An Interview With Dr. Jim Wyllie

Dr. Jim recently went on a family vacation where he was able to climb up and down mountains with his grandkids, pedal a mountain bike, and walk on the beach with his family. In this video, he shows us his before and after x-rays and talks through the changes that took place after he had stem cell injections in his knees.

“Transcripted from an interview on 5.6.20”

Jeremiah: Well, thanks for joining me today, Dr. Jim. I know that you went through a program a while ago and you had all sorts of stuff happen in the last year. Can you go through a little bit before we look at some x-rays?

Dr. Jim: Yeah, sure. So back in about 2002, I had an ACL reconstruction actually tore up a lot of cartilage to. I was playing soccer, just to pick up game, and that’s how it happened. Anyway, I knew I tore it right away. I went to see, get the MRI and the surgery done within a couple of weeks. And so then I went from there and rehabbed it really as well as they possibly could, even to the point where I ran in some races and competed in some obstacle courses and got a black belt in TaeKwonDo.

Dr. Jim: But through all that process, my knee was never really as strong. It was just not as good. And over the last, I would say, couple of years, it had deteriorated even more where it was just hard to do, you know, all the things that I really, really wanted to do. So, it was, it would swell after playing any kind of sport. It would stay swollen for a day or two and it would be achy. So I just knew it was not doing well. And of course, we started bridge integrative medicine and started getting involved in regenerative medicine back in 2018. So  watched a few patients go through the program. I saw them having great results. Of course, I knew I was going to have a great result, but I kind of feel like I threw them out there first to see how they would do. So, that’s what I did. 

Jeremiah: Social proof, right?

Dr. Jim: I did it of course.  I went ahead and did this and it was just before I was going to go on a trip on vacation and we’re going to hike mountains and I knew I was going to be carrying my grandchildren. And so I wanted to make sure that my knee was in as good a shape as possible.  I enrolled in the program and started the prehab and then got my regenerative medicine done. And then that was in June probably. And then by August I had my vacation and did well. I mean, really, I was very impressed with the mountain, with one of your grandkids on your shoulder up and down. So definitely always down is harder than going up, you know.  But yeah, that was a, that was part of the real test for it and it did quite well through that whole process.

Jeremiah: I heard you went mountain biking too?

Dr. Jim and Jeremiah: Yeah at the end of the vacation, I could have sat on the porch and just stared at the mountains, but I decided to ride a bike through to them because I really felt so good and it was really good at, was it, isn’t that a challenge? How was your knee after the bike biking and every, you what again? It did. Well, it was a little sore but, but never got swollen in within a day. It was, it was better, so, okay. So then you know, I was able to do a lot more through my, where my knee was really not bothering me at all. We, we continued to go to the gym and play pickle ball and run and walk and all of those things. And, and the knee did great through all of that.

Dr. Jim: Yeah. And then it was suggested to me that, you know, maybe we ought to make some pictures of that knee. And I don’t know why I didn’t think of it before, but,  I thought, you know, the, the fact is though, is that what this is all about for, and we tell this to our patients all the time, is that it’s about function. You know, it’s about getting your life back. And quite honestly, my life was back. I was, I didn’t need any more proof than, than that. My knee felt better and it used to be really, really gritty and it wasn’t as gritty anymore. When I bent it or straight did it make all kinds of noise. I’d let my patients feel the grit in my knee. It was just that was kinda like that, but when I, when I started getting after I got the STEM cell treatment a lot of the grittiness started to decrease, so that was really cool too.

So yeah, I was kind of excited to make a picture. And so we took some before we had the ones for before, back in June, 2018, and we then decided we were gonna make some more. And that was January, late January of 2020. So look at those then about 18 months apart. Here’s those, here’s those pictures. 

Now I know on these you had said something that there are pins showing there. Yeah. So these are, this is not a typical knee. Obviously the pins that exist here are with the anchors of the ACL injury. There are some in the tibia there and there’s some in the femur. Those are the same. This is my left knee that I was having the real problem with. So the first one is the one right here. This is the before picture before STEM cell.

And you can see this almost like cutout or hook, like a appearance there. And that’s that, that is in the cartilage and actually the subchondral tissue, which is just below the cartilage in the femur itself, in one of the condos of the femur. Okay. And yeah, you can see that. And then up higher there. The, the second circle shows a little spur happening, a little traction spur happening on the patella, on the inferior pole of that patella. The kneecap, you can see that. So there’s this little little extension or beat like where there’s a lot of wear and tear and the body reacting to that. So then the next picture on the right, that’s about eight months later. Yeah, this is actually about eight months later. That’s, that’s about right, and so now here we are that same area.

Now the subchondral bone bone is kind of filled in and the cartilage, around that is also a much smoother the surface. And we can see that the traction spur that was on the patella there actually looks a about half the size of what it was of what it was previously. And, and you know, I can tell you that, that the difference in the way that knee functions and fields, it just isn’t as aged anymore. You know, it’s not that creaky sound. And, and I know all of you out there that have ever had knee pain know What that Creek feels like, but it’s a little disconcerting and it’s kinda nice to see that diminished. Is it completely gone? No, but I’d say it’s 75% gone from where it was. 

Jeremiah: Congratulations. 

Dr. Jim: I think that’s pretty cool. And knowing that that those STEM cells are in there working for, you know, a good year, just rebuilding tissue is is, is tremendous.

So who knows? It might even be just a bit better now than what it was even then. Um, but yes, uh, so, uh, the, the functional proof, being able to do more and then be able to see it on x-ray. Yeah. I’m kind of proud of those. 

Jeremiah: And I know you, you do really well with with orthopedics that our office if someone wants to have a conversation with you, they can, they can call our office (816) 454-5433. 

Dr. Jim: No, absolutely. I’d love to share my story and see if, uh, if we can make your story, uh, similar to this one. Alright. 

Jeremiah: Thank you. 

Dr. Jim: Yeah, you’re welcome.

816.454.5433

305 NW Englewood Ct. #200,
Gladstone, MO 64118