Prolotherapy was featured on the Television Show ‘The Doctors’ by a friend of mine, Dr Peter Fields. He is a Chiropractor and a Medical Doctor (M.D.) and has been doing prolotherapy for many years.

One of the last things mentioned on the show was to “make sure to go to someone who knows what they’re doing.” I couldn’t agree more!

BUT HOW CAN YOU BE SURE THEY KNOW WHAT THEY’RE DOING?

 

MY QUALIFICATION & TRAINING:

Dr Chad Edwards performing an upper back Prolotherapy procedure

I have been doing Prolotherapy since 2009 and have performed over 1000 prolotherapy procedures.

When I first discovered prolotherapy I sought every piece of information I could find. I learned the history of prolotherapy and about the Hacket-Hemwall Foundation.

I contacted the director of the foundation, Jeff Patterson, DO, to learn more. He invited me 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. Physicians have the opportunity to work with several other physicians to enhance their training and experience.

This is the most comprehensive Prolotherapy training available.

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.

Dr Chad Edwards, Dr Peter Fields, Dr Jeff Patterson, & Dr Rick Rutledge

If I were searching for a doctor who performs prolotherapy, I would look for a doctor trained by the Hacket-Hemwall Foundation!

DR CHAD EDWARDS IS THE ONLY PHYSICIAN IN OKLAHOMA ENDORSED BY THE HACKETT-HEMWALL FOUNDATION!

Click here to see a list of prolotherapists endorsed by the Hackett-Hemwall Foundation.

There are other good organizations who promote prolotherapy and I 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.

IF YOU ARE CONSIDERING PROLOTHERAPY BE SURE TO FIND AN EXPERIENCED AND APPROPRIATELY TRAINED PROLOTHERAPIST.

See what my patients are saying about their Prolotherapy experience in my Tulsa, Oklahoma clinic here (Prolotherapy Patient Testimonials).

HOW DID I GET INVOLVED WITH PROLOTHERAPY?

As a military physician in Special Operations I was exposed to a large number of patients with multiple aches and pains. I was able to help some. There were others that, despite my best efforts, didn’t get any better.

I remember 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. I 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 issue. When these surgeons can’t identify the problem they often recommend surgery.

THAT SETS UP A CYCLE OF PAIN DUE TO RELAXATION OF LIGAMENTS, TREATED BY STEROIDS, NSAIDS, OR SURGERY WHICH FURTHER WEAKENS THE LIGAMENTS AND EXACERBATES THE PROBLEM!

A couple of years ago, one of my Military Commanders came to me and requested Prolotherapy. I had no idea what prolotherapy was but we were 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 our facility and educate us 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?

But, 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 made so much 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.