- Dr. Wikenheiser highlights that how we think about pain affects recovery. People often start optimistic, then realize healing isn’t happening, and some fall into defeat, identifying themselves by their joint pain—this mindset can hinder progress.
- Joints often fail to heal fully due to factors like returning to activity too soon, poor blood supply, repeated strain, or internal issues such as infections or immune imbalances. This “unfinished healing” leaves joints unstable and prone to chronic pain.
- Unlike traditional pain management, which masks symptoms with medications or surgery, regenerative medicine seeks to restore joint health. Techniques like prolotherapy, PRP, and ozone therapy activate the body’s natural repair processes, rebuilding tissue instead of just hiding pain.
Full Transcript
Introduction to the Natural Facts Podcast 0:00
The joint remains loose, unstable or overloaded. Pain persists not because your body is broken, because it never had the right conditions to finish healing. How traditional pain care falls short. Most traditional pain clinics focus on interrupting pain signals, not completing the healing process. Common approaches include pain medications, anti-inflammatory drugs like non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs or steroids. nerve blocks, temporary neurotoxins such as Botox, even permanently cutting a nerve in extreme cases.
In some situations, these approaches can be helpful, especially for very severe pain. Welcome to the Natural Facts Podcast. I'm your host, Dr. David Wickenheiser. I'm a naturopathic physician with over 30 years of clinical experience. I have a focus on natural and regenerative medicine.
Why Joint Pain Is Not Inevitable 0:52
Through this podcast, I will be your guide, helping you to make sense of conflicting healthcare choices. Welcome to The Natural Facts. I'm Dr. David Wickenheiser, naturopathic physician and host of the Natural Facts Podcast. This is chapter one from my book, Solving Joint Pain. This is a new way to think about joint pain and why there is more hope than you may have been told. If you live long enough, someone will tell you that joint pain is just part of getting older. You may have already heard.
It's just arthritis. Learn to live with it or take these pills that come back when it's bad enough for surgery. Another statement is you're not 20 anymore. What did you expect as a doctor who spent decades treating joint pain and who has had my own share of joint injuries? I can tell you this, joint pain is common, but it is not inevitable. And in many cases, it is solvable. To solve it, we need to change the way we think about what joint pain is, what it means, and what is actually possible for your body.
The three thoughts after an injury are, everyone who gets injured goes through the same three thoughts. You may recognize yourself in them. Thought one. it will just get better. At first, we assume our bodies will heal the way they always have. We rest a bit, try to be careful, and expect we will soon be back to normal. Thought, too, it's not getting better on its own. Weeks or months go by, the pain is still there, or it improves and then comes back. You start to avoid certain movements, sports, or activities you used to enjoy, You wonder, why is this still bothering me?
How Joint Pain Becomes Chronic 2:34
Thought three, maybe I'll never get better. This thought is the most dangerous. It quietly changes your identity. You start to see yourself as someone with a bad knee or someone with a bad back. Life gets smaller. You turn down invitations. You stop planning certain trips. You feel older than your age. If you're reading this or listening to this presentation, there's a good chance you're somewhere between thoughts two and three. My goal is simple. to help you move from I may never get better back to my body can heal and here's how.
Why joint pain becomes permanent. Joints are remarkable structures. They have ligaments, tendons, cartilage, bone, muscles, nerves and blood vessels that work together so you can stand, walk, reach, twist and lift without thinking about it. When one or more of these structures is injured or degenerates, pain signals are sent from the joint to your brain. That is your body's way of saying something isn't right here, pay attention. In a perfect world, your body would repair the damage completely and turn those pain signals off.
Real life, several things often interrupt that healing. The joint was never fully rested or protected. Blood supply to ligaments and tendons is limited, so healing is slow. Repeated strain, poor posture, or misalignment keep re-injuring the air. And infections, food reactions, or immune imbalances interfere with normal repair. The result is unfinished healing. The energy is scarred in, but it didn't. fully resolve. The joint remains loose, unstable or overloaded. Pain persists not because your body is broken, because it never had the right conditions to finish healing.
Limits of Traditional Pain Care 4:10
How traditional pain care falls short. Most traditional pain clinics focus on interrupting pain signals, not completing the healing process. Common approaches include pain medications, anti-inflammatory drugs like non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs or steroids. nerve blocks, temporary neurotoxins such as Botox, even permanently cutting a nerve in extreme cases. In some situations, these approaches can be helpful, especially for very severe pain. but they all share one limitation, they change what you feel more than they change what you're made of.
If the ligaments supporting your knee are still loose, if alignment is still poor, if your immune system is still attacking your joints, or if your bones are still overloaded, then merely turning off pain signals can be a dangerous kind of relief. You feel better, so you may use a damaged joint more aggressively, causing further wear and tear underneath the surface. I'm not against medication as a surgery. However, I believe too many people are steered toward drugs and surgery before exploring what their bodies are still capable of regenerating.
That is where regenerative medicine comes in. What regenerative medicine really is? Regenerative medicine is an approach to health care that focuses on activating your body's own healing mechanisms, supporting the cells that rebuild ligaments, tendons, cartilage, bone, and other structures, restoring joint stability, alignment, and function. Instead of only asking, how do we stop the pain, regenerative medicine asks, why is this joint still painful?
What Regenerative Medicine Does 5:47
What structures have not fully healed? What is blocking your natural healing? what specific treatments will help your body repair, regrow, and regenerate. In this book, we'll look at several types of regenerative treatments, including nutritional and herbal support that provide the building blocks and biochemical environment for healing, ozone therapy and prolozone to balance inflammation and stimulate repair, platelet-rich plasma, also known as PRP, prolotherapy to activate dormant stem cells and re-dulled ligaments.
Perineural therapy and nerve hydro dissection, calm irritated nerves and free stuck tissues. Coal laser therapy to energize cells and improve membrane function. We'll also talk about regenerative diagnostic tools, especially diagnostic ultrasound, which I consider when used to guide injections to be better than blind archery. If you wouldn't shoot arrows in the dark and hope to hit a target, you shouldn't inject joints that way either. Who is this book for? This book is for you if you have ongoing knee, hip, shoulder, back, neck, or other joint pain.
You've been told it's just arthritis or just age. You want to avoid or delay joint surgery if there are safer options. You prefer treatments that support your body's natural healing ability. You are willing to be an active participant in your recovery. You do not need a medical background to understand this book. I will explain concepts in plain language while still being medically accurate. My goal is to give you enough understanding to make informed decisions, not overwhelm you with jargon. Why you can trust what you're hearing.
I'm Dr. David Wickenheiser, naturopathic physician. I've been treating patients, friends, and family with natural and regenerative medicine since 1995. I completed advanced training in prolotherapy,
Who This Book Is For and Why to Trust It 7:35
ozone therapy, PRP prolotherapy, and musculoskeletal ultrasound, as well as having taught PRP, chemotherapy, and ozone. I participated in hands-on medical missions, including a week-long mission to Lima, Peru, where our team treated over 1,200 people for joint pain with regenerative injections in four and a half days. I had many of my own joints treated by some of the top regenerative physicians of the world. This is one of the advantages going to conferences, you get treated as well as getting courses, information, and observing.
This has given me both a doctor's and a patient's perspective. In later chapters, I will share more of my personal journey and training. For now, all you need to know is that I have seen over and over that remarkable healing is possible. Even when people have been told there's nothing left to do. What you'll learn in this book. As you read, you'll learn the five major causes of joint pain and which ones apply to you. Why ligaments and soft tissues, not just bones, are key to solving joint pain. How inflammation can be harmful or healing depending on how it's managed.
The role of nutrition and hermal support in rebuilding joints and how I use diagnostic ultrasound to see inside painful joints and guide precise treatment. You also hear the differences between various regenerative treatments, such as PRP prolotherapy, prolozomicrodosing, colazar, and more. What to expect before, during, and after a treatment. How to choose the right regenerative medicine doctor and ask the right questions.
What You Will Learn and Next Steps 9:08
By the end, you will have a clear picture of where the regenerative treatments will help your specific situation. What a reasonable treatment plan could look like. how to work with your doctor as a partner to restore as much function and comfort as your body will allow. You need a different question. Most people come to me asking, can you take away my pain? That's a fair question, but it's not the best one. A better question is, what will it take for my body to heal this joint as fully as possible?
In the chapters that follow, I will help you answer that question. In the next chapter, I will share my own history, my injuries, the treatments I've tried, and why I've devoted my career to solving joint pain with regenerative medicine. On to the next chapter, Dr. David Weckenheiser, the Natural Facts Podcast. I hope you enjoyed this episode of the Natural Facts Podcast. To get access to my future episodes as soon as they're available, subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. For all of my podcasts, as well as detailed discussions and reports on healthcare issues that matter to you, go to www.thenaturalfacts.com.
This is Dr. David Weckenheiser, naturopathic physician, guiding you to better health with the natural facts.
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