Richard Lee

EXOGEN Helps an Active Hiker Return to the Trails

The below case study is representative of a US FDA-approved indication for the use of EXOGEN.

Situation:

Richard Lee is an environmental services director at a rehabilitation facility in northern Massachusetts. The 62-year-old raised his three adult children in the Northeast, while living an active lifestyle vacationing in Cape Cod, riding bikes, and hiking mountains up to 5,000 feet in elevation.

While getting his summer cottage in Cape Cod prepared for seasonal rentals, Richard lost his balance while power washing the siding and hit the ground hard.

“I was standing on the third step, getting ready to pressure wash the place, when I turned to pull the slack on the hose toward me and tried to maintain my balance by twisting my foot as far as I could,” recalls Richard.

As his foot kept turning, he heard a snap and the next thing he knew he was on the ground with immediate pain. Unable to put any weight on it, he went to urgent care for treatment. The doctor onsite took an X-ray and told Richard it was just a sprain, he should stay off it when he could and push through the pain over the next few weeks until it healed.

“I’m so thankful that I found out about EXOGEN and that it did its job. You saved me!”

Four weeks later and still unable to walk normally, Richard knew something was still wrong with his foot. After putting weight on it to be able to lift up and scratch his uninjured foot, he heard another sickening snap and had his girlfriend take him directly to an emergency room.
X-rays taken at the ER showed what Richard had thought all along, his foot was broken. It turned out that he had fractured the fifth metatarsal in his foot, and the misdiagnosis left him at risk of a nonunion. The injury was so severe, the ER doctor recommended that Richard see an orthopaedic specialist.

Richard saw a specialist a few days later, who confirmed the fracture and suggested he might need surgery involving a screw or bone graft. Already limping around, a surgery would leave Richard unable to work at his new job, and inhibit his active lifestyle even more.

“I’ve been working around healthcare for the majority of my life,” said Richard. “The last thing I wanted to do was go through surgery and end up in rehab.”

After listening to Richard’s pleas to avoid surgery, his doctor relented and decided to put him in a walking aircast hitting just below his knee. He wore it daily and kept it at 90-degree position whenever he could.

Solution:

After being in the walking cast for a month and still worrying his bone was not healing, a friend recommended Richard ask his doctor for an EXOGEN Ultrasound Bone Healing System. Richard’s friend had used it the year before on a foot fracture and experienced great results.

“She had done the research, found out about EXOGEN, and it healed her broken foot,” said Richard. “My doctor had not mentioned a bone stimulator to me, so when I went back a week later, I asked him if I could try EXOGEN.”

Deciding the fracture was now a nonunion, his doctor agreed to Richard’s request and wrote him a prescription for EXOGEN. A local Bioventus sales representative met Richard at the doctor’s office to fit him with the device and show him how to use it.

“I made sure to get my treatment at the same time every night for 20 minutes,” said Richard. “And while EXOGEN was working I watched YouTube videos or read articles on my smartphone. It was so easy and the treatment went by so fast.”

Success:

Each time he used the device, Richard thought he felt a little better. After four months of treatment and eight months since the initial break, an X-ray confirmed that his foot had completely healed.

These days, Richard is back to his roots hiking Mt. Jefferson, driving his standard transmission Corvette with ease, and he even jogged, something he thought was not going to be possible after this injury.

“No surgery, no screw, no months of recovery and rehab,” said Richard. “I’m so thankful that I found out about EXOGEN and that it did its job. You saved me!”

Disclaimer: Information presented in patient testimonials is representative of a specific patient experience only and does not constitute medical advice.