Are you taking conventional pain medications and still in pain?
Do you suffer from chronic pain but want to avoid or stop prescription medications?
Have you had repeated steroid injections but the pain keeps coming back?
Have you had surgery for chronic pain without significant relief?
If so, there is a good chance that we can help.
Chronic pain is major health issue in our country, affecting nearly one in three Americans. While conventional treatment of chronic pain is sometimes very effective, many patients continue to have pain while on prescription medications or following surgery.
As naturopathic doctors, we recognize that every symptom has an underlying cause. When a treatment does not resolve a patient’s symptoms, it is because it hasn’t adequately addressed the underlying causes.
For over 15 years we have been treating patients in acute and chronic pain and have been continually researching and integrating safer and more effective methods to not only improve, but resolve our patients’ pain.
While we are not able to help every single person, we are currently able to provide dramatic improvement or resolution of pain about 90% of the time. We do this by addressing causes of pain that are generally overlooked by conventional doctors.
Neuropathic Pain
Pain often begins with an injury, surgery or some other source of inflammation and tissue damage. This damage can lead to chronic firing of the involved pain sensing nerves, even long after the original injury has healed. This type of pain is referred to as neuropathic pain. Neuropathic pain tends to respond poorly to anti-inflammatories or pain medications and is often not resolved by surgery.
Perineural Injection Treatment (PIT)
John Lyftogt, MD (pronounced “Liftoff”), a sports medicine specialist from New Zealand, has developed a minimally invasive and highly effective treatment for acute and chronic neuropathic pain called Perineural Injection Treatment®.
Dr. Lyftogt uncovered long forgotten research revealing that chronic pain signals are often the result of persistent metabolic imbalances in the tissues surrounding the nerves. He found that by identifying affected nerves and injecting a buffered glucose solution just under the skin at key points along the nerve’s path, normal function could be restored almost immediately leading to a decrease or elimination of pain.
This is not a method designed to mask pain. It actually treats the cause of the pain by normalizing tissue conditions that the body has not been able to do on its own.
One of the most exciting things about PIT is that most patients experience some relief almost immediately after the first treatment. This means that very little time or investment is necessary to determine if this technique will be helpful for a given individual.
What does perineural injection treatment involve?
A single treatment usually lasts from between 15 to 30 minutes, depending on complexity and the number of body regions involved. The nerves and points needing treatment are determined through a brief symptom history and physical exam. Injections of a buffered glucose solution are then delivered by a very fine ½ inch long needle into the skin surrounding key areas of the affected nerves.
What are the potential risks or side effects of PIT?
Because the treatment involves injection of a natural sugar solution into the skin with small needles, risks are minimal. As with all injections, the needle stick itself can sometimes cause some discomfort. The most common side effect is occasional, temporary bruising at the site of injection.
How many PIT sessions are required?
Most people (about 85% or more) experience significant, if not total relief during their the first treatment. The pain usually does return within about four days or so, but generally with less severity and/or in a smaller area. Sessions are repeated every week or so until the pain is completely and permanently eliminated, or until maximum improvement is achieved. 6-8 sessions is a typical number of treatments, but for long-standing, chronic or severe pain, 8-12 or more sessions may be required.
What kinds of pain does it help?
PIT is usually effective for:
Pain from sports injuries and accidents
Repetitive use injuries
Unexplained pain
Neuropathies
Trigeminal neuralgia
Post-herpetic neuralgia
Compartment syndrome
Reflex sympathetic dystrophy
Demyelinating diseases
Neurogenic itch – (chronically itchy area with no skin lesion)
And others..
Structural Pain
Our bodies are made up of thousands of individual bones, muscles, tendons, ligaments and other tissues existing in complex interrelationships with one another. Over the course of our lives, the impact of injuries, posture, chronic muscle tension, poor ergonomics and gravity often create localized stresses that compress, irritate or inflame tissues and lead to pain.
We use a number of unique, gentle and yet very effective techniques to release chronic muscle tension, restore proper muscle tone, correct skeletal misalignments and improve posture and ergonomics.
We have treated many patients who had taken prescription pain medications, received steroid injections or had surgery who were still in pain and who improved when underlying structural issues were identified and addressed. As with all our treatments, our guiding principle is to identify the causes and give the body the support it needs to function optimally. When this occurs, pain is alleviated and quality of life is restored.
Metabolic and Inflammatory Pain
Many metabolic factors can contribute to increased inflammation and pain and are often not considered in conventional medical settings. These include chronic stimulation of the immune system, hormone imbalances, nutrient deficiencies, diets high in inflammatory foods, intolerances to specific foods, exposure to environmental chemicals or a compromised ability to eliminate metabolic wastes from the body.
As naturopathic doctors we assess these and other potential causes of acute and chronic pain that are often overlooked in conventional medical settings.