The Hackett Hemwall Foundation
2532 Balden Street,
Madison, WI 53705 USA
www.HackettHemwall.org
The Hackett Hemwall Foundation is a not-for-profit organization that brings Prolotherapy to underserved areas all around the globe, as well serves as the premier training ground for those physicians wanting to learn Prolotherapy.
In 1969, Dr. Gus Hemwall, a surgeon in private practice in Chicago, established a foundation dedicated to providing medical care to needy people around the world. He named the foundation after his mentor, Dr. George Hackett, who was a pioneer in the area of Prolotherapy and one of the first physicians to perform the treatment in the United States. Prolotherapy is often considered a new therapy, but documentation shows that a very similar therapy was performed as early as 400 BC. Although initially known as the Hackett Foundation, the organization was eventually renamed in honor of Dr. Hemwall and his wife, Helen, who dedicated their lives to helping others in many ways. Their lives serve as models for those of us who follow in their footsteps. With its many classes, conferences, and clinical experiences, the foundation provides medical professionals with an opportunity to further their training and education. Another objective of the Hackett Hemwall Foundation involves research concerning the effectiveness of certain medical procedures such as Prolotherapy, which is used as a treatment for chronic pain, and vein sclerosing, which is used to help patients with varicose veins. Jeffrey J. Patterson, DO, professor at the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health, Department of Family Medicine, is the foundation’s director. Together, the members of the Hackett Hemwall Foundation dedicate their time and services to provide high-quality medical treatment to people around the world who are otherwise unable to afford medical care. Since the foundation’s beginning, each year, the director has organized a trip to a third world country.
If you are a doctor who desires to improve your Prolotherapy skills or add it to your current skill list, give the Hackett-Hemwall Foundation a call. Don’t miss their upcoming training seminar in October in Madison, WI. Check out their website for more information!
Most meniscus injuries occur due to sharp twisting movements often during sports . A tear can also result from a simple movement such as twisting the knee while the foot is caught on something. Other knee injuries, such as torn ligaments, may occur at the same time as a meniscus tear. The meniscus of older individuals, or those who have been previously “scoped” or used steroid injections, contains tissue that has degenerated and may tear more easily, and may occur as a result of even minor “awkward” movements. This degenerative process of the meniscus is usually present with osteoarthritis of the knee – unfortunately often accelerated by “treatments” the patients have received along the course of their injury – NSAIDs, cortisone, arthroscopy etc.
By strengthening structural weaknesses in the body, as Prolotherapy does, pain associated with a torn meniscus may be alleviated permanently and the patient is able to return to full activities and/or sports.
Ross Hauser, MD, medical director of Caring Medical recently published an article in the Journal of Prolotherapy showing the benefits of Prolotherapy as a first line treatment for meniscus tears. If you are trying to manage a torn meniscus but are not having success, feel free to contact Dr. Hauser’s office at drhauser@caringmedical.com.
For a list of other doctors performing Prolotherapy, see www.getprolo.com.
Getprolo.com, a referral program for Prolotherapy doctors!
Getprolo.com was started by Beulah Land Corporation to help Prolotherapy doctors be found on the web. Many doctors do not have websites or find it too difficult to find the time to update their current websites. Getprolo.com is a website listing doctors who practice Prolotherapy. The webmaster will put as much information as you want on your physician getprolo.com page. The site has successfully helped doctors get patients from the web by improving, and in some cases, creating a web presence for their medical clinics.
Weekly e-newsletters are also sent, including one to patients. Doctors can submit articles to be sent on the e-newsletters, as well as posted on their individual websites.
If you are a Prolotherapy doctor and are looking to improve your “searchability” on the web – join www.getprolo.com now!
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The Anatomy, Diagnosis, and Treatment of Myofascial Pain with Prolotherapy
10/20/2010 8:00 am to 5:00 pm
10/21/2010 8:00 am to 5:00 pm
10/22/2010 8:00 am to 5:00 pm
10/23/2010 8:00 am to 1:00 pm
LOWELL INN AND CONFERENCE CENTER
MADISON, WI
Presenters:
MARY DOHERTY RTR
JEFFREY PATTERSON DO
DAVID RABAGO MD
Contact:
TERESE BAILEY tmbailey@ocpd.wisc.edu 608 240 2141
november 6-13, 2010 | guadalajara, mexico
The American Association of Orthopaedic Medicine is offering a Hands-on Prolotherapy Course in Ciudad Guzman, Guadalajara in Mexico The purpose of the course is to allow medical professionals to further their training, education and practice of prolotherapy. This course will include daily lectures, instruction in patient evaluation and diagnosis, solutions, needle placement, injection technique and hands-on patient treatment. We will be working within the Ciudad Guzman DIF (local Medical Clinic). The course will provide a practical exposure to prolotherapy for the physician under the guidance of experienced teachers allowing them to gain experience which can be used in their own practices at home. The course also provides medical care to patients at no cost allowing many to receive care for chronic pain conditions that might otherwise go untreated.
For more information: http://www.aaomed.org or email aaom@aaomed.org
Letter from a physician subscriber of JOP: Why can’t conventional medicine find your pain? Pain is often misunderstood and mismanaged in traditional medical settings.
While many of us hurt or have hurt to various degrees during our lifetime, there is no traditional test to ‘quantify’ our pain, nor does the series of happy and sad faces to describe our pain level aid in finding adequate relief from our symptoms.
What we have lost in medicine is our ability to examine the patient, correlate the examination with the patient’s symptoms, and lastly consider the diagnostic tests. Instead, we as patients enter the system of pain treatment, done almost as a mass production protocol involving first a trial of anti-inflammatory medication and then physical therapy. If these ‘conservative’ measures fail to provide relief, it’s off to see the surgeon, where the decision is made to have either surgery or pain management.
As a physician, I never wanted to manage pain, nor would want, as a patient, to have my pain managed. Having suffered with pain myself, I could not even imagine living the rest of my life in chronic pain. So why are we so far off the mark with treatment of pain? I think that the answer lies in two important factors. First, we are overly reliant on diagnostic tests. Secondly, we have lost the art of physical examination.
Take, for instance, the case of lower back pain. It is one of the most common causes of pain and disability in the world, but often misunderstood. Why? Because most cases are due to musculoskeletal conditions such as sacroiliac joint dysfunction, pyriformis syndrome, or facet joint arthropathy. Such problems are not seen on MRI, CT, or X-rays, thus a clinician without expertise in curing these conditions will not be able to effectively manage them.
Even though we have access to the greatest diagnostic tests in the world, we as physicians need to use our clinical judgment to determine their significance. For example, the majority of healthy people who do not have any back pain at all will have degenerative, bulging, or herniated discs in their lumbar spine. But if you do have pain, the job of your physician is to determine the relevance of your test results. It is not a black and white issue in what may be causing your pain.
So how do we determine what the best treatment courses are for our patients? First we must listen to our patients and ask the right questions—where is the pain, where does it travel, is there any numbness or weakness? What makes it better and what makes it worse? Are there any ominous signs like loss of bowel and bladder function, fever, chills, weight loss, and so on. From our questions alone, the skilled physician should be able to determine 85% of the diagnosis, and then confirm it with physical examination.
The examination is key to determine and confirm the root cause of pain, and unfortunately it is becoming a lost art. Many of my patients have told me they were recommended to undergo surgery with either a very brief exam or no exam at all. I find this to be a disservice to patient care that can only lead to bad outcomes. The physical exam is not without its faults, and to be reliable must be performed with experienced hands. Palpation of ligaments, tendons, and joints is a skill and an innate gift to those that possess the ability to acquire its skill. Skilled hands have the ability to determine damaged, weak, and painful joints from those that are normal. This critical tool allows us to incorporate all of the information about a patient’s condition and formulate a treatment plan.
There is no one size fits all formula to treat a pain condition. However, most pain and sports injury conditions are curable, in the right hands, with reconstructive and regenerative treatments such as Prolotherapy. I found my way to a complete cure after suffering for over 10 years, and I wish you the best in finding your solution, as it exists. If not then hold on tight as we are working on new solutions and treatment options to cure pain and arthritis, all without ever going under the knife.
Feel free to email us at JOP with your comments, ideas, suggestions, or success stories! We’d love to hear from you!
S.G., MD
This email received by Caring Medical in Oak Park, IL describes what many people are facing. They feel hopeless, discouraged, broke, and at the end of their ropes. Here at Journal of Prolotherapy, we are trying to get the word out – that there IS hope – and that hope is found in Prolotherapy. You need not live a life of chronic pain, stronger pain medications, loss of work, inability to exercise, and the like…
Take a look at this email from a potential patient writing to Ross Hauser, MD, Medical Director of Caring Medical in Oak Park, IL:
Dear Dr. Hauser,
My life has been a nightmare since 2001. I used to run, play racquetball three times a week and weight train regularly. Some type of injury happened to me in 2001 in which I had severe groin, adductor and hamstring pain. I have had so many different doctors tell me it is hopeless to repair whatever structural damage has been done. Over these past several years I can barely exercise much at all as this brings constant pain to the hamstring adductor area. I have gained over 30 pounds of body fat and life is just miserable at this point.
I had sports hernia surgery 18 months ago in hopes of eliminating some of the symptoms. This was not the solution at all. I started to recover slightly and then as soon as I began vigorous workouts the pain and problems returned.
After reading some of your information I am suspecting I may have the hamstring tendinopothy at the attachment point of the hamstring to the glute and bone area slightly inside the inner thigh under the buttock of the left side.
I am currently working with a physical therapist for the I don’t know how many times it has been.
Is there any way the therapist and I can pinpoint if this is the exact problem?
Life without exercise is almost unbearable. I need help…
Best Regards,
TJ in Wi
Yes, TJ – there is hope – and that hope is Prolotherapy. Unfortunately, physical therapy and exercise is not going to cure the underlying problem – which is most likely ligament weakness and instability. The only treatment we know to cure that is PROLOTHERAPY – using the Hackett-Hemwall method. Patients are seen every 4-6 weeks for on average of 3-6 visits.
Dr. Hauser’s clinic information: Caring Medical & Rehabilitation Services, Oak Park, IL www.caringmedical.com; 708-848-7789
Meniscus injuries are a common cause of knee pain, accounting for one sixth of knee surgeries. Tears are the most common form of meniscal injuries, and have poor healing ability primarily because less than 25% of the menisci receive a direct blood supply. While surgical treatments have ranged from total to partial meniscectomy, meniscal repair and even meniscus transplantation, all have a high long-term failure rate with the recurrence of symptoms including pain, instability, locking, and re-injury. The most serious of the long-term consequences is an acceleration of joint degeneration. This poor healing potential of meniscus tears and degeneration has led to the investigation of methods to stimulate biological meniscal repair. Research has shown that damaged menisci lack the growth factors to heal. In vitro studies have found that growth factors, including platelet derived growth factor (PDGF), transforming growth factor (TGF), and others, augment menisci cell proliferation and collagen growth manifold. Animal studies with these same growth factors have confirmed that meniscal tears and degeneration can be stimulated to repair with various growth factors or solutions that stimulate growth factor production. The injection technique whereby the proliferation of cells is stimulated via growth factor production is called Prolotherapy. Prolotherapy solutions can include dextrose, human growth hormone, platelet rich plasma, and others, all of which stimulate connective tissue cells to proliferate.
A retrospective study was done involving 24 patients, representing 28 knees, whose primary knee complaints were due to meniscal pathology documented by MRI. The average number of Prolotherapy visits was six and the patients were followed on average 18 months after their last Prolotherapy visit. Prolotherapy caused a statistically significant decline in the patients’ knee pain and stiffness. Starting and ending knee pain declined from 7.2 to 1.6, while stiffness went from 6.0 to 1.8. Prolotherapy caused large improvements in other clinically relevant areas such as range of motion, crepitation, exercise, and walking ability. Patients stated that the response to Prolotherapy met their expectations in 27 out of the 28 knees (96%). Only one out of the 28 patients ended up getting surgery after Prolotherapy. Based on the results of this study, Prolotherapy appears to be an effective treatment for meniscal pathology. While this is only a pilot study, the results are so overwhelmingly positive that it warrants using Prolotherapy as first-line therapy for meniscal pathology including meniscal tears and degeneration.
Read the entire Journal of Prolotherapy article.
If you are suffering from knee pain and/or meniscal tear, you may want to give Prolotherapy a try. It’s a great alternative to arthroscopy/knee surgery – and the recovery time is much quicker. For a listing of doctors who perform Prolotherapy, see www.getprolo.com.
The latest issue of the Journal of Prolotherapy has just been received from the printer and will be in the mail to all of its subscribers next week. In this issue, we are happy to feature the publication of this ground-breaking study on the use of Prolotherapy as a first line treatment for meniscal tears and degeneration.
The title of the article published in the July 2010 issue of The Journal of Prolotherapy is The Case for Utilizing Prolotherapy as First-Line Treatment for Meniscal Pathology: A Retrospective Study Shows Prolotherapy is Effective in the Treatment of MRI-Documented Meniscal Tears and Degeneration.
Meniscus injuries are a common cause of knee pain, accounting for one sixth of knee surgeries. Tears are the most common form of meniscal injuries, and have poor healing ability primarily because less than 25% of the menisci receive a direct blood supply. While surgical treatments have ranged from total to partial meniscectomy, meniscal repair and even meniscus transplantation, all have a high long-term failure rate with the recurrence of symptoms including pain, instability, locking, and re-injury. READ MORE…
If you have been told you need surgery for a meniscal tear, think about getting Prolotherapy instead of surgery. To learn more about Prolotherapy click here.
Pain simply put is just the body’s response telling you that you have some tissue that is breaking down. The same thing happens to an athlete who is in the heat of competition. When the muscles start hurting, it is just a sign that you are working really hard. It also reveals that tissue is breaking down, which is especially important to those who are athletes. The goal of Prolotherapy is to build the tissue back up.
| Here are 10 tips to know that you are a good Prolotherapy candidate. |
| 1. My pain is from a ligament or tendon injury. 2. My pain is from degenerative arthritis and I have maintained good range of motion (greater than 75% of normal). 3. I take only a little or no pain medication for my pain. 4. Beside the pain, I am healthy. 5. I have clicking in the joint that is hurting. 6. Certain activities increase the pain. 7. Muscle spasms are definitely part of my pain. 8. My pain is better with rest. 9. My MRI/x-rays did not show anything. 10. My sensation is normal (I can feel everything). |
While the above 10 tips are not guarantees that Prolotherapy is going to cure you of your pain, remember that cure is the goal. Prolotherapy candidates often possess many, if not all, of the above 10 criterion.
Not possessing all 10 criterion, does not exclude you from being a good Prolotherapy candidate. For the person with poor range of motion (less than 75% of normal) or an abnormal MRI, it may be that Prolotherapy is still a great treatment. In those situations, we recommend you make an appointment with a Prolotherapist for an evaluation.
We do Prolotherapy because it works. It makes sense that the body heals by the process of Inflammation. Prolotherapy stimulates the body to repair those painful injured areas. It does not shut that down. If you have a pain or injury that you would like evaluated, please make an appointment today. We look forward to hearing from you!
If you are looking for a prolotherapy physician or if you are a physician who would like to be listed, please see www.getprolo.com.
Ross Hauser, MD, Marion Hauser, MS, RD, and Patricia Holian, RN recently released an article on treating wrist pain with Hackett-Hemwall dextrose Prolotherapy published in Practical Pain Management.
The articulation afforded the hand and the upper extremity by the wrist is essential for mobility, strength, and dexterity that most patients need to function in their daily lives. Interestingly enough, primary care physicians frequently see patients in their offices with complaints of wrist pain. The causes of wrist pain are typically related to overuse, as well as repetitive and high impact injuries that may be work or sports related. These injuries often start as an acute tendonitis or ligament sprain and, if not effectively treated, can result in chronic pain due to the formation of degenerative arthritis. Symptoms are frequently gradual at first—with mild aching but full range of motion—and then typically progress to more acute pain along with impaired movement of the hand and upper extremity.
While prolotherapy is commonly taught and used for unresolved wrist pain, no study has been done to date related to effectiveness. This observational study’s purpose was to evaluate the effectiveness of Hackett-Hemwall dextrose prolotherapy—not only on unresolved wrist pain but on quality of life measures, and its ability to reduce or eliminate the need for pain medications.
To read the full article, click here.