How We Got Involved With Prolotherapy
As a military physician in Special Operations, Dr. Edwards was exposed to a large number of patients with multiple aches and pains and was able to help some. There were others that, despite his best efforts, didn’t get any better.
Here is one of Dr. Edwards’ encounters:
“There one patient in particular. He was 26 years old and had low back pain that was so severe that he was being processed out of the military because he could no longer perform his job. His xrays and MRI were all normal. We could not identify any cause for his pain. He was an ‘operator’ in special operations and had endured countless tests and hardships and had come through with flying colors. He was one of America’s best. Yet, there were those that felt he was simply whining about his back because nobody could find anything wrong. I believed him when he told me that he truly did hurt – he wanted to stay in the military but told me that it wasn’t worth the pain. Unfortunately, I couldn’t do anything for him at the time.”
This problem is not uncommon. We have seen numerous patients that had pain but the doctors, labs, and radiology studies (x-rays, CTs, and MRIs) could not find a reason for it so the patients are often labeled as problem patients or whiners.
“I was one of those physicians that would inappropriately label these patients. After all, we are doctors. Surely we know everything about the human body, right?”
It is extremely frustrating for physicians when patients state there is something wrong yet no one can identify the problem. It is difficult to fix a problem you can’t identify.
This leads primary care physicians to refer patients to orthopedic surgeons or neurosurgeons since they can’t fix the problem. Some of these surgeons may recommend surgery even if they weren’t able to identify a surgically correctable cause of the pain.
THAT SETS UP A CYCLE OF PAIN DUE TO RELAXATION OF LIGAMENTS, TREATED BY STEROIDS, NSAIDS, OR SURGERY WHICH FURTHER WEAKEN THE LIGAMENTS AND FURTHER EXACERBATES THE PROBLEM!
A couple of years ago, one of Dr. Edwards’ Military Commanders approached requesting Prolotherapy. He had no idea what prolotherapy was but was eventually able to find a physician in Nashville that performed the procedure.
Dr Mark Johnson has an impressive story and was kind enough to come to their facility and educate him on the procedure.
“I was very skeptical that this procedure would work. How could sugar water cure pain?? Isn’t sugar water/sugar pill simply a placebo? However, I was very intrigued by what he said. He explained how it works and how it healed the tissues. It made total sense.”
If it truly did what Dr. Johnson said it did then it made total sense and answered so many questions.
A WHOLE NEW WORLD HAD OPENED UP TO ME.
I was excited about the prospect but still very skeptical. Never the less, my commander improved under Dr. Johnson’s treatment.
I began studying the effects of this procedure. It just made sense. Maybe there was more to it that I had originally thought.
Finally, I decided that I had to try it.
I slowly began introducing it into my practice and the results have been nothing short of phenomenal! I have never seen another procedure have such an impact on patients or in my practice.
I have always believed that physicians should strive to attain the highest levels of education and certification possible. Therefore, I began searching for education and certification in prolotherapy. However, there is no certification process for prolotherapy.
I read multiple textbooks on prolotherapy and sought to learn everything I could about the history and procedure. I have studied the techniques of the top prolotherapists in the world and adapted the best techniques from each.
DR. EDWARDS’ TRAINING
Dr. Edwards has been doing Prolotherapy since 2009. He learned the history of prolotherapy and about the Hacket-Hemwall Foundation (see below). He contacted the director of the foundation, Jeff Patterson, DO, to learn more and was invited to the annual prolotherapy workshop in Wisconsin. This is the same workshop that was started by Dr. Hemwall over 40 years ago.
The Hacket-Hemwall Foundation (HHF) sponsors a trip to Honduras every year to train other physicians in Prolotherapy. This is the most comprehensive training in prolotherapy available. Physicians have the opportunity to work with several other physicians to enhance their training and experience.
No other organization offers any training even remotely as comprehensive and I have come to believe that any physician offering prolotherapy should attend this training.
If you are searching for a doctor who performs prolotherapy then you should look for a doctor trained by the Hacket-Hemwall Foundation!
There are other good organizations who promote prolotherapy and we encourage participation in all of them. However, they do not have the same training opportunities as the Hacket-Hemwall Foundation.
There are physicians across the country who have attended weekend seminars, watched a DVD, or read a book and started performing prolotherapy. This doesn’t mean that they are incompetent but there is no way to ensure appropriate skill and safety.
