Most patients who walk into Dynamic Athlete have been hurting longer than they want to admit. Six months. A year. Two years. They tried rest. They tried PT. They got a cortisone shot or three. And the whole time, the calendar kept moving — and so did the cost.
I’m Dr. Aneesh Garg. I want to have a conversation almost nobody is having with you. Not the cost of treatment. The cost of not treating.
The math nobody adds up!
When you delay care for a joint or tendon problem, you are spending money. You just aren’t writing a single check for it. You’re paying in increments that feel painless until you total them.
Start with the medical side. Six months of waiting typically includes four to six physician or specialist visits, one or two rounds of physical therapy, imaging, often a cortisone shot or two, sometimes a secondopinion consult, and frequently medications. None of that is free, even with insurance. Your copays. Your time off work. Your gas. Your parking. Add it up — most patients I see have spent two to four thousand dollars before they ever walk into my office.
Now layer in the indirect cost. A year of declining knee function doesn’t just hurt. It changes what your body can do. The muscles around the joint atrophy. Compensation patterns set in. The hip starts hurting because the knee has been protecting itself. The other knee gets loaded harder. By the time you actually book treatment, the problem you came in for is now three problems.
Then add the part that doesn’t show up on a spreadsheet. The hiking trip you skipped. The ski season you sat out. The half marathon you withdrew from. The morning runs you stopped doing. The summer you spent on the patio instead of on the trail. These are the things that made Boulder worth living in. Losing them has a price. You feel it. Your spouse feels it. Your kids feel it.
“You’re not paying for a procedure. You’re paying to get the next ten years of your life back on the trail.”
What “not covered by insurance” actually means?
We hear it on every call. PRP isn’t covered. Stem cells aren’t covered. EXOMIND, EMSELLA, focused shockwave — none of it is covered. And patients pause.
Here is what is rarely said clearly. Insurance covers cortisone because cortisone is cheap and old. Insurance covers knee replacement because knee replacement is established. Insurance does not cover regenerative orthobiologics because the biological revolution in musculoskeletal medicine is moving faster than insurance can adapt. The standard of care will get there in another five to ten years. Patients who want their function back today are paying out of pocket because today is the only time they have.
That isn’t a flaw. That’s the trade. You’re paying for time. You’re buying back the next two ski seasons, the next four years of running, the next decade of being able to lift your kids and grandkids without grimacing. The math gets simple when you frame it correctly.
What patients actually get back?
90%+ REPORT 75%+ IMPROVEMENT
50% FASTER RECOVERY ON COMBINED PROTOCOL
More than ninety percent of Dynamic Athlete patients report at least seventy-five percent improvement from their treatment. Patients on the combined shockwave-plus-biologic protocol recover up to fifty percent faster than patients relying on rest and PT alone.
What does that translate to in real life?
Patients walking onto trails they hadn’t touched in two years. Skiers who got a full season back. Runners who finished their first marathon after being told they would need a knee replacement. Mothers who stopped wearing pads on training runs. Executives who slept through the night for the first time in months.
We do not promise these outcomes to everybody. Some patients have damage that has progressed beyond what biology can repair. I will tell you that during your evaluation, honestly, because the alternative is taking your money for a treatment that won’t work. That conversation is part of why patients drive from Denver, Fort Collins, and Estes Park to be seen at Dynamic Athlete.
Why we are different from other clinics offering PRP?
You can find a clinic in Boulder or Denver offering PRP on a Groupon. Don’t do it. PRP is not one thing — the platelet concentration, the leukocyte fraction, the spin protocol, and the injection technique all change the outcome. We use multi-spin PRP and Fibrin-Rich Plasma protocols tailored to the tissue we’re treating. Tendons need different prep than knee cartilage. Ligaments need different prep than fat pads.
I founded the American Shockwave Training Institute — ASTI — to train other physicians on these protocols. I treated team athletes for USA Hockey and U.S. Soccer at the elite level using these same protocols. I personally perform every PRP, every stem cell harvest, every shockwave session in this clinic. Not a PA. Not a tech. The doctor you booked is the doctor who treats you.
Making the investment possible
The price of treatment is not what stops most patients. The price of not knowing what they’ll get back is what stops them. Once they see the math clearly, they make the call.
We offer Cherry Technologies financing with 0% APR plans for qualified patients. That means a $4,500 treatment can be sixty days, twelve months, or longer — without interest. We do it because nobody should put off the next ten years of their hiking life because of a checkbook this month.
What we won’t do is hard-sell you. You come in. We do a real evaluation. Dr. Garg looks at your imaging, your history, your activity goals. If regenerative medicine is the right call, we tell you. If a surgical referral is the right call, we tell you that too — and we send you to the right surgeon in Boulder or Denver, not the cheapest one.
Questions We Get Every Week!
How do I know if regenerative medicine will work for me?
You don’t, until you come in for an evaluation. The honest answer is that some injuries respond beautifully and some are too far gone. Dr. Garg will tell you which one you are before you spend a dollar on the procedure itself.
What is the typical investment?
It depends on the tissue, the protocol, and whether we combine treatments. PRP alone runs in the low thousands. Stem cell procedures are higher. The combined Shockwave-plus-biologic protocol is the most cost-effective long-term because it accelerates recovery. We give you the number in writing, up front, before you decide.
Is Cherry financing hard to qualify for?
Most patients qualify in a few minutes online. 0% APR for the qualifying terms. No prepayment penalty. We do not benefit from one term over another — pick what works for you.
If I’m not a good candidate, will you tell me?
Yes. That is the entire point of the evaluation. Taking patients we cannot help would destroy what we have built.