Episode 12
Injection Therapy for Pain Relief and Joint Regeneration
Dr. Angela Cortal is an Oregon based naturopath who has made it her mission to change how we approach and treat chronic joint pain by reversing the causes.
WHAT? Reversing the causes of things like arthritis or chronic pain?
Yes ma’am and without invasive surgery or prolonged treatments that keep you coming back for more rather than setting you free.
We're talking about reversing the causes of things like arthritis, one joint at a time
Dr. Angela’s journey to Doctor of regeneration therapies began when she tore her ACL at 19.
She was in pain for years but along the way to pain free she learned a few things.
Like: there's a lot more to joints than just wearing and tearing and falling apart.
And, when it comes to chronic pain and chronic joint pain, what we eat, what we do and don't put into our bodies every day plays a huge role.
Especially putting in too much of what doesn’t work. #justhtemessenger
Insulin resistance creates an insulin excess that is sort of spilled over, so to speak, into the actual joint tissue itself.
You can get tested for this specific issue. They do a sampling of the joint tissue.
Seven out of eight adults in the US have at least one of the markers which are related to a host of different chronic diseases like blood pressure, high blood sugar, diabetes.
Speaking of high blood sugar, we discussed continuous blood sugar monitoring or CGM.
Rather than a finger stick a few times a day, this is a patch type thing you wear that gives you the information that you can't get otherwise. It answers the question, “how is my body reacting to what I'm doing through the course of the day?” Not just what you are eating.
And this is not just for those with diabetes. They are popular with biohacker types who want to maximize their health by keeping blood sugar in a healthy range all day.
Here’s Dr. Cortal on hormones. “If someone has a deficiency in certain types of hormones, we do see that they get an earlier arthritis diagnosis and that it accelerates faster. So, they go from mild to moderate to severe in less years than someone who does not have that same hormonal deficiency.”
And this “It’s more likely, more prevalent that folks with certain hormonal deficiencies get more joint replacement surgeries. The top hormones that I see again and again in the research are thyroid levels and estrogen and testosterone.
Get those hormones tested peeps and if you need a boost, bio-identical hormones are safe. You can read more on that in my book.
About her injection therapies:
“First we have to identify what are your sources of pain, where is your pain coming from so that we can figure out would someone be a good candidate for injection therapies to those sites. Would this help that area heal? They different therapies, Prolotherapy and PRP (Platelet-Rich Plasma Injections )mimic what's called a stem cell migration signal, which is just a fancy term of saying we're kind of tricking the body, kind of biohacking.”
I wanted to know how long this type of treatment lasts. “If they stop coming to someone like you, will they backslide, will the pain return?”
She said that unlike some treatments like chiropractic—not saying anything bad about this modality—someone may go continuously for a long time.
With injection therapies the whole idea is that we have reversed that chronic, lingering injury. We've gotten a deeper level of healing that just wasn't happening previously.
And then they should go out and live their life. And they do. I'll see patients for a short period of time and then I don't see them until, I don't know, maybe they overdo it or have a tumble on a snowboard.
If you are reading this before May 3 and would like to benefit from one on one time with Dr. Cortal in a small group, you are in time to register for her Foundations of Resilience program. (If not use the link to get on the waiting list for next time)
This 4 week program comprises four pillars of health, each focusing on a different essential aspect of what helps (and what hurts!) when it comes to chronic joint pain.
It’s virtual—of course—and you can bring labs or questions and get Dr. Cortal’s insights on your specific problem.
Use this link to go to the waiting list page and use this code RWO50 to have access to the VIP tier at the intro tier pricing. (A savings of $70!)
If this sounds like something you could benefit from or are just curious, listen in for the whole discussion or grab a copy of Dr. Cortal’s book. I sent it to a friend who was contemplating knee replacement therapy and she reconsidered to do some more investigating.
By all means share this with anyone you know struggling with chronic pain.
AOAPRM, is the organization of prolotherapy and PRP practitioners.
Her website is: https://www.drcortal.com
