The LMD Podiatry Podcast
Board certified in Podiatric Medicine and Surgery, Dr. Dabakaroff completed her training in Mount Sinai Hospital in New York City. Dr. Dabakaroff has been published in textbooks and has done research for various foot conditions. Dr. Dabakaroff brings with her new methods, both surgical and non-surgical, for treating multiple foot and ankle ailments.
Dr. Dabakaroff launched a podcast to educate and keep her community informed about various aspects of podiatry. Her goal is to offer a valuable resource to people while establishing new connections both within and outside her community.
To learn more, visit: LMDpodiatry.com or contact (954) 680-7133
The LMD Podiatry Podcast
EP #16: Cutting-Edge Solutions for Chronic Foot Issues
Unlock the secrets of regenerative medicine with us on the LMD Podiatry Podcast, as we promise you a fresh perspective on managing those stubborn foot pains, from plantar fasciitis to Achilles tendonitis. Featuring Dr. Lauren Dabakaroff, this episode delves into how cutting-edge treatments like laser therapy, shockwave therapy, and human tissue allograft injections are transforming patient outcomes where traditional methods fall short. You'll hear a compelling case study of a young patient who found relief through regenerative injections, proving that innovation in podiatry is indeed a game-changer.
We're not just exploring treatments; we're sharing a philosophy of care that emphasizes the body's natural ability to heal. Discover how you can manage foot-related conditions such as peripheral neuropathy and chronic ankle sprains without the crutch of surgery or medication. We'll tackle the nuances of insurance coverage for these advanced therapies and discuss the financial realities patients face. Learn about the importance of self-care and preventative routines, especially crucial for individuals like new mothers who juggle caregiving and personal well-being. This episode is packed with insights on holistic health strategies and long-term foot care solutions that go beyond the quick fix.
To learn more, visit: LMDpodiatry.com or contact (954) 680-7133
Welcome to the LMD Podiatry Podcast. Trust us to get back on your feet. Here's your host, Dr Lauren DeBakeroff.
Speaker 2:Hello, hello everyone, and welcome back to another episode of the LMD Podiatry Podcast. We have a fun one in store for you. Today. We're going to talk about regenerative medicine. So, Dr Lauren, I myself do not know much about regenerative medicine, but I'd say you're somewhat of an expert in the field. So why don't you start off by telling our listeners a little bit about what regenerative medicine is and how it applies specifically to podiatry?
Speaker 3:So basically, regenerative medicine is harnessing the body's ability to heal itself. So a lot of people don't understand why foot pain doesn't seem to go away. And in a sense it's really simple. A lot of problems in your body pain aches. They actually start at the feet but nobody rests their feet. For example, if I broke my finger or I sprained my wrist or I did something to my elbow, you stop using it and it goes away. But unfortunately with the feet nobody stops using their feet. People come to me with heel pain, ankle pain and they just continue to walk. So it's really hard If you have any issue with your foot, ankle, toe, leg et cetera. It's really hard for the body to heal if you continue to use and abuse those structures. So that's kind of so is.
Speaker 2:is the issue with the feet primarily a function of the fact that we're on our feet all day and we're putting a lot of um you know pressure in that area, or does it also have to do as well with the fact that it's like blood flow? It's the extremities right, it's the farthest away blood flow is important.
Speaker 3:It is a factor for some people, for example, people that have poor blood flow, like smokers or diabetics, anyone with vascular disease, but a lot of things. Evolutionarily I hate you throwing that term around, but we were meant to walk on the ground and grass and things like that, and our feet over the years, over the millennia, have been trying to adjust to walking now on tile and hardwood floors and concrete and you know concrete and pavement and it's a really hard adjustment and that's why we do get frequent injuries in our feet and our toes and our ankles.
Speaker 2:Interesting, so I want to dig in a little bit further to get a better understanding of this. So you said regenerative medicine is essentially anything that your body kind of uses to heal itself within. What are some examples of these types of treatments and what types of conditions do you see in your field where you would recommend this type of treatment for your patients?
Speaker 3:So a couple of treatments that I do. First off, we start with basic things like shoe change, custom orthotics, physical therapy, things like that. And then if patients have more chronic issues in their feet, then they need a boost. They need things like laser therapy, shockwave therapy. They need things like laser therapy, shockwave therapy, stem cell therapy or the better proper term for it is human tissue allograft injections, for example. So all those things together help your foot and your toe and your ankle heal itself.
Speaker 3:When it's gone too far, most more of the common conditions are plantar fasciitis, which is inflammation in the band that holds up your arch, achilles tendonitis, which is the Achilles tendon. It's in the back of your leg. It literally every time you put your foot down you use it. You actually use both the fascia and the Achilles tendon at the same time when you put your foot down, and a lot of people have chronic issues in that area. And then regenerative medicine usually does come in if we've exhausted everything outside of surgery and patients don't want to do surgery. So regenerative medicine is the way to go, basically harnessing the body's ability to heal itself.
Speaker 3:If just resting it didn't help, then something in the body is not letting the body heal and usually that happens with chronic changes. For example, I actually had a very young 19-year-old patient very bad ankle sprain. Young 19 year old patient sprain, very bad ankle sprain and the other doctor put him in a boot for a long time and then he repeated the MRI and the ligament in his ankle was still torn and just by stopping to use the foot, even though he did everything he was supposed to and his body was at his age, with his health level, his body should have healed itself but it did not. So that's when you have like a chronic ankle sprain that didn't respond to traditional treatment. That's when regenerative medicine would take place, when your body can no longer heal itself. So we supplement it with things that can help heal it. Heal itself, so we supplement it with things that can help heal it for. So in his case, I gave him um a restore gel injection and it's just a company I use there's so many companies but basically, uh, it's designed to help the ligament remodel itself and go back to normal and he was able to have complete recovery and MRI and the ligament actually restored itself to where it was.
Speaker 3:So you know, in combination with different things, I also do a lot of vitamins and CBD creams and all these amazing technologies that exist now to help your body heal itself. So it's not just about. It always starts with basics. It always starts with shoes and orthotics and self-care and putting creams on and just really taking care of your feet. Just like women put on all those, get facials and do Botox, whatever, it's the same thing with your feet because your feet absorb all the shock from your body. So it's really important to keep the plump protected with the right shoe, put on the right creams and you know, and if you have pain, that's usually when you have to see someone like me to see what you need to do to help your body restore its regenerative powers, to help you walk better without pain.
Speaker 2:Interesting. So, if I understand correctly, it sounds to me like this idea of regenerative medicine. It's kind of anything that you use to promote and stimulate the body's natural healing ability, whether that's a stem cell injection or some of the other things that you talked about, anything that again promotes the body's natural ability to recover. That's kind of a in a nutshell, I guess.
Speaker 3:Right, and then I have a bunch of different things but each person has a different diagnosis. Another example would be peripheral neuropathy. A lot of diabetics suffer from severe leg pain because their nerves just the diabetes when you have too much sugar in your blood, so the blood kind of sits on all the nerves and it causes the neuropathy. The small fibers of the nerves just don't work anymore. And then a lot of patients have this very bad tingling, burning and numbness in their feet and their legs and it's really hard to recover from that.
Speaker 3:And for example, for someone like them I would use my MLS laser and it's the only FDA approved laser that has two lasers and one that simulates nerve regeneration and nerve function and it basically forces the cell to generate more energy so the cell can heal itself.
Speaker 3:And these patients are so happy because neurologists and their endocrinologists are putting them on all these drugs that are not, they're just masking the pain but they're not fixing the root of the issue.
Speaker 3:So when I see a diabetic patient, for someone like them I would do have pain and nothing's helping. I do a combination of vitamins that help glycosylate or rebuild the nerve, regenerate the nerve, together with CBD creams that help with pain around the muscles related to the nerves, and the third part of that would be the laser, and the laser actually helps kind of wake up and the nerve and improve the nerve function. So so I actually like to put that in the regenerative category as well, because he's this person with peripheral neuropathy has had and you know, he it's it's completely chronic, severe pain, walking and going to sleep at night, severe pain in their legs for years and and when you actually activate healing, when you give the body what it means, then it can heal itself, whereas the traditional Western medicine is just like oh, take a pill take a pill, it'll stop your pain that's the symptom, but not fix the problem right, it's not.
Speaker 3:Not that I'm again. I I went to traditional medical school. Like I believe in that, it definitely helps. But when someone doesn't want to take pills anymore and they know it's not fixing the problem, so that's where I like to think outside the box and that's how I got into the whole realm of trying to help people fix everything from the inside. Obviously, each diagnosis different, like, like I said, peripheral neuropathy, ankle sprain, plantar fasciitis, achilles tendon, tendonitis. Those are common things that I see, but these things are completely debilitating to people. People don't, they can't run like they used to. They have pain. Patients are getting obese because they have so much foot pain and they're not. It's the. The issue is not getting fixed. So this is like these things that I talk about to patients are great ways to avoid the operating room and to use your body's healing abilities and to enhance them.
Speaker 3:You can walk and be pain free and live a limit free, limitless life and just do whatever you want without pain. And that's where that's kind of like what I've been focusing on with my patients lately and I've been having a lot of success. I actually, you know, my patients are really happy sending other people um, not trying to gloat or anything, no, you're good it's actually working and I'm I'm like that's fantastic.
Speaker 3:I kind of hate medicare for like not paying for these things. You know things like that. But it's just like some people just want something else. Some people don't want a traditional steroid injection, or they don't want another Advil or another ibuprofen. They want to know how, the why the body's not healing. And and I figure it out with diagnostics and based on everybody's different diagnosis we treat it, we get the body to help it heal itself.
Speaker 2:I find myself having these conversations about preventative care more and more, whether it's with you or whether it's with a buddy of mine who's a dentist. It all goes back to I say this all the time take care of yourself, creating daily habits. The reason why people are so quick to take medication is because it's a quick fix and we live in a fast-paced society where we're looking for instant gratification and doing the work required to be healthy and to prevent all this stuff from happening in the first place is difficult and arduous for folks so quick. To slap a bandaid on these problems. But it doesn't really ultimately fix anything and obviously there's a time and place for medications are useful, but to take pills every day, just to mask a problem that's not solving anything.
Speaker 3:I actually had a patient this morning mom with a baby, her feet are killing her and you know I gave her the traditional steroid injections and she felt a little better. And I saw her at the follow-up today and like I was looking at her and I'm like, girl, you need a break. Like she, you know she holds her baby and breastfeeds this baby and her feet are killing her and I'm like you can't walk barefoot, sit and feed your baby. You know you got to take care of your feet. You know, do some home physical therapy, like I had a whole chat with her about like doing Epsom salt soaks and resting your feet and not walking barefoot.
Speaker 3:And I was like when, when she, when the baby's asleep, you got to take care of yourself, because nobody's going to take care of you. You don't take care of yourself. I was like just create your routine soak your feet, moisturize, ice your heels, whatever you need to do to get rid of the pain, cause your body, your you know, obviously she's a breastfeeding mom, so, like her, her body's still changing, so that's why, you know, I'm not. I think the basic treatment should help her move along and get the body to heal itself, but it's just a matter of time, and it was just you know everybody, just you got to take care of yourself because nobody else is going to take care of you.
Speaker 2:Nobody else is going to do it for you.
Speaker 3:I really love those tips and tricks when it comes to, you know, people with chronic pain and debilitating foot pain or ankle pain or things like that.
Speaker 2:Yeah, the human body has an unbelievable capacity to heal itself. I mean, the power is really within. Just creating those daily habits and really having the right mindset around what you're doing pays unbelievable dividends. And it's tough, but once you get in the routine of doing these things, it becomes a lot easier, for sure. One other thing I wanted to ask you before we wrap up what about insurance? I know that some of these regenerative treatments, such as stem cells, things like that, are sometimes difficult to access financially. Are these things typically covered under traditional insurance plans? Are those things that your patients often have to come out of pocket for? How does that work for you with your practice?
Speaker 3:So I try to help my patients as much as I can. I do work with a company called Modernizing Medical Solution. I forgot their name. Anyways, the point is there are a few huge, so I hate to call it stem cells, but it's called. It's human tissue allograft, so it's. It sells Wharton's jelly, or cells harvested for the umbilical cord of a baby. And I do have like one or two companies that I use that they do insurance authorizations for patients and it's like 50-50,. You know that I do an authorization, sometimes it's covered, sometimes not. So there's like one or two insurances that it is covered for, but for most insurances it's not covered, and I basically keep these, these injections in my in a freezer in my office and they're ready to go. If I do it the traditional insurance authorization way, it has to go through like a very tedious, like four to six week insurance authorization process.
Speaker 2:It sounds like it sounds like the pharmaceutical companies don't want people to get healed. That's what I'm hearing here.
Speaker 3:I mean it's cut Like. In certain situations it will be covered. But you can't just do it right away.
Speaker 3:You know, what I'm saying, but most of the time patients pay out of pocket for this. Like the insurance will cover diagnostics. It will cover the visit, consultation with me, diagnostic imaging, x-rays, ultrasounds, mris if I order it, physical therapy if you need it. But it won't cover the actual medicine itself, the actual what I'm injecting, and it doesn't cover the laser either. But we have amazing treatment packages. We actually have. You know, we have a sale going on 15% off for the month of November, 50% off.
Speaker 2:You hear that every month. I mean 15. Sorry, 15, 15, not 50. Strike that. Strike it from the record.
Speaker 3:Yeah, so and we take care first. We do payment plans whatever the patients need. Unfortunately, I hate that. Whatever the patients need. Unfortunately, I hate that and that's why I'm in the regenerative field, because I got sick of insurance companies dictating our care, what you can and can't do for you.
Speaker 2:You want to be able to do what you believe is going to be the best outcome for your patient, regardless of whether insurance coverage Listen why is acupuncture still not covered by insurance? Even though it's amazing.
Speaker 3:I love acupuncture. It helps me. It's great. But why it's not covered, I don't know.
Speaker 2:Shout out to Crystal Dehay from Deep Roots.
Speaker 3:My favorite acupuncturist.
Speaker 2:She's the best. She's the best. All right, cool, let's wrap it up there. Anyone out there, if you're listening to this and you are having issues with your feet and go get, go see Dr Lauren. She is a tremendous asset for our community, doing great things. She has a wealth of knowledge and she is there to help or answer any questions that you have. And remember, take care of yourself. We only got this one life to live. Let's live it right. Everyone, take care and we'll catch you next time on the next episode of the LMD Podiatry Podcast.
Speaker 1:Bye next time on the next episode of the LMD podiatry podcast. Bye, thank you for listening to the LMD podiatry podcast. For more information, visit lmdpodiatrycom. That's lmdpodiatrycom, or call 954-680-7133.