Stopping Chronic Pain
New Book: Stopping Pain: Percutaneous (Per·cu·ta·ne·ous) Hydrotomy: A Revolutionary Approach to Beating Chronic Pain and Increasing Function
By Johnathan Edwards MD & Bernard Guez MD
This book introduces a groundbreaking paradigm shift in the treatment of injuries and chronic pain. It delves into pioneering medical treatments that have the potential to significantly alter outcomes for individuals dealing with chronic pain. While hundreds of thousands of patients have already benefited from these treatments, they remain relatively unknown to the majority of patients and underutilized by healthcare providers. These innovative techniques harness the body’s own healing capabilities to establish a connection between traditional standard-of-care treatments for musculoskeletal injuries. Importantly, the methods described in this book are minimally invasive and cost-effective, especially in comparison to surgical procedures. Paradoxically, they aren’t covered by insurance, even though their utilization could potentially save billions within the healthcare system.
Are you tired of living with chronic pain?
"Stopping Pain" introduces the groundbreaking world of percutaneous hydrotomy, a revolutionary medical technique developed over 30 years ago in France. This regenerative approach employs physiologic saline, vitamins, minerals, and carefully selected medications to alleviate chronic pain and enhance overall function.
In this book, you will learn:
Understand the principles and mechanisms that make percutaneous hydrotomy an effective solution for chronic pain.
Explore compelling narratives of individuals who, despite years of medication, found relief and regained their zest for life through percutaneous hydrotomy.
Discover how both amateur and professional athletes, including NFL players, MMA athletes, motocross racers, cyclists, and professional tennis players, have benefited from percutaneous hydrotomy to overcome pain and enhance performance.
Gain insights into how percutaneous hydrotomy offers a new ray of hope for patients grappling with chronic diseases, providing them with the potential for a pain-free and fulfilling life.
The Problem with Pain
Pain is a universal human experience, a visceral and undeniable reality that strikes at the core of our existence. It’s an affliction that knows no bias, affecting people from all walks of life. While some individuals possess remarkable resilience to pain, there’s a simple truth: pain is as real as it gets. Regardless of how skeptical or stoic a person may be, pain is the common ground where belief is unanimous.
However, the issue at hand is that many must endure persistent pain, specifically chronic pain. Our contemporary approach to managing chronic pain has fallen short of the mark. Pain stands as one of the most enigmatic challenges of the human body, a complex riddle with no shortage of purported solutions. Many people who grapple with chronic pain become desperate, resorting to daily medications for survival, only to eventually suffer the secondary effects. Pharmaceutical companies have excelled in creating medications that offer momentary respite from pain, but these drugs often do little to address the underlying causes of pain. Worse, they’ve formulated powerfully addictive painkillers that millions of lives are lost to overdoses. Despite significant advancements in medical science, the scourge of chronic pain remains, leaving a trail of devastation.
In our world today, pain casts a heavier burden than ever before. Almost half of the global population grapples with chronic illnesses, encompassing conditions like arthritis, frozen shoulder, back pain, neck pain, degenerative disc disease, sciatica, knee pain, hip pain, migraines, and TMJ, to name just a few. The magnitude of this statistic is chilling, primarily because the most distressing aspect of chronic pain is the overwhelming isolation it imposes. When a chronic illness diagnosis is received, it fundamentally alters one’s life, causing the world to contract, and isolation to become an insufferable companion, a factor that can lead to despair and even suicide (Edwards, 2023). There are hundreds of thousands who understand your emotional journey; you are not alone. Those living with chronic diseases or pain encounter distinctive challenges, including the perplexity and isolation that accompany being “differently-abled.” Chronic disease doesn’t happen by chance.
Back pain has been called “the evil of the century,” and inexplicably, modern medicine only partially responds to this disease. Low back and neck pain resulting from arthritis is the single greatest cause of disability and chronic pain, affecting approximately 600 million people worldwide. Astonishingly, the incidence of back pain has nearly tripled over the past 40 years (Ferreira, 2021). Back pain is the most prevalent source of pain and complex due to its multifaceted nature involving biological, psychological, and social components.
Numerous patients have experienced positive results from the procedures detailed in this book. “Stopping Pain” aims to provide essential information about integrative general medicine and orthopedics to the millions of individuals and animals who suffer from chronic pain and other debilitating conditions. This book seeks to educate patients about various, often superior, alternatives to currently employed treatments and medications. The new paradigm presented in this book has the potential to revolutionize the practice of orthopedics, pain, and sports medicine.
Chronic pain has become a widespread issue, with the number of individuals in the United States diagnosed with osteoarthritis rising dramatically. Lower back pain has been labeled as the “disease of the century.” These costs, affecting both individuals and society as a whole, are expected to rise due to the increasing prevalence of obesity, the diabetes epidemic, and a decrease in recreational activity.
Regenerative medicine as discussed in Chapter 1, involves prolotherapy, platelet-rich plasma injections (PRP), adult stem-cell injections, perineural superficial injections, and saline injections. This book is about another type of regenerative technique we call percutaneous hydrotomy.
Percutaneous hydrotomy stems from techniques utilizing mesotherapy, oligotherapy, tumescent anesthesia, hypodermoclysis, and regenerative medicine:
· Mesotherapy, which originated in France and derives from the Greek term “mesos” using micro-injections of pharmaceuticals, vitamins, and other preparations into the skin and subcutaneous tissues. Mesotherapy only became possible with the invention of injectable needles.
· Oligotherapy involves treating diseases with bioavailable forms of trace minerals. In the late 1800s, the discovery of trace minerals by chemists were used to treat many kinds of ailments of that time.
· Tumescent anesthesia is the placement of large volumes of saline and dilute local anesthesia in the subcutaneous tissues. This technique facilitates pain management and local anesthesia during procedures.
· Hypodermoclysis is a decades-old practice involving the subcutaneous infusion of fluids into the body. It is safe, straightforward, and effective for administering fluids and delivering medications.
Together, these techniques and principles from the basis of percutaneous hydrotomy aim to treat the causes and bring back function to those suffering with chronic pain. It may come as a surprise, but simply injecting saline (water) into a painful area can offer relief. Historical records have indicated for a century that water has healing properties. A multitude of studies support the therapeutic use of saline. The book will provide detailed insights into how water can heal diseased cells.
Regenerative injection techniques serve as a crucial bridge between all conventional treatments and they provide relief to individuals suffering from chronic conditions that previously had limited options for relief. The book raises questions about the limited adoption of these regenerative injection techniques and why the healthcare system doesn’t cover them. Stopping Pain aims to educate individuals on regenerative healing and how to navigate treatment options effectively. The foundation and philosophy of this book is that treating the root causes of pain is fundamental in stopping chronic pain and regaining function.
The history of percutaneous hydrotomy is fascinating and rooted from advancements in European medicine during the industrial revolution. During that time doctors were faced treating diseases such as malnutrition, cholera, Kwashiorkor, malaria, and tuberculosis — most which were incurable. It was within this context that various medical techniques emerged, serving as the foundation for regenerative injection techniques like percutaneous hydrotomy.
Standard conservative treatments for musculoskeletal injuries and chronic pain typically involve medications, physical therapy, activity modifications, bracing, steroid injections, and, if all else fails, surgery. In the United States, over half a million prosthetic knees are implanted each year. However, numerous patients aren’t suitable candidates for these highly invasive procedures. Moreover, these patients often endure years of suffering while awaiting a decision on joint prosthesis. These surgeries also carry the prospect of revision surgery in 10 to 20 years, which is often less effective and poses a higher risk of failure.
Until regenerative injection therapies gained mainstream acceptance, patients had few alternatives. While surgery successfully addresses many medical conditions like diseased cartilage, tendons, and ligaments, it can exacerbate osteoarthritis. Regenerative injection treatments form the basis of this new paradigm. Collectively, these therapies can assist with acute and chronic injuries to tendons, bones, ligaments, and cartilage, and they can also alleviate or eliminate arthritic joint pain.
Johnathan Edwards MD is a dedicated physician with decades of experience. His early passion for professional motocross racing has provided him with a unique insight into the mindset of elite athletes and individuals striving to regain their quality of life from chronic pain. Having treated thousands of athletes and patients with these methods, he’s a passionate advocate for their use.