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My Medical Mission to Peru

David Wikenheiser — Fri, 16 Sep 2011 16:01:05 +0000

"What I Did on My 2011 Summer Vacation"

Rather than spend my summer vacation on a beach reading novels I prefer to be more active. This year I went to Peru on a Medical Mission.

I am a member of the American Association of Orthopaedic Medicine (AAOM), and they are the number one organization in the world that trains doctors in Regenerative Injection Techniques (RIT). The AAOM offers great training at its annual convention, annual weekend workshops, and at its week long workshops at medical missions in Mexico, Honduras, and now in Lima Peru. Their week long work shop missions are clearly the best ways to learn classic as well as the newest techniques in Regenerative Injection Treatments, also known as Prolotherapy.

Regenerative Injection Treatments (RIT) are effective non surgical treatments of joint and connective tissue injuries, and for treating joint pain. I am Board Certified to use Ozone Therapy and Prolotherapy, two popular forms of RIT.

I first heard about the AAOM medical missions at their 2010 convention in Florida. I knew right away I wanted to participate, but I was told that as a Naturopathic Doctor I was not eligible. However, Maelu Fleck, the Executive Director of the AAOM told me about their upcoming Peru trip, and that I may be able to join them for that trip. This was in August 2010. My participation was on again, off again until June of 2011, when I was finally given two days to commit to the trip. I did, I went to Peru in August 2011, and I had a fantastic life changing trip.

Peru is a country of over 29 million people, and over 8 million are in the 40+ Municipal Counties of the capital city of Lima. While in Lima we stayed at a hotel in Mira Flores, an upscale district. My hotel was two blocks away from the Canadian consulate.

For five days, Monday through Friday, the AAOM team of doctors and support workers travelled by bus through the crowded streets to the Catholic Mission in Pamplona that hosted our team of doctors. Our teams of doctors cared for over 1,200 patients. The most common problems were pain in knees, low back, shoulders, necks, elbows, ankles, hands, and feet. We worked from 10 AM till we were finished, which some days was long after the planned 6:00 PM end time. We went back by bus to our hotel, had a late supper, and went early to bed so we could do it all again the next day.

The experienced AAOM instructors were excellent, presenting both introductory and advanced Prolotherapy techniques to the team doctors. The Peruvian people were gracious, and they clearly appreciated our Prolotherapy treatments. Many of these patients got off the treatment tables without pain.

Problems I encountered on the trip were the limitations of not speaking Spanish, the damp winter conditions that chilled me to the bone, and the long hours standing on concrete working with people in pain. By Friday afternoon I was so exhausted I got a bad cold that took me a week back in the Kelowna summer heat to shake. Unfortunately most of the doctors on the trip also got sick.

My AAOM trip to Peru was a highlight of my professional career. I believe that my week in Lima was worth 5 years of Prolotherapy experience in my office in Kelowna. To learn new prolotherapy techniques, and to help people who you just know would not get this type of medical care any other way, was a great way to spend my summer vacation.

There is talk already of changing the trip date to a warmer time of year. If I am able to go again next year I will definitely learn Spanish in my trip preparations.

Stabbed In The Back

David Wikenheiser — Tue, 23 Aug 2011 02:28:28 +0000

Do you have back pain so bad it feels like you have been Stabbed In The Back? Do you hate your pain with a passion? If you do I can help. Do you have pain so intense it grabs you when you roll over or sit up in bed? Do you have pain that forces