Author: Murakami

What exactly is regenerative medicine? There is a lot of hype as well as confusion about platelet rich plasma and stem cell therapies used for musculoskeletal pain. Using them at the correct point during your healing path may be beneficial, while using these therapies incorrectly can be detrimental. Many athletes patients have reported great benefit for their knee, shoulder, elbow and back pains. I’ve also discouraged some patients from using regenerative medicine, as they were not [read more]

I wrote my first “Letter to the Editor” to Time Magazine in response to “The Opioid Diaries” (http://time.com/james-nachtwey-opioid-addiction-america/). It didn’t get published, so I thought I’d share my thoughts. In short, the media has been very focused on the side effect of death for people who overdose on narcotics, while not shining light on the other side effects they can cause patients who are responsible users. The media has also been making patients who are [read more]

It has been a while since I have posted. Happy 2018 Spring Equinox. Time for new beginnings! I recently went to a spinal cord stimulator conference for women, hosted by Nevro. The amount of learning, nurturing and sharing that occurred in one weekend with a group of very competent physicians was beyond my expectations. Initially, I went in wondering what would be special about a conference with all women. It felt great to be able [read more]

Happy Thanksgiving! There’s something you can do starting tomorrow which takes less than 1 minute a day and will help your overall health. Wake up and give gratitude for what you have. It can be as simple as thanking your hands, your feet, your mind, your house, your family, your bed, your dog. It may be hard when you are feeling pain or other health challenges, but studies show that gratitude is good medicine and [read more]

Back pain while driving? I’ve been personally dealing with back pain (including sacroiliac joint pain) for quite a while now. Many of my patients complain of pain with prolonged driving. It has also been interesting to note that some of these patients do not have pain when they are sitting in a regular chair. When we drive, our pelvis is shifted as we are rotating the right side of our pelvis and hip region forward [read more]