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DOCTOR’S TREATMENT REVOLUTIONIZES PAIN MANAGEMENT FOR ARTHRITIS SUFFERERS

New Jersey’s Edward Magaziner finds great success in treating patients with platelet rich plasma (PRP)

By Ava Gacser

NORTH BRUNSWICK, N.J. – Just one year ago, professional fisherman Douglas Cooper’s right arm was in agony every time he cast a line.

A variety of conditions in his shoulder and elbow – including arthritis, bursitis and tendonitis – caused him “excruciating” and “constant” pain.

That was when Cooper turned to Dr. Edward Magaziner for help. The pain management specialist recommended his patient undergo platelet rich plasma (PRP) grafts for relief. Approximately eight PRP treatments later, Cooper is now pain-free.

“It’s cleared up completely,” Cooper says. “It’s like I never had it.”

A pioneer in the field of PRP grafts, Dr. Magaziner has been using the revolutionary treatment to help alleviate pain for hundreds of his patients suffering from a variety of conditions affecting ligaments, joints and other tissue.

“We can get people feeling better 95% of the time,” Dr. Magaziner says.

The doctor hails PRP as “a breakthrough treatment for arthritis,” and has also found success using it to treat tendonitis, bursitis and tennis elbow, torn cartilage and tendons. In 2002, he became the first physician on the East Coast to use the treatment on patients. Since then, Dr. Magaziner has treated well over 500 patients with PRP.

How PRP grafts work is simple:  Dr. Magaziner draws blood – between three and six vials – from his patient’s arm and places it in a centrifuge, which within minutes extracts the platelets and stem cells.  Once the patient receives a local anesthetic, Dr. Magaziner takes the extracted cells and transplants them via a small needle directly into the injured site using ultrasound or X-ray as a guide. The procedure takes place in the doctor’s office and typically lasts between 15 and 30 minutes, depending upon the injury.

Once the plasma is injected, the cells immediately locate the injury, attach themselves to it and begin working to regenerate the compromised cartilage or injured tissue.

“In addition to repair and regeneration, PRP can shut down inflammation for very long periods of time,” Dr. Magaziner says.
Unlike traditional treatments such as anti-inflammatory medication and cortisone injections, which only offer temporary relief, PRP grafts provide long-term results and virtually no side effects, aside from soreness at the injured site. Furthermore, the injury heals normally and there is no scar tissue.

The number of treatments necessary to achieve the desired result – little to no pain – varies depending upon the injury. Dr. Magaziner estimates most of his patients notice a significant reduction in pain between the second and third treatment, and that usually only five to seven treatments are necessary to alleviate the pain for a significant amount of time.

“Arthritis (PRP) treatments… can last for years,” says Dr. Magaziner. “In many cases, the effect will last one year or two. Patients may have to come back every now and then for a treatment.”


The results for other types of conditions, such as tennis elbow or tendonitis, last longer and can be permanent “unless they reinjure it,” Magaziner says.

Anne Martin is another one of Dr. Magaziner’s success stories. Several years ago, the 22-year-old damaged the ligaments in her shoulder during a volleyball game. The injury left her with a constant, dull ache 24/7, and her shoulder would frequently become dislocated.

“I was uncomfortable all of the time,” she says. “There was no way I could stand or sit” without being in pain.

When surgery to treat the injury did nothing to relieve the pain, Martin turned to Dr. Magaziner. Immediately after her first PRP treatment, Martin says she noticed a difference.

“I couldn’t believe any pain I had wasn’t coming back,” she says.

Joan Loughman, 46, is also amazed by the improvement in her condition following PRP treatments. Loughman injured her right elbow through repetitive motions and was in severe pain.

“Dr. Magaziner said I had the worst tendonitis he’d ever seen,” she recalls. “I’d type for a while and couldn’t grip anything. I had to do everything (with my left hand).”

Neither resting her arm nor cortisone shots helped alleviate her discomfort.

Magaziner’s PRP treatments changed everything.

“What a difference,” Loughman says, estimating that she’s experienced improvement in her arm of 85 to 90 percent.

PRP has also been received warmly in the world of professional sports. Earlier this year, it was reported that Pittsburgh Steeler wide receiver Hines Ward was treated with PRP for a medial collateral ligament (or MCL) sprain in his knee just weeks before Super Bowl XLIII. The treatment was so successful that Ward not only was able to play, but he caught a 38-yard pass – which helped lead his team to victory.

Perhaps the most amazing thing about PRP is that it is something natural that your body manufactures all by itself which, if focused on the injury, can be used to heal it.

Patients also find the idea of treating these types of injuries with a minimally invasive procedure particularly appealing.

“It’s really cool that you don’t have to go through surgery to get this done,” says Cooper.

Date: June 2009

    "The practice of stimulating the body to med itself by generating a healing response from the immune system is an ancient one. In many modern integrative health therapies, some old ways from the days of Hippocrates have been made new again, often with a fresh twist of technique or technology.

    The concept of prolotherapy, the latest approach to pain management, is traceable to one used by Hippocrates (460-370 BCE), renowned as the “father of medicine,” on Greek soldiers with dislocated or torn shoulder joints, Today, it comes served up in a dextrose solution, injected into the ligament or tendon attached to the bone. The body’s response, a localized inflammation in the weak area, increases the blood supply and flow of nutrients, thus encouraging the tissue to repair itself.
Although patient response varies depending on an individual’s own healing ability, the average number of prolotherapy treatments is four. Severe cases may need 10 or more.

    In 1992, Dr. Ross Hauser, a physical medicine and rehabilitation specialist, assumed the practice of Dr. Gustav Hemwall, prolotherapy’s leading physician expert and proponent at the time. Hemwall treated more than 10,000 patients worldwide and collected data on 8,000. According to Hemwall, in a study of 1,871 of his patients, 75 percent of those who completed treatments found complete relief from their chronic pain.
Hauser subsequently founded Caring Medical & Rehabilitation Services, in Oak part, Illinois, and over a period of 16 years has written seven books on the topic of prolotherapy. Adamant that the fundamental process by which the human body heals and strengthens itself is inflammation, Ross relishes his role as medical myth-buster.

    “The traditional philosophy of anti-inflammatory methods such as rest, ice, elevation and compression (RICE), anti-inflammatory medications or cortisone shots to heal injury is totally flawed,” declares Hauser. “Regeneration and healing are pretty simple. No inflammation, no healing.”
Hauser explains why prolotherapy is so effective in easing pain. “Prolo is derived from the word proliferate, or grow. Prolotherapy injections proliferate, or stimulate the growth of new, normal ligament and tendon tissue,” he advises.

    “The cause of most chronic musculoskeletal pain is ligament and/or tendon weakness.” He explains that ligaments connect bones together to provide stability for joints. Tendons connect muscles to bones, providing movement of joints. Weakened ligaments that can no longer perform cause overlying muscles to contract, in order to stabilize the joint. The result – muscle spasms and knots – make movement painful. “Thus, stimulating the growth of new tissue can strengthen lax ligaments and tendons and relieve most chronic painful conditions.”
Edward Magaziner, PT, MD, performs more than 30 interventional pain management procedures and says that prolotherapy is one of the best and most reliable.

    “I have treated thousands of patients in the last 15 years and have repaired dislocated shoulders tennis elbow, rotator cuff injuries, arthritis or sprains in any joint, including sprains to the neck, back and sacroiliac joint,” Magaziner says. “Prolotherapy works over 90% of the time.”
A doctor at the Center for Spine Sports Pain Management and Orthopedic Regenerative Medicine in North Brunswick, Magaziner is also President of the NJ Interventional Pain Society and an Assistant Professor at Robert Wood Johnson University and New York Medical College. He lectures nationally and teaches residents and fellows at the medical schools.

    “When there is an injury, the area bleeds or gets inflamed. Growth factors are released from the injured cells which attract platelets and stem cells and more growth factors arrive,” remarks Magaziner. “The body manufactures whatever it needs to repair an injured tissue.”
Magaziner says that prolotherapy works because it takes advantage of body’s capabilities, “The body heals itself every day. If we break a bone, our skin, get a burn, get a mild sprain, or go for surgery it heals. The body is miraculous.”

For more information on prolotherapy and The Center For Spine Sports Pain Management and Orthopedic Regenerative Medicine in North Brunswick, contact Edward Magaziner, PT, MD, 732-297-2600 or PainCareDoc.com.

For more information on prolotherapy and Caring Medical Rehabilitation Services, located on 715 Lake St., Ste.6 in Oak Park, IL, call 708-848-7789 or visit CaringMedical.com.

Featured in: Natural Awakenings

Date: April 2009

    "Prolotherpay has been around over 60 years and like acupuncture although not always accepted by the medical establishment has lasted the test of time because it works.

    Prolotherapy which stands for ligament therapy, is a treatment which helps to repair cartilage, ligament, tendon, and soft tissue injury. It was first used in surgical procedures such as inguinal hernia repair in the 1940"S Dr. Hemwall, Dr. Hackett and others discovered that if they could create an inflammation in an injured ligament the body would react by healing the ligament.

    So How does it work? Well the body heals itself every day. If we break a bone it heals. Cut our skin it heals. If you get a burn it heals. Get a mild ankle sprain it heals, Go for surgery and it heals. The body is miraculous. The way it works is this. When there is an injury the area bleeds or gets inflamed. Growth factors are released from the injured cells which attract platelets and stem cells and more growth factors arrive. The body then manufactures whatever it needs to repair the injured tissue. Have you ever wondered how the plastic surgeon can do a laser peel or chemical peel and take old wrinkled skin on the face and make new healthy younger looking skin. Well lets think. They burn the face with a hot laser and they put acid on the face. Ouch! Although it causes inflammation and temporary discomfort within a few weeks it heals and new tissue is generated. Miraculous.

    Prolotherapy works the same way. We cause a mild chemical burn in the injured joints ligaments and tendons and we can repair them. I have treated thousands of patients in the last 15 years and have repaired dislocated shoulders, tennis elbow, rotator cuff injuries, arthritis or sprains in any joint, including sprains to the neck, back and sacral iliac joint. It works over 90% of the time and it is one of the most reliable procedures we can count on.

    I am President of the NJ Interventional Pain Society and Past President of the NJ Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation Society. Assistant Professor at Robert Wood Johnson University and New York Medical College. I lecture Nationally and teach Residents and Fellows at the Medical Schools. I perform over 30 Interventional Pain Management Procedures and Prolotherapy is one of the best and most reliable.

    Recently, I have pioneered new a treatment in the field of Regenerative Medicine using the bodies own stem cells and platelets and I have been lecturing around the Country on its use. It will work in those cases where Prolotherapy will not making it an even more powerful treatment. I will report on this in a future article.

    Please feel free to visit us at The Center For Spine Sports Pain Management and Orthopedic Regenerative Medicine in North Brunswick.
Call 732-297-2600 or Visit the Web site for more information at Paincaredoc.com "