- Personal experience informs treatment – Dr. Wikenheiser’s own injuries—from a teenage mini-bike crash to adult back and rib trauma—shaped his understanding of why joints often fail to fully heal. Experiencing treatments firsthand allows him to empathize with patients and recognize which regenerative therapies deliver lasting results.
- Unfinished healing drives chronic pain – Many joint injuries never fully recover due to repeated strain, poor circulation, early activity, or internal factors like immune responses. This leaves joints unstable, prone to reinjury, and chronically painful.
- Regenerative medicine restores natural repair – Dr. Wikenheiser highlights core treatments: PRP Prolotherapy: Uses the patient’s platelets to stimulate tissue repair. Prolozone: Combines proliferative therapy with ozone gas for enhanced regeneration. Ozone Microdosing: Reduces inflammation and supports natural healing.
Full Transcript
Podcast Introduction and Host Background 0:00
As a doctor, I like to obtain results. Of course, everyone does. But as a person with my own history of injuries, I like working with people to resolve their physical pain because I know through my training experience, what will provide them with lasting relief. 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. 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.
Personal Injury History and Joint Pain 0:39
David Wickenheiser, naturopathic physician and the host of the Natural Facts Podcast. This is part three of my series on solving joint pain. I will detail in this episode my journey to becoming a regenerative doctor from injury to insight. Everyone's experienced joint pain at some point in their lives. Like you, I've had injuries, some simple and quick to heal and others more serious. some taking many years to solve. My personal experiences with injuries and the regenerative medical treatments that I have solved them with have directly affected how I treat my patients.
I've been looking for solutions for my joint pain since my early teens. My own history with injuries includes, in grade 9, I crashed a gas-powered minibike and twisted my right knee badly. The resulting joint weakness and pain was challenging throughout high school. In grade 10, I was injured in my ribs and my mid-back after a friend's physical joke. He ran up behind me and punched me, didn't realize the strength, and I experienced pain from this incident well into adulthood. And as a result, breaking ribs by falling off a horse at speed and later re-injury it by falling on icy stairs.
Training in Naturopathic and Regenerative Medicine 1:51
All these traumas have taught me that waiting for an injury to heal on its own is often not a good idea. My path to naturopathic medicine. So in my late 20s, I was introduced to natural medicine, its role in healing our bodies. It was fascinating. I read everything I could on it. In my early 30s, I went back to school, got prerequisites, completed and entered naturopathic medical school, where I had a special interest in courses that taught us how to assess and treat degenerative and traumatic physical injuries.
Since graduating from the National University of National Medicine in 1995, I have completed additional medical courses, leading to my certification by the College of Complementary Medicine of British Columbia and the regenerative physical medicine specialties of ozone therapy, prolotherapy, and advanced injection techniques. I have continued my medical education by attending conferences and special workshops as a member of the American Association of Orthopedic Medicine, AAOM, and I've had hands-on training and global experience.
Of all the AAOM training events I've attended, the most amazing was a week-long medical mission to Lima, Peru. I did that at the end of August in 2011. Over four and a half days, our team of doctors treated over 1,200 people. suffering from joint pain using dexterous proliferative. My proliferative training has also included completion of the basic and advanced proliferative courses with Dr.
Ultrasound for Diagnosis and Guided Treatment 3:28
Tom Raven of the American Academy of Musculoskeletal Medicine. He's in Denver, Colorado, and I've completed the Hackett-Hamwall Patterson training in Madison, Wisconsin. During my orthopedic training, I have attended lectures, observed the top proliferative trainers in the world treating people, and I've treated patients under the direct supervision of these top trainers. Diagnostic ultrasound. What's its role? Okay, so diagnostic ultrasound is a useful tool for visualizing and assessing the causes of joint pain.
I've studied musculoskeletal ultrasound since 2011 under Dr. Thomas Clark. Dr. Clark is recognized as a top trainer in the world for musculoskeletal ultrasound. Learn a lot from him. I use ultrasound now to assess the causes of a painful joint and to guide my injections during joint treatments. I can actually see how the body responds when I inject the medicines. This is fantastic because I can tell the extent to which the injury still present, and I can assess how well the recovery is going to be.
Hands-On Experience and Treatment Perspective 4:34
I have a patient to doctor perspective. A side benefit of attending musculoskeletal workshops and conferences is receiving my own joint treatments. I've been a demonstration model. It's pretty cool. You just hold up your hand and volunteer because they're all looking for demonstration models during the training. And so you get to figure out what it's like to be treated by the best. So I've been treated by some of the literally the best pro therapy doctors in the world. You go to the best conferences, you volunteer and get treated by the best.
So along with the obvious benefit of getting my own injuries treated, these treatments have given me first-hand experience of knowing what to expect from each of the regenerative medical treatments. You know, what really works well, what has limitations, just very valuable information. As a doctor, I like to obtain results. Of course, everyone does. But as a person with my own history of injuries, I like working with people to resolve their physical pain because I know through my training experience, what will provide them with lasting relief.
I continue to attend conferences, study, develop new treatment programs. For more information on regenerative medical treatments and other medical solutions, visit my websites, drwik.com and thenaturalfacts.com.
Closing Remarks and Resources 5:47
On to the next episode in this series. 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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