The Osteoarthritis Opportunity Chiropractors Are Missing

Hey everybody, as promised, I am here with Dr. Scott Munsterman. We're gonna be talking all about NovoPulse. You might not be familiar with NovoPulse, but you certainly are familiar with osteoarthritis. We're gonna showcase how and why NovoPulse is just such a fantastic solution for those patients dealing with OA in your practice and how it works, how it can impact your practice, and ultimately how it can help a lot more patients in your community by really positioning yourself. So Scott, I'm gonna ask you to kick it off with, from your perspective, How big is the osteoarthritis problem? You know, why is it one of those big missed opportunities in conservative care today?

Oh my goodness. So, you know, according to the statistics, there's over 75 million people, and I think that's understated, but that have OA, at least some form of OA, you know, whether it's a mild, moderate, or severe form of OA. And of course, as we've learned as clinicians, we've understood that injuries can lead to damage to cartilage, which, as we know as clinicians, is largely avascular. And so it's going to rely on any type of imbibing nutrients to get into that area for those cells to repair. Well, many times they don't repair and they continue to degrade. And the body's ability to be able to clean, you know, those dead cells out and replace it with new cells, it's just a very slow process. And so over time, we have that degenerative type of situation that, that occurs. And we've got a cascade of events that lead us, you know, especially when we get into our 40s and 50s and 60s on up, we begin to feel it in our joints. And our patients are those folks that have OA to some degree, a large percentage of them. And for us as chiropractic physicians, as we look at the biomechanical structure and working with the joints and normalizing that structure and function, many times OA in a joint, whether it's an extremity joint or a facet joint, really gets in the way because that's that inflammatory reaction that's there. We're trying to get our job done, and it can result in a very slow recovery or even a point where there's chronic pain that we can just not seem to get rid of for patients or to help them get rid of. And that's where the Novapulses really shined. Yeah.

I've been really impressed as I've learned, and I got a feeling there's a lot of docs that ears just perked up as you started to describe a, a lot of, a lot of patient type and symptomatology that they see day in and day out and, and probably haven't thought of in this type of specific way. And let's tie that directly into NovoPulse. For somebody who's never heard of NovoPulse, how would you explain it in simple terms? Then we'll get into the details.

Yeah, well, it's actually a pulse electromagnetic field device However, what the founders and inventors did with this is that they created a unique electric field out of that. They went in and they looked at all the research in regards to the electric field that actually changes cartilage cells. Now, the interesting thing about that is that within, and this was relatively new, and I'll be real brief with this, but what was discovered recently, when I'd say over the last probably 5 to 7 years recently, was the adenosine A2 receptor. 2A receptor anti-inflammatory pathway, that there's a pathway that can be interrupted and changed. Well, in order for that to happen— and it can happen with electric fields— but that electric field has to have the right unique nature to it in order for it to interact with the cell. So for instance, cartilage cell, or, or any cells to interact with electric field, it takes a minimum pulse width of 5 microseconds And the other thing is that many times with electric fields, they only go so far and they get absorbed by bone or, or dense tissue or that type of thing. Well, what they figured out with the Novapulse was how to bring that electric field to have it potentiate at a depth of— it was been measured at 7 centimeters in, in the body, you know, where they actually had that interaction occur. Well, when you're able to reach and target like that, you're reaching facet joints, you're reaching deep into, extremity joints, right where the cartilage is, allowing the electric field to interact with that cell and then to begin, begin to turn that pathway around to the benefit of the patient and reduce inflammation. Now in the labs, and this is not the device I'm talking about now, but in the labs and the research, they actually were able to show cartilage regeneration through MR scans and Mankin scoring and all of that. And so that has not been tested on this device yet. Uh, However, this device is built based on what that research, you know, has demonstrated the electric field needs to be. And it's actually more potent than what they used in the research environment. So, you know, very exciting with, with what was discovered and then how they took that information and put it into a device that can be used.

Yeah, that, that, that is powerful. And I think that's really a differentiator and we're going to dig a little bit deeper on it. There's a lot of donks out there that are familiar or have looked at or maybe implemented laser. Maybe they've implemented shockwave in their practice. Maybe they even have or have heard of another PEMF device. You referenced it briefly, but I want to dive a little bit deeper. Novopulse has patents on this, and I just would like you to spend a moment or two diving into, okay, how does that actually differentiate? And you just highlighted some of it, but this is a patented device that really addresses things in a distinctly different way than the modalities that I just discussed. What does that make you think of when I say that?

Yeah, well, to your point, it's backed up by 6 patents, unique patents, you know, for spine, for extremity. It's backed up based on the type of electric field that I briefly described there. The other component that they brought in, which I didn't mention, but I will now, and that's the thermal activity that goes along with that, which has been shown to be a very high synergistic component to electric field stimulation. Uh, and so yeah, that's— it's, uh, just the uniqueness of it, taking something that has been out there but then being able to design it in a way that will allow it— the body to interact with it, uh, and, and in a very targeted, specific way.

That is one of the unique aspects that really caught my attention as we started discussing, and I started learning about Novopulse late last year, was really getting a true understanding of The depth of differentiation, what I'll say. Thanks so much for checking out that interview. If you liked it, we have plenty more available. You can check out the next interview right here.