By harnessing the power of amnion injections, Dr. Danielle Shaper is providing patients with dramatic relief from neuropathy
By Patricia Nugent
More than 20 million people in the United States suffer from peripheral neuropathy. Emphasis should be placed on the word “suffer,” as symptoms include pain, burning, numbness, tingling in the feet or hands, and difficulty walking. This progressive, debilitating condition is caused by nerve damage and often occurs in diabetics.
Traditional medicine offers no cure for neuropathy, just a blanket treatment of the symptoms that often times includes ineffective medications that come with a barrage of side effects.
Dr. Danielle Shaper has earned a reputation for bringing leading-edge, minimally invasive treatments in podiatry to her practice, Finesse Footcare, in Lyndhurst. Over the four years she’s been in Cleveland, she’s introduced innovations such as the Lunula laser to treat toenail fungus and radial shockwave therapy for heel pain.
About three years ago, she introduced regenerative medicine techniques to her patients, namely FDA-regulated amnion injections to successfully heal tissue.
“The substance channel’s the body’s natural ability to heal itself, and, at the same time combats inflammation,” she says.
After she began hearing from other podiatrists across the country who were using these injections to also treat nerve tissue and neuropathy, she did her research into it. This month she used the regenerative approach on her first neuropathy patient with a positive outcome.
“I knew how effective these injections were for soft tissue, such as in Achilles injuries,” she says, “They have helped people with pain relief and even avoid surgery. It’s my hope this will have the same success with nerve issues in terms of pain reduction and prevent them from worsening. And I hope it can help people who have difficulty walking. My own father cannot drive because of neuropathy.”
When Dr. Shaper was working on her degree, she did lot of research and learned how regenerative sheaths of nerves act with different stimuli. She’s seen the seeds of possibility and feels amnion injections will be a major advancement in medical care.
Meet Sharon G.
For the past 30 years, Sharon has suffered from chronic stenosis, which led to neuropathy in her feet as well as fibromyalgia.
“I felt everything from sharp, stabbing pain to aches and burning sensations, mostly in my toes,” she says. “I was also beginning to worry about how the pain and tightness were affecting my balance. The pain was becoming difficult to deal with, especially when I tried to sleep at night.”
Sharon is an active 78-year-old who was a teacher of English as a second language for many years and now tutors. She has no plans of slowing down.
The medications she took, Gabapentin and Lyrica, did nothing to relieve the pain and made her dizzy. So, when Dr. Shaper told her she thought she’d make an ideal patient for amnion injection, she was hopeful.
After one shot, Sharon reports her pain was reduced by about 60% within the first few days. Dr. Shaper says she may receive one or two more shots over the next six months.
“I couldn’t be happier with the results,” says Sharon. “The injection was painless and there were no side-effects. The whole process went better than I could’ve imagined. And I do want to mention that going to see Dr. Shaper and her kind staff is always a pleasure.”
In addition to amnion injections, Dr. Shaper treats every condition of the feet and ankles, including heel pain, bunions, toenail fungus, plantar warts, nail disorders and ankle sprains. She also specializes in diabetic footcare, sports therapy, and offers custom orthotics to improve your gait.
Finesse Footcare is located at 5035 Mayfield Road, Suite 202, in Lyndhurst. Financing options are available. Call 216-382-8070 or visit FinesseFootcare.com for more information.