 Aloha. Today we are taking your help back with me when below. Ma'ala to thank the koi for making this possible. Today we shall be discussing a painful topic that many folks experience and that is pain. What can we do about it? Today I have Dr. Charles Sun who will be sharing a little bit about how they deal with pain and some options that may help you. So welcome Dr. Charles Sun. Thank you so much for helping me with this honor. Thank you and I know your schedule is very busy but we just want to get some information out there so people suffering and there are many people out there living with pain suffering with pain and probably in denial so we want to make it as comfortable for them to know that there are alternatives. All right so let's just get started. What is regenerative medicine? So regenerative medicine takes advantage of the fact that you know these cells in our joints for example for joint pain these are living cells and they are able to heal and replicate and regenerate. So this kind of medicine takes advantage of that on ways to allow healing to take place in an area that doesn't have access to it. And so that's um that's pretty neat because your body can in theory I know that your body can heal itself if you know what you're doing you're giving it the right tools and you're doing the right things and so that's why I was very excited to hear about this procedure and to let others know that yes when your body has pain it's speaking to you. When your body speaks to you what do you need to do you need to listen and so we need to address the problems and that's what you're here for you're going to do the exploratory you'll find it and then you're going to help your body to heal. So what I know you're using stem cells what are stem cells? So stem cells are these premature cells that are able to turn into and replicate into other types of cell. You see you know something like arthritis for example you know a lot of people suffer with arthritic pain it's a deterioration of cells cartilage cells primarily needs to damage the bone tendons live in it and so we're talking about introducing these premature cells that are able to turn into the very cells that are deteriorating inside the joint. So are you telling me that you can pull from the body it's stem cells and bring it out and then put back in to help to restore the cells that were damaged? Exactly right so everybody has to have stem cells to be alive it's just they serve a very specific function in the body currently and you know parts of most parts of our bodies actually don't have access to them so that's what this field of orthobiologics is about is to isolate healing properties molecules and cells directly from the patient we concentrate it down and introduce it directly into an area it doesn't have access to it. So I that you're really proving the point that your body can heal itself because you're taking healthy stem cells and reintroducing it back into the body to help the ones that were damaged right? Exactly right. Wow it sounds all too simple but you've got the magic you've got the technology to do so um is there are there other natural ways to do this besides a procedure like what you're going to share with us is there a natural procedure for this? Um a natural procedure now the third procedure we do to extract the stem cells it is minimally invasive you know the we used to actually do full anesthesia where the person is not conscious but the anesthesia itself was a bigger risk to the patient than the procedure itself it's a very safe procedure so um just I mean the whole reason why this exists is because for example when you take supplements right you see our joints are avascular there is minimal blood flow to it and so when you take a supplement it goes into your bloodstream and since your joints don't have access to it they don't that also means they don't have access to this stuff that's in the supplements. I see wow so I think you know the more we're going to talk the more it makes sense so the more people feel comfortable the more they'll be walking in your door and asking you pretty much the same questions you're answering right now but they're going to hear it live again from you and then they can start the heating process because as I said many people are in denial of pain and what they're going through and then they're going to be doubtful about procedures and then so once you educate them and make them feel comfortable about that then um I think we can help them to heal because it's all it's a process right you don't just walk in and say hey doctor heal me get me done and I'm out of here right it's a procedure sometimes for others right so stab themselves can you discuss the two key properties of themselves uh what is they are able to reproduce or replicate themselves make identical copies of themselves which plays a huge role because that means that we're able to do these procedures as many times we need to without any long-term consequences right because they will be able to just replicate replicate themselves and the second biggest thing is well without I won't get into too much detail about this the different types of stem cells but generally speaking stem cells are able to turn into other types of cells all right so your heart cell versus your muscle cell versus your fat cell they all have different functions and structurally they are different and so we're talking about these premature cells that can turn into any other type of cell so the applications for this are limitless I mean you know doctors are now able to regenerate heart cells when someone has a heart attack right same thing with nerve cells and when someone has a stroke it's just we have the focus on joint rejuvenation wow it's so exciting any time we can learn especially about our body how simple but yet how intricate our bodies are and I just keep saying that your bodies can heal itself you're just doing you know helping it to heal and I'm so so excited that I found you you speak my language so how is your or this approach different than what's already yes it is also a large job to know what the options are and what the patient has as far as options go the standard approach to this something like joint pain and joint arthritis usually is physical therapy first then something like a corticosteroid injection which does a great job of pulling the inflammation down temporarily but research has shown over and over again that it actually speeds up damage the damage process right for certain joints there are these lubricant injections called hyaluronic acid injections which it does create the lubricant does provide that temporarily as well and then after that if it doesn't work then we are looking at surgery now the way this is different is because corticosteroids the lubricant injections it doesn't do anything to address the damage itself right so regenerative medicine is different and that we're talking about allowing a joint heal you mentioned Wendy you know our bodies that have this amazing healing ability and I see it every day right someone has a flesh wound let's say have a they have a nasty cut on their arm it doesn't matter how deep the cut is it heals it's just that our joints don't have access to these healing factors so that's simply put that's what regenerative medicine is is we isolate that healing ability we concentrate it put it inside the joint well I mean we have to get this worked out because there's so many people suffering the young as well as the old and surprisingly a lot of young are suffering joint pain back pain you know their their needs are just even somebody has a fall and they just never heal properly and so their bodies need to have the right tools to heal and I'm gonna keep saying that because your body can heal itself so what are the benefits of regenerative medicine benefits I mean the number one thing is these procedures procedures are extremely safe all right compared to some of the things that other things that are done out there there is technically speaking there is no downtime you know you don't have to be bed ridden for a period of time there are certain precautions that we ask the patients to take just to minimize risk for any type of re-injury as the joint is healing um we're talking about no medications right we know that these medications have harmful side effects and of course a lot of people call us and tell us you know my surgeon is telling me I needed do this surgery when you replacement or fusion or whatever it is I don't want to do that is this going to help me and there's a patient that we help there is a definitely a time and place for surgery we sometimes have to refer patients out for surgery as well but we believe that that should be the last resort exactly and I feel that as well I mean I'm doing everything in my power to educate people and even myself on self-eating and surgery is the last resort you know like you said I mean so so excited so what are some of the joint conditions that you have worked on oh wow um these are by far the most common uh knee arthritis meniscus issues um low back is also very common degenerative this disease which can lead to things like sciatica right teaching nerve symptoms that shoot down the lower extremities I mean we see everything from hips shoulders even thumbs wrists I mean anywhere there's a joint we are able to well we can see what we can do about that so have you noticed that the patients are getting younger or are they still the middle to order age generations that are having joint conditions do you notice that your patient load is getting younger you know I'm not sure if I've been doing this long enough to kind of notice that kind of trend I think my average age group um probably in between 55 to 65 um right around like 50 to 55 I feel about when patients are starting to notice okay I'm I'm now unable to do these things that I used to be able to do before but my youngest patient is 18 years old she had a knee injury from soccer and my oldest patient is 101 and she is she's got the best sense of humor she's she's doing great well what a range what a range and you know I'm gonna come back to you after you've been doing this for like years or something I ask you hey dog when you first started you told me it was from 18 to 101 what is you know and you're probably gonna share with me your patients will be getting younger and I can almost show you that that's the trend these days but you're gonna have to put in the time to give me that answer okay so can you share with us what do your patients say to you when they first meet you as you are consulting with us we touched on this briefly one big thing that we hear it is they're telling me I didn't even need to replace it hip replacement these invasive surgeries and a lot of these people they are really turned off by that idea I mean it is scary right somebody's cutting into your spine and fusing your spine you know that's a very scary thing there are many patients that come to see us and they are more proactive of joint care right and I know what stem cell therapy is about I've heard of it before I'm just starting to notice ace and pains of stiffness in my joints and I want to get a hold of it before it gets done and unfortunately we have on the other end of the spectrum as well you know they say I can't walk anymore I you know stairs are very difficult on gaining all this weight because I'm unable to move and now I'm diabetic and you see it's when when especially a weight bearing joint is affected it's no longer just a joint problem it's an overall wellness type of problem because the patients are unable to move the way they're supposed to move right well so just off the cuff what are the success rates for regenerative procedures that's right now that is the very short answer it is it's excellent I mean I never get tired of seeing the results now everybody has a different definition of success right um let's talk about you know for example the 18 year old patient and the 101 year old patient if my 18 year old patient if she can't run full speed after getting this done that's not success she's 18 she should be able to do whatever she wants to do after she's finished and she's able to do just that my 101 year old patient had a very practical or realistic expectations if she was she said I don't even expect this to make my pain go away all the way I just want to be able to sleep at night and lo and behold she never complies about her knees anymore and she's even walking a lot better wow and that's how it should be 101 year old living in pretty much health you know if any able to walk and when we go to heaven it's because we're old and 101 is really not that old and she she has some years left and especially with the help from you because we all know that when living with pain pain causes disease and so by taking that away from her her quality of life she's up for smile gets bigger for family around her love her even more because now she's back to being studio grandma we were a quality life that's that's what it's about right exactly what it's about and that's why we've got to start now listening to our body when it when it aches and pains we listen and we consult people like you doctors like you that can help us address what's going on and of course 101 year old that's a lot of wear and tear on your body for all those many things in years that we demand so much of it so you know that she's asking you for help and that you may are able to just eliminate some pain to share and congratulations doctor jump done so what are some of the commonly asked questions from your patients oh does it hurt have that's a very very common one i mean i'm not gonna say here i say it's completely painless but it's it sounds a lot more intense than it actually is some people say it's uncomfortable some people have told me look out of your field anything at all so most people fall right in between that rage you know no was all the table like get it out of me you know that was like that so most people do pretty well with that it was commonly asked questions oh how long does it last that's another column what i get now i always encourage my patients to look at it this way you know 30 years ago your joints your knees your low back wasn't like this but there are a number of different factors that play a role in your joints presenting the way they do today right so that is why we create comprehensive programs where we go over strengthening joint stabilization biomechanics is another big one is how we how to use the joints i mean up and down the stairs carry things pick things up from the floor the right way weight loss nutrition see these will all play a factor so the answer the the answer is i don't know because or someone who is 400 pounds and they are not very healthy they have other medical conditions going on they don't have strength we don't expect the knees to last for the last as long but that person compared to someone who's active and fit right wow that's fair enough so what are the some of the comments not the question what are the comments that your patients have after the treatment i want to hear some stories as to what you oh wow i mean it really is a reminder every time it's a reminder of why i spent so much time you know learning about this and doing this and continuing to make sure that these clinics improve i mean we've we've heard some some some heart wrenching stories you know you've given me my life back you know i mean we've we're talking about patients that are able to stand up from a wheelchair or you know they're able to walk without a cane or a wall graph this and so you know um let's just say i get a lot of hugs during their whatever ball right like we have two slides of two men here and they um of course we have their quotes and everything on the slide telling you or telling us like wow doc thanks so much i will you a game of golf i mean like i was like like what what what do they say i mean when they're done and they're walking and almost i would say that you would become almost pain-free you know in some time and i'm sure they're just very ultimately grateful right well we like to aim for not almost pain-free but to be able to do what you want to do without any pain at all you know that you ready it's it's not that's not a realistic goal for everyone uh the key is not with just joint care but anything regarding health is you never let anything get too bad you want to be proactive about your health and not reactive right so those are precisely patients that are able to do anything you know they're able to run afterwards versus if the joint damage is pretty severe um i mean we always go over with every patient before we proceed with anything make sure we're on the same page about you know what to expect going forward you know we can't look into the future um but we like to give our patients a prediction uh kind of you know where our minds are at and what we expect to see going forward you know um a lot of patients as i said are in denial and they suffer and they just they won't even tell their families that they're hurting but they're hurting how do you find these people how do you find somebody who is practically in pain and they just refuse to come in or learn or how do we get them there doc wow that is that's a tough question um you know i mean i think having a nice support system um you know having the loved ones around you tell you look i want to do this with you but you're you know you're gonna be in pain doing it i know that so you know i mean you're right because when someone is in pain you know that affects their mental status their mood right and that absolutely does affect people around you so you know some people don't like to hear it but i think it will be wise to kind of listen to those around you and just remember that they're saying these things because they care about you right you know um i i keep saying well boy you should hire me for your pr or your marketing because you know when i sit at the mall wherever i go i see somebody being and i want to just go over then give them a hug and say hey bro are you okay and then they're and you know what is so funny because most times they'll sit and they'll talk to me and they'll tell me all their issues and i'm like you got to go see a doctor your blood sugar is too high your heart rate is too high or something something but you know and i can just direct them in any which way because they're talking to me as stranger and i say to them p did you tell your son and your daughter about the pain you're experiencing they said no no no they don't want to hear they they're too busy and i'm like i'm a total stranger and they're talking to me so i'm like and i watch for people in pain and because i'm and i'm all about helping people so i'm looking i i'm gonna say goes if you know this guy named charles and you know just to guide them to to just get some you know a consultation and then get them comfortable in that direction that they don't have to you know and maybe that's why their family members are not talking to them because maybe they're always rouching in pain so we want to help them as much as we can in any way we can so i have to ask you another question doc you know the patients that you see you can see some of them are maybe overweight or too skinny or whatever but do you ask them ask them about their nutritional intake their diets and as as far as how is going to affect their cleaning absolutely we definitely go over the things that play a role in these things and you know it's not like they don't know they just need somebody to just kind of guide them through it right so you know we take them through a step by step process i tell them from the get go look this is going to be a journey i will give you all the information you need to succeed but ultimately it's you that has to use it you're the one that has to go through you know the strengthening and burning of the muscles and yeah your muscles going to be sore you're the one has to go that has to go through that but if you are willing to commit to that i will take you step by step and we will do everything else for you so it's definitely a wellness type of thing and doc when you're telling them about the pain because it would definitely be painful um because they're hurting to begin with it they're going to use these muscles they're going to hurt even further but you just got to keep enforcing and encouraging them saying to them that when you feel this pain it's pain leaving your body if you don't do it and work your body the pain stays within and that's that's detrimental but when you work and out your body's hurting it's good pain you're working to make it get out and to leave and never come back again and so by doing that and investing the time into their body then your job will be better and more successful because now they're ready to receive you know they already experienced the pain and yes no pain no gain right i would like to clarify one thing just so anybody doesn't hurt themselves out there so there are right things to do um for example a knee or arthritic knee in your pain i mean you shouldn't be squatting there are things i'm talking about you know muscle and tendon soreness after the strengthening is done but while you are strengthening if you notice pain inside the joint that is not something that is recommended that you fight through right so that's why we go over the specific things that need need to be done without causing further damage to the joint very good and again i'm 64 years old a lot of my friends are all in pain and they're like i'm lying on camera but a lot of my classmates they're in pain they're they're not walking they're sedimentary they're they're sitting there on walker things but how do we get them wake them up and say hey you don't need to be like that so i want to hear from you doc are there any stories about people about my age that are in pain and you've helped them and now they have a better sense of mobility within their lives oh hundreds we have already had hundreds of patients go through this like i said 55 to 65 is definitely the most our average age and that's where the largest patient have a graphics fall under so you know that's right where i think you're really crossing over into kind of like the next chapter if you would that's when a lot of people retire and all they want to do is travel and enjoy retirement right and they're starting to realize i can't even enjoy retirement because i'm in so much pain right so i i get it all the time you know golfing traveling you know exercising well i i got a lot of work to do because i have i feel guilty that i didn't reach out to them earlier so they wouldn't get to this point but now that i understand there are procedures out there that's not evasive and that can help them a better quality of life because i feel guilty sometimes when i'm out surfing them or the 20 year olds and you know and they're not and so i do feel bad but i have been doing what you probably have what i've been telling me to do and i was just listening to my body in the pain so uh trials can you just share with us how how can someone in pain find your services so there are the easiest way to do it is give us a call at the office um and the another way is email um we're located at the hollop of our medical building at the corner of baritainia and chilmoku so feel free to um i mean we don't take walk-ins just because the schedule is usually pretty full but we will be really happy to give you some information maybe give you some intake paperwork and also help you get get you scheduled as well um well charles our show has come to an end for now i hope that we help people out there understand a little bit more about pain and remember when your body speaks you should listen and find out what is the root of the pain so i'd like to talk uh thank and mahalo to dr charles sun we're making the time to share with us about how you can deal with pain i'm wendy lull and i'll return in two weeks with another edition of taking your health pack aloha and mahalo to dr charles