Advanced treatment rebuilds damaged nerves that cause pain and burning.
Some things are easier to replace than to repair. DVD players, toasters and steam irons fall into that category. Automobiles do not. It’s typically easier – and less expensive – to repair a car than purchase one.
Red light therapy was part of the treatment plan that doused the fire in Rick’s feet.
Rick Osborne, 52, learned that when he was a teenager. His father, a mechanic who also sold used cars, imparted that lesson while also teaching him how to fix cars. The latter is a skill set that has served Rick and his family well over the years.
“There have been many times when my wife or someone else has said to me, Something’s wrong with my car; can you take a look at it?” Rick relates. “Yes, I can, I tell them. Working on cars is something I enjoy doing. I love tinkering with my hands.”
Working on cars used to be a hobby for Rick. Since “retiring” a few years ago, he’s moonlighted as a mechanic. Recently, however, a painful disorder called peripheral neuropathy made it hard for Rick to work with much of anything.
This condition causes damage to the nerves and disrupts the flow of blood and oxygen, primarily to the feet, but sometimes the hands.
Common causes include diabetes, chemotherapy, traumas, and even certain medications such as gabapentin and statin drugs. Indeed, research shows that people taking statin drugs are 17 times more likely to develop peripheral neuropathy.
People who smoke, drink heavily or are obese are also more susceptible to this ailment. Rick’s neuropathy appears to have developed through diabetes, which he was diagnosed with about 10 years ago.
Constant Pain, Burning
“In the last two years, though, I dealt with a lot of pain and burning in my feet,” Rick laments. “It wasn’t too bad at first. There was mostly just a lot of tingling. Over time, it got worse. Way worse.
“It got so bad a few months ago that I couldn’t do much of anything because it felt like my feet were on fire. Something as simple as going to the grocery store was hard because it hurt to walk. I even had to cut back on the work I was doing on cars.
“My doctor gave me some medicine for it, but it didn’t do anything. The only relief I got came from standing on ice packs and placing ice packs on the tops of my feet. But I was having to do that every chance I got because the pain and burning was constant. I couldn’t put out the fire.”
It wasn’t just that fire that Rick couldn’t put out. He also could not rid himself of a strange sensation he felt in the bottom of his feet. He described that sensation as “like walking on bunion pads,” which adversely affected his balance.
As his symptoms worsened, Rick’s search for a solution intensified. Finally, while surfing the internet this year, his attention was captured by an ad for Renewed Life Wellness Center, the practice of Kenneth D. Carle, DC.
The ad said, “We can help you with your foot pain”, so I looked to see what they had to say, Rick remembers. “Even after reading it, I was very skeptical, but I thought, Why not give it a try. I’ve got nothing to lose.”
Since opening in 2015, Renewed Life Wellness Center has committed itself to offering patients the best in chiropractic services, including spinal adjustments, massage, physiotherapy, x-rays, nutritional supplements, weight loss and regenerative medicine.
The practice proudly caters to military veterans and offers treatment for all forms of neck pain, low back pain, sciatica and headaches. It also specializes in the treatment of peripheral neuropathy, which has four stages.
Patients in Stages 1, 2 and 3 have various amounts of pain, numbness and burning. As those symptoms grow in severity, many may lose their balance, which can lead to a loss of independence and the need for assistance from a cane, a walker, or a motorized chair.
“In Stage 4, patients are too far gone, and some cannot be treated,” Dr. Carle explains. “That’s the stage where people need to have toes amputated and are totally reliant on others to take care of them. Thankfully, Rick was not at that stage.”
A House on Fire
Rick was diagnosed with Stage 2 peripheral neuropathy. Dr. Carle likens that stage to a house being on fire. The goal of treatment, the doctor asserts, is to not only put out the fire, but also to rebuild the house.
“It usually takes six to eight weeks to stop the fire, or the peripheral neuropathy,” Dr. Carle details. “Then we start rebuilding the house. We do that by repairing the nerves, which have been damaged because the blood supply to them has been diminished.
“To better understand it, think of the body as a plant. If a plant doesn’t have good soil, enough water and sunshine, it’s going to die. Likewise, your hands and feet need a sufficient nerves, blood and oxygen supply to survive. Lack of any of these results in a dead plant or in the case of our feet and hands, nerve death.”
“I can tell you firsthand what they do for you works.” – Rick
Dr. Carle has about a dozen tools available to stop peripheral neuropathy and restore damaged nerves. The severity of each patient’s condition determines which tools, but one is used almost universally: a medical nerve rebuilder.
This device uses neuro-electrical therapy to repair and regenerate damaged nerves. Dr. Carle also uses red-light therapy and vibration as well as nutritional supplements and creams to promote healing in patients suffering from peripheral neuropathy.
The medical devices, when applied to the feet and hands, increase circulation, which increases blood flow to the area where the damage has been done to the nerves.
“Hundred percent of our patients experience some improvement in their symptoms when treatment protocols are followed,” Dr. Carle states.
“Hundred percent of our patients experience some improvement in their symptoms within the first 12 weeks,” Dr. Carle states. “We don’t get 100 percent improvement in 100 percent of our patients, but most patients experience somewhere between 30 and 75 percent relief.”
Rapid Recovery
Dr. Carle used all of the medical devices in treating Rick, who was also given two medicated creams to apply to his feet as well as a cocktail of nutritional supplements designed to further advance the healing of the damaged nerves.
“One is a pill and the other is a powder that you mix with water,” Dr. Carle says of the supplements. “Both are vasodilators that increase the production of nitric oxide, which increases the diameter of the blood vessels and helps with blood flow.”
Rick religiously followed Dr. Carle’s treatment recommendations, and he’s happy to report his symptoms began to fade within a couple of weeks of beginning the regimen.
“After two weeks, the pain and burning in my feet was down so much that I no longer needed ice packs to cool my feet,” Rick enthuses. “And now, all the pain and burning is gone. So is that funny feeling I had on the bottom of my feet.
“I’m amazed at how quickly I began to feel relief with the treatments Dr. Carle recommended. In fact, I feel so good that I’m starting to lose weight because I’m able to get out and get some exercise. I’m able to live my life again.
“I can’t say enough good things about Dr. Carle and his staff. They’re tremendous people, and what they did for me was a godsend. I’d recommend them to anyone suffering with neuropathy pain. I can tell you firsthand what they do for you works.”
