Frequently Asked Questions
What is a "Rehabilitation Physician"
Rehabilitation physicians are medical doctors who have completed training in the medical specialty of physical medicine and rehabilitation (PM&R).
Specifically, rehabilitation physicians:
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Diagnose and treat pain
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Restore maximum function lost through injury, illness or disabling conditions
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Treat the whole person, not just the problem area
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Lead a team of medical professionals
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Provide non-surgical treatments
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Explain your medical problems and treatment/prevention plan
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01
What is a Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine (D.O.)?
Both DOs and MDs are fully qualified physicians licensed to prescribe medication and perform surgery. DOs and MDs are alike in many ways. DOs and MDs both practice in accredited and licensed health care facilities. Together, DOs and MDs enhance the state of health care available in the U.S.
DOs practice a "whole person" approach to medicine. Instead of just treating you for specific symptoms or illnesses, they regard your body as an integrated whole. Osteopathic physicians focus on preventive health care.​ DOs receive extra training in the musculoskeletal system—your body's interconnected system of nerves, muscles and bones that makes up two-thirds of your body mass. This training provides osteopathic physicians with a better understanding of how an illness or injury in one part of your body can affect other parts. Osteopathic manipulative treatment (OMT) is incorporated into the training and practice of osteopathic physicians. With OMT, osteopathic physicians use their hands to diagnose illness and injury and to encourage your body's natural tendency toward good health. By combining all other available medical options with OMT, DOs offer their patients the most comprehensive care available in medicine today.
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02
What is Regenerative Medicine?
Regenerative medicine is the "process of replacing or regenerating human cells, tissues or organs to restore or establish normal function". This field holds the promise of regenerating damaged tissues and organs in the body by replacing damaged tissue and/or by stimulating the body's own repair mechanisms to heal previously irreparable tissues or organs.
- (Regenerative Medicine, 2008, 3(1), 1–5 [47])
03
What is Platelet-Rich-Plasma (PRP)?
Platelet rich plasma therapy (or PRP injections) is a new treatment that relieves pain by promoting long lasting healing of musculoskeletal conditions. This rapidly emerging technique is showing exciting potential with osteoarthritis of the knee, shoulder, hip and spine, rotator cuff tears, chronic plantar fasciitis, anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injuries, pelvic pain and instability, back and neck injuries, tennis elbow, ankle sprains, tendonitis, and ligament sprains.How do PRP injections help?
The body’s first response to soft tissue injury is to deliver platelet cells. Packed with growth and healing factors, platelets initiate repair and attract the critical assistance of stem cells. Platelet Rich Plasma therapy’s natural healing process intensifies the body’s efforts by delivering a higher concentration of platelets.
To create platelet rich plasma therapy, a small sample of your blood is drawn (similar to a lab test sample) and placed in a centrifuge that spins the blood at high speeds, separating the platelets from the other components. The concentrated PRP injection is then delivered into and around the point of injury, jump-starting and significantly strengthening the body’s natural healing signal. Because your own blood is used, there is no risk of a transmissible infection and a very low risk of allergic reaction.
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04
What is Prolotherapy?
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Prolotherapy also know as regenerative injection therapy, sclerotherapy, (proliferative therapy), ligament reconstruction therapy, and fibro-osseous injection therapy, is a recognized orthopedic procedure that stimulates the body's natural healing processes to strengthen joints weakened by traumatic or over-use injury. Joints when ligaments or tendon attachments are stretched, torn, or fragmented, become hypermobile and painful. Traditional approaches with surgery and anti-inflammatory drugs often fail to stabilized the joint and relieve this pain permanently. Prolotherapy, with its unique ability to directly address the cause of the instability, can repair the weakened sites and produce new fibrous tissues, resulting in permanent stabilization of the joint.
What is in the solution that is injected? The prolotherapy injections contain anesthetic agents and natural substances which stimulate the healing response. The primary agent is glucose, but each treating physician tailors the selection of substances according to the patients' needs.
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06
What is Shockwave Therapy?
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Shockwave therapy, or Extracorporeal Shockwave Therapy (ESWT), is a non-invasive treatment for musculoskeletal pain conditions including plantar fasciitis, tennis elbow, golfers’ elbow, Achilles pain, rotator cuff pain, muscle strains, stress fractures, and more. This treatment involves a series of acoustic shock waves delivered into an area of injury to stimulate local blood flow and growth factors that facilitate healing. ESWT is a preferred option due to the effectiveness of the technology and minimal to no downtime following treatment.
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