How Carol was able to Climb Stairs without Pain with Stem Cell Therapy

Walking up and down stairs might not seem exciting. For Carol Kichler, though, climbing and descending stairs without excruciating pain is a daily highlight. Kichler, 73, couldn’t walk up or down even two steps without agonizing pain before September when she received stem cell treatments in her knees.

“My left knee hurt from exercise, but my right knee was bone on bone,” Kichler said. The Scottsdale (AZ) resident said she used the medication in the past and physical therapy to manage the pain. But her knees had caused her so much trouble, the retired mother and grandmother had to use poles to help her walk.

“We used to do a lot of hiking,” Kichler said, noting she and her husband liked to take their dogs to Flagstaff (AZ). “But I needed the poles, I had to hang onto something.”

The stem cell treatment, taken from her own abdominal fat (Autologous Lipoaspirate Mesenchymal stem cells) Kichler received at Southwest Spine & Sports provided relief.

“Am I pain-free? No, but I’m better,” Kichler said. The stem cells made a big difference with my knees.”

Kichler added she’s visited SWSS several times in the past decade for back ailments and other issues. “It seems like I see Dr. Wolff every six months,” she said with a laugh. “I hurt my shoulder working out, lifting weights. I try to stay active, that’s how I keep getting injured.”

Bending, for example, still presents trouble for her. Arthritis, too, can flare up and slow her down. “But my knees are about 85 percent better,” Kichler said.

That means she can return to many of the activities she enjoyed before knee pain sidelined her. That includes golf, training her two Papillon dogs and other activities. “I used to go square dancing,” Kichler said. “I’d like to do that again.”

And she can delight in simple activities, such as walking up and down stairs. “Before the injection I could take only two stairs,” she said. “Recently, I took 40 stairs at a shopping center, four levels of garage parking. I parked on top and walked down.”