (PRP) therapy to treat my patients’ arthritic joint pain. This therapy uses your own body to regenerate tissue, collagen, tendons, and ligaments. It helps restore youthful joints.
Studies show PRP injections improve joint function and decrease pain. Along with arthritis,2 it’s proven effective for:
- torn muscles
- inflamed tendons
- damaged joint cartilage
- injured ligaments
- elbow, wrist, shoulder, hip, knee, and ankle tendinosis
The treatments are fast and relatively painless. It doesn’t require any recovery care. You don’t lose any time from work or your daily routine.
Of course, the medical establishment is up in arms. The FDA won’t approve it. But the science is clear.
If you’re interested in learning more about these therapies, please call 561-784-7852. My staff at the Sears Institute for Anti-Aging Medicine will be happy to answer all your questions. You can also visit www.searsinstitute.com.
Even if you can’t get to South Florida for stem cell therapy, don’t worry. I recommend many other natural ways to relieve joint pain.
Relieve Joint Pain Naturally
1. Omega-3 Fatty Acids. Two omega-3 fats, EPA and DHA, significantly reduce inflammation. DHA is particularly powerful. Studies show it may even help with arthritis.3
You can get omega-3 fats from oily fish like mackerel, herring, salmon, anchovies, sardines, trout and fresh tuna. But for chronic joint pain I recommend supplements. And I don’t advise taking fish oil pills. Most of them are tainted by ocean pollution. Instead I tell my patients to take krill oil and calamarine oil. They are much purer and have the highest concentration of DHA I’ve found yet.
Take 600 mg of DHA and 400 mg of EPA a day. And take it with meals so the DHA and EPA can be absorbed properly.
2. Vitamin K2. Research shows that vitamin K2 is effective in treating rheumatoid arthritis.4 You can get plenty of K2 by eating traditional primal foods like our ancestors did. Excellent choices are organ meats and raw, whole milk from grass-fed animals; egg yolks from pasture-raised poultry; and traditionally cultured cheeses like Gouda, Brie, Edam, Swiss, and Jarlsberg.
You can also take a supplement. Just remember that K2 is not the same as K1. And vitamin K2 comes in several different forms called menaquinones. Look for a supplement with the MK-7 form. It’s more bioavailable and long-lasting. Take 45 to 90 mcg per day. And it’s fat-soluble, so take it with a meal to improve absorption.
3. Holy Basil. In India, Ayurvedic doctors use holy basil (Ocimum sanctum linn) to treat arthritis. They call it “tulsi.” This herb contains dozens of compounds that reduce inflammation including ursolic acid.
You can also get an extract of holy basil in either liquid or capsule form. Just make sure the product you’re buying has at least 2.5 percent ursolic acid. I recommend 150 mg three times a day, but you can take as much as 800 mg a day.
To Your Good Health,
Al Sears, MD, CNS
1. Bennett NT, Schultz GS. “Growth factors and wound healing: biochemical properties of growth factors and their receptors.” Am J Surg. 1993.
2. Mishra, A., and Pavelko, T. “Treatment of chronic elbow tendinosis with buffered platelet-rich plasma.” Am J Sports Med. 2006 Nov.
3. Olson M, Liu Y, Dangi B, Paul Zimmer J, Salem N, Nauroth J. “Docosahexaenoic acid reduces inflammation and joint destruction in mice with collagen-induced arthritis.” Inflamm Res. 2013.
4. Abdel-Rahman MS, Alkady EA, Ahmed S. “Menaquinone-7 as a novel pharmacological therapy in the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis: A clinical study.” Eur J Pharmacol. 2015.