Biopuncture on Dr. OZ

I suddenly started receiving more inquiries on Biopuncture this week and found out it was recently discussed and demonstarted on the Dr. OZ show. Check out these two clips:

http://www.doctoroz.com/videos/Biopuncture-A-Healing-Cure-All-Pt-1
http://www.doctoroz.com/videos/Biopuncture-A-Healing-Cure-All-Pt-2

I don’t know Dr. Lee Wolfer, but I do know Dr. Jan Kersschot, who coined the term biopuncture years ago. He is a hilarious and brilliant family practitioner from Belgium. I had the great joy of training with him and still do email back and forth about this therapy. Dr. Hans Mueller, a german physican, is another doctor I have gained a lot of knowledge from. He is also recognised internationally as Europe’s premier clinician in the early management of muscle strains. This recognition was initially bestowed on him by his patients, most notably from the thousands of professional football (soccer) players he has managed over the past 30 years from every country in Europe. Increasingly this recognition has been accorded by the “mainstream” clinicians in the United Kingdom, promting an invitation to the round table ‘think tank’ on how to treat elite athletes with sprains and strains.. I will post another article about his therapies for the acute injuries of muscles soon.

Like many other physicians and practitioners, I have seen first hand how effective biopuncture can be for sports injuries and pain syndromes. I think the first jaw dropping moment I had, was when treating a long-distance runner who had twisted his ankle on a root while trail running. His ankle was bruised and largely swollen. We made sure there was not a fracture with some imaging and decided to give these biopuncture injections a shot (mind the pun). The day I injected his ankle it you couldn’t really discriminate his ankle bones due to the swelling and he was barely walking without a limp. Three days after the injection the swelling had almost completely resolved and he was able to bear weight on the joint. After another series of injections his ankle felt great. He was sent to do some physical therapy in combination with some oral medication I prescribed and he was off and running just a week and a half later. (Typically a sprain like this takes you out for at least a month). I have now had similar clinical outcomes with several patients/athletes who have suffered mainly from sports injuries. Whether it be a shoulder or rotator cuff strain, knee pain, ankle sprain, plantar fasciitis, low back pain, neck pain, hamstring strain or other injury, this has been a really safe, quick and effective treatment to get the athletes back to their sport in a natural way – without the typical, conventional pharmaceuticals. The same holds true for a lot of chronic pain syndromes.

Feel free to give me an email if you have more questions or call my office and set up an appointment.

I think it is great this fairly new form of medicine is getting the exposure it should.

Stay lean, live longer

For the past few years, the “obesity paradox” has been getting a lot of attention. It began when several studies suggested that people who packed on the pounds with age lived longer than those who stayed thin. But the research didn’t properly account for factors such as cigarette smoking or an underlying serious illness that can trigger weight loss and contribute to an early demise.

An analysis of studies that followed 1.5 million Americans over time may finally resolve the issue (New England Journal of Medicine, Dec. 2, 2010). After excluding smokers and people with underlying illnesses, the researchers found that the death rate across various age categories was lowest for people whose body mass index (BMI*) was in the normal range (20 to 24.9), and then increased steadily with BMI. People who were morbidly obese (a BMI of 40 or greater) were 2.5 times more likely to have died during the study period than those who maintained a normal weight. Of interest to Heart Letter readers, cardiovascular disease was the most common cause of death among people who were overweight or obese.

The study wasn’t perfect. It was based on white Americans, so the results may not apply to African Americans, Hispanics, or other ethnic groups. Still, at a time when 68% of Americans are overweight or obese, this study provides a reminder that it’s important to keep your weight within the healthy range, or work to move it in that direction, to protect your heart and live longer.

*To calculate your BMI, multiply your weight in pounds by 703. Divide that number by your height in inches. Divide again by your height in inches.

Or you can look it up at www.health.harvard.edu/bmi.

Source Citation
“Heart Beat: Stay lean, live longer.” Harvard Heart Letter 1 Mar. 2011. Academic OneFile. Web. 21 Mar. 2011.

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