David Crane, MD: Fellowship-Trained Regenerative Spine Specialist

Training & Board Certifications

I earned my medical degree from the University of Missouri School of Medicine. My residency was in Emergency Medicine at Maricopa Medical Center in Phoenix-one of the busiest trauma centers in the country. I then completed dual fellowships in Emergency Medicine and Primary Care Sports Medicine at Allegheny General Hospital in Pittsburgh. I hold board certifications from the American Board of Emergency Medicine and the American Board of Sports Medicine.

I founded Crane Clinic Sports Medicine in 2005 and Bluetail Medical Group in 2008, with locations across Missouri, Wisconsin, and Indiana. In my clinical roles, I remain deeply involved in patient care-not as an administrator, but as a practicing physician who evaluates, treats, and follows patients over time.

Teaching Regenerative Therapeutics Nationally and Internationally

As I explain to physicians in my courses, understanding the cellular biology is non-negotiable. Any practitioner can inject platelet-rich plasma. Not every practitioner understands what those platelets actually do-how they activate growth factor cascades, recruit stem cells, modulate inflammatory cytokines. I teach regenerative medicine principles to physicians and advanced practitioners across the country and internationally. I believe in making the science accessible without oversimplifying it.

That same commitment to precision informs how I treat patients. Every injection is guided by ultrasound or fluoroscopy-and often both-for maximally specific, targeted delivery of medicine to exactly the right structure. Every treatment plan is tailored to the specific pathology. There are no cookbook protocols in my practice. When I teach, I'm not selling a treatment-I'm explaining the biology. And when I treat a patient, I'm applying that same intellectual rigor.

Active in Exosome Research and Regenerative Medicine Innovation

Exosomes represent the frontier of regenerative medicine. These extracellular vesicles carry bioactive molecules-proteins, lipids, nucleic acids-that modulate inflammation and promote tissue repair at the cellular level. I remain actively involved in exosome research and clinical outcomes tracking. We're not making claims beyond what the science supports; we're documenting what the research shows. Exosome therapy is not a treatment I offer lightly or without ongoing education. It's a tool I deploy when the biological rationale aligns with the patient's condition and when we can track outcomes rigorously.

My commitment to research isn't separate from patient care-it's central to it. Every patient treated at our practice contributes to our outcomes database. We measure pain scores, functional disability, return-to-activity, and satisfaction. This data informs individual treatment decisions and shapes how we refine our protocols. We're not interested in claiming certainty where uncertainty exists.

My Own Journey: From Patient to Physician

I don't just study regenerative medicine. I've lived it. After college, I developed chronic knee pain from an ice climbing fall that became a running injury I couldn't shake. For fourteen years, that knee dictated what I could and couldn't do.

I tried physical therapy for two years. It helped manage symptoms but never resolved the underlying problem. As a fellow in sports medicine, I underwent surgery for a cartilage injury-a procedure I understood deeply from the clinical side. The surgery didn't help either.

What I finally learned-and what changed everything-was that I needed to turn the pain off before my body could begin the recovery process. Pain isn't just a signal. It's a biological state that actively inhibits repair. Stem cell therapy finally turned the pain off and allowed me to recapture function. That experience is the foundation of how I treat every patient who walks through our doors. I know what it feels like to try everything and still hurt. And I know what it feels like when the right biological intervention finally lets your body do what it's been trying to do all along.

Philosophy: Treat the Source, Not the Symptom

Too many spine patients receive band-aid solutions. Epidural steroid injections numb pain without addressing why the nerve is inflamed. Muscle relaxers mask symptoms while atrophy worsens. Surgery-sometimes necessary-removes tissue without restoring the biological capacity of what remains. We can't cut out pain. We have to address inflammation, biology, and resourcing of the natural repair cycles. I treat the source.

The spine has three interdependent columns: the anterior column (vertebral bodies and discs), the facet joints and nerves, and the posterior soft tissue-muscles, tendons, ligaments, and fascia. I use all three columns to understand each patient and to make a personalized treatment plan that includes the right tools for the specific needs of each individual person. If your disc is dehydrating because load is being transferred to incompetent facet joints, we stabilize the facet joint and restore disc mechanics. If your ligament has lost proprioceptive innervation and elastic recoil, we stimulate fibrocyte proliferation. If your paraspinal muscles have atrophied and the fascia has scarred, we address the soft tissue that's failing to stabilize the spine.

We also interrupt pain patterns so that the patient can heal and repair. Pain isn't just a symptom to manage-it's a biological state that blocks the repair cycle. Turning off the pain signal is therapeutic, not just palliative. This takes more time than a quick injection, and it requires a physician who's willing to spend time understanding your specific anatomy. It's how I practice.

Life Outside the Clinic

When I'm not in the clinic, you'll find me skiing or mountain biking. I've always been drawn to sports that demand quick decisions, physical commitment, and respect for the terrain. Those instincts carry directly into clinical practice-the ability to read what's in front of you, adapt to what the body is telling you, and make precise decisions under uncertainty. Spine medicine is not that different from navigating a steep descent: you have to trust the process, respect the complexity, and commit to the line.

I'm married with two daughters and one son. My family keeps me grounded and reminds me that medicine is, ultimately, about helping real people maintain the life they want to live. It's not about diagnoses or imaging findings. It's about whether my patient can play with their children, get back to their sport, work without pain, or simply move through the day without limitation. That's what drives my practice.

Why "Bluetail"?

Much of what we know about musculoskeletal and orthopedic science comes from studying lizards and other animals that repair themselves-creatures that regrow tails, regenerate cartilage, and heal without scarring. The blue-tailed skink is one of these remarkable animals. It sheds its tail under threat and grows a new one. That capacity for self-repair isn't unique to lizards. We have it too.

The name Bluetail Medical Group reflects a conviction: with the right resources, the right delivery, and the right clinical wisdom, the human body can repair what conventional medicine often writes off as permanent damage. We don't replace your biology. We resource it.