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50 | OCTOBER 13 • 2022 

T

albert Stein is not a 
physician. He doesn’t 
even play one on 
TV. But the former physics 
professor is a scientist, so 
while it’s unusual, it’s 
not totally surprising 
that he has had two 
pieces published 
in peer-reviewed 
medical journals. 
Both are based on his 
experience developing 
treatments for his own 
medical problems.
“The basic theme of this 
developing story is that if 
nature gives you lemons, make 
lemonade,” said Stein, 81, of 

Huntington Woods. 
“When something goes 
wrong, as a scientist I get 
excited,” he said. “It’s an 
opportunity to learn.”
Although he retired 
as a full professor 
at Wayne State 
University in 2004, 
Stein stayed active, 
playing his fiddle and 
writing new tunes. 
(A 2014 Detroit 
Jewish News article 
described how one of 
his tunes won an international 
competition.) He enjoyed 
walking several miles every 
day near his Huntington 

Woods home. He and his wife, 
Elaine, who died in 2018, 
enjoyed traveling, frequently 
visiting their daughter, son-
n-law and two grandchildren 
near Los Angeles. 
In 2015, he said, he started 
noticing the “ravages of old 
age.” He was used to walking 
two or three miles a day, 
but severe pain in his right 
calf made it impossible to 
walk even a complete block 
without stopping to rest. He 
was diagnosed with peripheral 
artery disease — a narrowing 
of the arteries that lead to the 
extremities. In many cases, 
blockages affect the blood 
vessels in the heart. In Stein’s 
case, a blockage had formed 
in a major artery in his right 
thigh that reduced blood flow 
to his lower leg.
In someone with clear 
arteries, the blood pressure at 
the ankle should be just about 
the same as the blood pressure 
in the upper arm, where it’s 
usually measured. In Stein’s 
case, the blood pressure in his 
ankle was just over half what it 
was in his arm.
He started resting during his 
walks until the pain resolved, 
then walking again, repeating 
the cycle as long as he could. 
His walking ability gradually 
improved, but after a year 
the problems returned and 
became even worse.
Stein developed a 
spreadsheet to measure how 
other activities affected his 
ability to walk. He discovered 
that walking was a lot easier if 
he walked every other day and 
worked out on a recumbent 
stationary bike on the other 
days. He also kept records of 
when he exercised related to 
when he ate and found that 

fasting before a walk — not 
eating after 7 p.m. the day 
before and doing his walk 
early in the morning before 
breakfast — made a big 
difference. 
Before long he was walking 
several miles at a time with no 
pain and no need to rest.
His vascular surgeon, Paul 
Bove, M.D., of Troy, told Stein 
he approved of his approach 
and saw no immediate need 
for surgery.
Stein wrote up his 
experience and submitted a 
report, “Correlation of Daily 
Activities with Intermittent 
Claudication in a Patient-
Designed Individualized 
Quantified Community 
Walking Program,” to the 
Annals of Vascular Surgery, 
which published it as a 
correspondence in 2020.

ANOTHER PROBLEM 
TACKLED
In 2018, Stein’s disease took 
another turn; his ankle blood 
pressure fell below 40 percent 
of his arm pressure. In January 
2020, non-healing open 
sores and blackened nailbeds 
formed on the toes of his right 
foot, a condition that can lead 
to amputation.
Since the arteries serving 
that part of his body weren’t 
working, Stein tried to 
encourage other arteries to 
carry blood to the affected 
area. He thought lifting his 
body weight might help — 
and climbing stairs was a 
good way to do just that. Most 
days he climbed 30 flights, 
resting after every flight and 
spreading the flights out 
throughout the day.
He started the project 
In February 2020 and saw 

Non-Physician 
Heals Himself

PHOTOS BY BARBARA LEWIS

Former professor publishes his results 
in prestigious medical journals. 

BARBARA LEWIS CONTRIBUTING WRITER

Bert Stein

Bert Stein walks the 
stairs, which helped 
improve his condition.

