Finally recovering from a meniscus injury with BPC-157, TB500, and the right Physical Therapist!

Um, my name is Nick, uh, also Dr. Sterling. I'm a physical therapist. I have my friend here today with me, Eaton. Um, Eaton has had a knee injury that he had struggled with, uh, for quite some time and we worked together, um, and had some good results. So I just wanted to let you introduce yourself Eaton and, um, tell us about your knee and the whole journey. Yeah. Um, so I've been dealing with a knee pain, I guess, uh, in about five or 60 years, I think. Um, and it was like daily pain. So sometimes just like walking would be somewhat painful or, uh, it just seems like I couldn't even strengthen my quadriceps muscles or anything like that without getting some sort of inflammation the next day. So, um, I tried a bunch of stuff, uh, many different physical therapists and just researching and supplements, everything. But, uh, it didn't seem like anything was that effective. Like things would work for a little while and then, and then the pain would just come right back. So, um, I, you know, at a certain point I was like, okay, I guess I'm just going to have pain for the rest of my life. And I was like worried that it's going to get even worse than it was. Right. Yeah. A lot of people wonder that just like, am I just getting old and this is just how it's going to be. But correct me if I'm wrong. It seems to be, the pain seems to be getting better. Correct. Yeah. There was a point where like it really took a turn for the better. Um, that was maybe half a year ago, um, or so. Um, because now, um, most of my days, I don't think about the pain that much. Like I might have a little bit here and there, but it's not on my mind. Like it used to be constantly on my mind. Cause you could, every movement, you could feel a little something. And so now it's definitely better. Awesome. And so, uh, tell us a little bit about the things that did help. I know you mentioned BPC-157. Tell us a little bit about that. Yeah. I had kept, I've been hearing about BPC-157, uh, for a few years. And then I just, you know, it was on my list of things to try. So I gave it a shot and I also did something called TB-500, which is usually mixed with BP-157 as a combo. Right. And those, those in combination, um, I gave it a shot. And within the first week I could, I could tell that something was getting better, uh, or at least it felt like it was. Yeah. And I continued that. And, um, I think that was one of the most effective things I've did for minis because, uh, there's just seems to be lasting changes even when I'm off of that. Um, it just persists as like, I'm in a better situation with my knees, uh, because of, because of using those things. Yeah. That's so awesome. So for people that don't know what it is, um, I'm going to go ahead and give it a brief overview. Um, so BPC-157, it's a peptide, correct? Yes. And BPC stands for body protection compound. So it's interesting. It's a natural, you know, peptide. So it's, it's seems pretty safe, um, cause your body produces it. Um, and it's, it was actually found in like gastric juices. And, um, so it can also have like healing effects on the gut too. And then I've looked at some of the research out there and it definitely shows like in some of the studies they did with rats, it, it definitely showed like it healed Achilles tendons faster. Um, it helps with something called angiogenesis, which helps more growth of new blood vessels, which is important for healing. Um, it can help with inflammation, um, fibroblast production. So all these, basically all these things to help promote healing. Um, it seems to be super helpful for that. Now it's not currently, um, available for most people because it's technically not approved or regular, you know, hasn't been processed and approved by the FDA, which is unfortunate because, um, it seems to be so helpful and it, and, and it's, you know, it's not a synthetic, you know, drug. So it, I would think that it's, it has very few side effects. Did you feel like you had any side effects or not too bad? Um, um, No. The only thing I could think of that might have been a side effect is like, I think I sweat like a little bit more while I was on it. But other than that, none at all. Okay. So for anybody else that's interested in this, we want to exercise caution that it hasn't been thoroughly studied. But again, there's a lot of promising research out there. And so I hope that there will be more research done because it definitely seems like one of those things that can be helpful, just like stem cells. You know, stem cells is is has been studied more and doctors are using it, but insurance doesn't necessarily cover it. And so this seems to have a similar effect, which is kind of frustrating. You know, the stuff that helps is not approved. And so that's that's it. That's a big problem. But anyways. OK, so I want to kind of segue into when we started working together. What things did you find helpful? Um, I think just some of the exercises that targeted, like some of my weaker areas. I think just bringing blood flow to that area just like was was something like my it's like my muscles wanted to be worked, but they just didn't know how to activate maybe. Um, so I think once we learned like which, which areas weren't really firing, I felt like that was helpful for just getting my legs more balanced, because I think I had some weak areas. Yeah. Um, and then, um, how did you feel about the massage and the hands on stuff? Um, yeah, when we were doing the massage, I, I could feel like there's definitely some areas that were feeling off, like, uh, tight and more pain. And then other areas, you could put as much pressure as you wanted. And it was like, it wasn't bothering me at all. So, um, afterwards, it felt like the knees were just a little freer. Yeah, sure. For, um, like less resistance when I'm trying to like knee bend and stuff like that. Yeah. And I, I, that's a common thing I see with the knee is that there's these little tiny spots that we often miss with stretching that you can target with massage, um, or, or mobilizations. Um, and then are you having much pain right now? Is it continuing to get better? Is it, you know, tell us a little bit about that. Um, I haven't really stressed my knees in the last week or two, but, um, I get occasional pain still, but, um, I don't know. I don't know how they would do if I really tried to push the limits on them, but I don't really have a need to, you know, I don't, I don't know if I'm going to be sprinting every week or anything like that. Um, if I did, I think that I might have still some knee issues there. Um, but I think, uh, for what I like to do and what I'm happy doing, I think I'm pretty much mostly pain-free, which is great. And so I'm pretty happy with that, but, um, I don't think my knees are perfect or even necessarily where they should be for my age, but, uh, I think they're not at a bad point. And, um, uh, yeah, so that's kind of where I'm at right now. Yeah. That's awesome. Um, yeah, no, I would agree with that. Like you definitely still need work, you know, to keep furthering range of motion strength. Um, give us a little bit of like, what are, what is more of the high level stuff you do right now? Whether that's just jogging a mile, um, playing sports, what, what kind of stuff have you been able to do thus far? Um, I do a lot of biking, so I have a stationary bike at home. So that's been good for, um, I don't know, getting cardio, but also getting blood flow to the, to the legs, um, without much pain. So that's a good way for me to get some, uh, some strength. I also do like, I have a mountain bike, so I'll do some, I'll just ride it in the street sometimes just for some cardio. But I also take it out on trails. Um, and then I've done some treadmill work and some track work, just, uh, slow jogging or fast walking exercise. Um, occasionally I'll do sprints. to kind of test where my knees are at. And then sometimes I'll do some strength training, but I need to probably ramp that up because I haven't done a lot. Sure. Yeah. And I like to ask that because it's good for people to know like, okay, even if you had like a meniscus injury, which seemed to be like what you had, right, that you can get back to a lot of these things like running, squatting, jumping. It just takes time. You have to be careful, like you're saying, to not over aggravate it. So I think you're on the right track. Just, you know, keep doing what you're doing, testing your knees out, trying to get those muscles stronger around the knees and the hips. And yeah, thank you for sharing your story. I really appreciate it. Yeah, of course. All right. Thank you. Bye. Okay. All right. Bye.