Eleven years ago, a patient of mine fell off a ladder and fractured his C3/4/5 cervical vertebrae, becoming a quadriplegic as a result of that accident. His family asked me to treat him in ICU. I will never forget the helpless feelings I had standing next to his hospital bed. I felt utterly powerless and impotent.
As a result, I set out on a journey to acquire the skills to help the hopeless. I was ferociously determined to learn everything I could. For two years, I traveled with the soul purpose of learning what the greats in my profession knew. I also met another mentor, Dr. Bob Hoffman, CEO of The Masters Circle. He agreed to coach me, and became a dear friend and wise advisor. My focus became vagus nerve stimulation and restoring autonomic function.
Today, I own a multimillion-dollar cash clinic, and have treated patients from 45 U.S. states and 34 countries. Our patients predominantly suffer from complex regional pain syndrome (formerly known as RSD) and Ehlers Danlos syndrome. CRPS is known as a "suicide disease." I present the following two case studies, as both involve truly severe patient presentations.
Case Study #1
Christina, a 24-year-old Canadian female, suffered a fall off her highchair at 6 months old, with no evident trauma. She developed severe migraines at age 12, and spontaneously developed CRPS in her left upper extremity at the age of 21. This quickly spread to her head, left cervical spine and posterior trunk, and right lower extremity. The patient had been bedridden for two years prior to treatment.
Severe edema was noted in both extremities, as well as intolerance to any touch of the extremities and upper body. Christina reported 8-10/10 daily pain levels on the McGill pain scale. She stated that all traditional medical treatments had failed to improve her condition. She was using morphine daily to control her pain, but found it to be not very helpful.
Our approach to this case was external manual vagus nerve stimulation, performed twice a day for about two minutes. In addition, this patient received neuromuscular re-education while hooked up to a device delivering a direct current to the areas being rehabilitated, as well as neuromodulation, brain relaxation, frequency-specific microcurrent, systemic neural adaptation, lymphatic drainage, shockwave therapy for scar tissue, and exercise while on oxygen. This patient was also evaluated and treated for a chronic underlying Epstein-Barr viral infection.
Christina was released after eight months of care and returned to Canada in remission. Today, one year later, she is pain free and training as a weightlifter.
Case Study #2
Mark, a 60-year-old male executive, suffered a traumatic injury in January 2017 while snowboarding. After becoming airborne headfirst, the patient was wedged between two trees at high speed. The resulting snow fall from the tree branches covered him completely, and it took ski patrol 30 minutes to locate him.
A cardiac physician happened to be present on the slopes that day, and after not finding a right radial pulse (and initially assuming the patient had perished) and then locating a left pulse, he suspected massive internal bleeding and advised that the patient be airlifted. It was discovered that a major artery to Mark's heart had been torn.
Subsequently, after being transferred to the Mayo Clinic, it was determined that the ulnar nerve was severed in the right arm. Mark suffered from excruciating pain in the right arm, which had spread to his posterior trunk. The right arm was subsequently amputated mid-humerus, but Mark was diagnosed with CRPS in the phantom limb and advised that the amputation would not resolve his pain.
This prognosis, unfortunately, was accurate. Mark rated his daily pain at an eight, reaching 9/10 and resulting in "convulsions." He admitted to suicidal thoughts, although suicide was at odds with his personal beliefs. Mark received a spinal cord stimulator, which did alleviate the pain in the shoulder and upper arm; however, did not affect the distal pain.
Mark received the same treatment plan as did Christina (case #1) , and was released from care five months later in full remission. He was able to return to work and life.
Chiropractic tenets, learned at my DC father's knee, taught me that chiropractic is an art and philosophy science would one day catch up to. Using it in practice in the most desperate of patients has taught me that every life saved strengthens my conviction and pride in the very backbone of our profession: the power of innate intelligence once the central nervous system is restored.
No one is more masterful than a chiropractor to support this perfect system in healing. My team and myself snatch people back from the edge of desperation, and my pride in our profession that gave me the tools to do so is boundless.
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