Osteoarthritis and rheumatoid arthritis are classified as different diseases, but they converge into the same outcome for patients. Pain, stiffness, a loss of function and range of motion. This is a client who came to us after years of escalating joint pain, after all conventional strategies had failed.

His independence was starting to feel impossible, and his athletic training, which his entire identity was built on, was no longer possible. This was affecting his sleep because he had so much pain at night, his mood was affected, and his confidence had followed mobility into a deep decline. This case study documents how we change that trajectory, reducing flare-ups, restoring joint function, reducing pain, and returning a former athlete to active workouts outdoors.

This is Michael's story, a 46-year-old male and former competitive athlete whose identity was built around physical capacity. He enjoyed hiking, mountaineering, rock climbing, and structured training, but over several years he developed this progressive multi-joint presentation involving persistent knee pain with loss of full range of motion. He couldn't squat down all the way becausehis knees would literally lock up.

His shoulder and his hip were also limiting training and daily activity. He had increased stiffness throughout the day, and also when he was walking upstairs, his knees would often click. And so this was literally quite bad in his case.

And he had pursued standard medical care. He got corticosteroids. He also tried non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs like ibuprofen.

And these didn't do anything but provide very minor temporary pain relief, and they did nothing to actually fix the root problem. He was considering stem cell therapy, but ultimately he chose this systems-based restoration program instead. So Michael was experiencing severe joint pain, swelling, and stiffness.

This was visible swelling in his knees. And he could not even fully extend his knees sometimes without pain. And he would also have clicking walking upstairs.

On imaging, this showed as stage 3 osteoarthritis. He had a functional decline which was approaching disability. He had exercise intolerance and severe deconditioning.

He lost a lot of muscle mass and strength because he could no longer train. He had a sleep disruption because he was experiencing such severe pain at night that it often kept him up. And his mood was tanking as a result of all of this.

So Michael's intervention was powered by the biological recode system. This is a framework that I invented which is designed at addressing all problems at their core rather than focusing on symptoms management. Not to say that symptoms management is completely useless.

I mean, in the case of somebody who has joint pain, obviously all they care about is no longer being in pain, right? They don't want to take things such as drugs which will completely alter their mood and personality or anything like that and destroy any other measure of quality of life. But they want their joints to feel normal again. They want to be pain-free.

Ultimately, that's what can occur when you address the problem at its root rather than focus on trying to improve the symptoms directly. So, immune signaling is a big component of joint degeneration. It doesn't matter if you have rheumatoid arthritis or osteoarthritis, okay? Both of these actually have degeneration which is mediated in part by the immune system.

It just does so in different ways. So, we addressed this immune system dysfunction basically by reprogramming the immune system with certain peptides, natural ones at that, which are completely safe in humans and very effective. We addressed the extracellular matrix breakdown and impaired cartilage behavior by supporting regenerative signalling.

We improved micro circulation and we wanted to reduce catabolic pressure within the joints. So, anything which would increase MMPs, which break down cartilage, we want to suppress those while restoring regenerative pathways. Also, potential fibrotic changes in joints.

This is pretty common which not many people even consider, but it can lead to the stiffness and restricted motion within the joints. These fibrotic bands can be very fragile and weak and can be a big source of pain as well. But it's actually possible to reverse the fibrotic tissue to a pretty decent extent.

So, we implemented measures for that as well. The objective was not just to mask the pain, but a complete restoration of the entire environment within his joint tissue so they could recover and function normally again. His baseline measurement here was CRP 5.2. This is elevated.

So, this is a definite source of inflammation and although he was diagnosed with osteoarthritis in the past, it was actually looking more like rheumatoid. But like I said, both immune driven. ESR was also high.

This is the erythrocyte sedimentation rate, also indicating inflammation. His sleep score on an Apple Watch was low to mid 40s. That's pretty bad.

And daily pain 8 out of 10, with frequent flares even getting worse than that. Sometimes he couldn't walk up the stairs without actually holding on to the railing. It was just that bad in his knees.

But after just 12 weeks or 3 months, his CRP normalized. Same with his ESR. Sleep improved and his daily pain, most importantly, reduced to a 1 or 2 out of 10.

That is huge improvement in just 3 months. And he's able to walk upstairs normally again. And he's actually resumed athletic training again, getting his strength and his muscle and his life back.

This progress was driven by restored tissue behavior, reduced immune attack signaling, and rebuilt mechanical resiliency. So, not just trying to reduce the pain, which is why most other treatment strategies fail, because that's what they're focused on first and foremost. Here's what the client had to say.

I forgot what it felt like to move without being in severe pain. I thought my days as an athlete were over. The first time I walked upstairs normally, I felt like I was on the top of the world.

The first step to getting my life back. The swelling is gone, the flares don't control my week anymore, and I'm sleeping like a normal human again. I feel like I have my body back.

And this matters because joint degeneration is often treated as just a one-way collapse. It's very often mentioned that there's nothing you can do to actually repair the joints once they start to degenerate. Well, that is not true.

And this case study just goes to show that it is not true. What we don't have after imaging, I would bet that his actual joint capsule looks way better than it did previously. Although, again, what is most important is his restored range of motion and that he is pain-free.

Now, not every case in terms of these programs requires full personalization. There are two options that I have for you today, because I am limited on how many personal clients I could take on. Option one is the bio-recode engine.

This is inside the complete biological recode system, which is a system designed to address all of the hierarchical systems of aging, 12 pillars. But it can also address joint problems extremely well. So any type of knee pain, hip pain, shoulder pain, these types of things that you have, whether it'sosteoarthritis, rheumatoid arthritis, just normal wear and tear, aging, this system can address thatfor you just as good as this program did for Michael here.

But if you have something more severe, such as complex injury history, post-surgical cases, or neuropathic pain or spinal cord pain, this is something you'll want to get a fully personalized protocol for. And you can do so by filling out the form on this page, cuttingedgelongevity.com slash private. So if you're watching the case study there, just scroll up.

If you're on YouTube, you could either go to the website or just check the link in the description, fill out the form. And if you want to go with option one, the bio-recode engine, you should see a little button that you can click below the video as well to go there. So I hope this case study has been informative for you, and I hope you have a great rest of your day.