Musculoskeletal Pain & Injury

Posted On Oct 26, 2022 by Dr. Max MacCloud DO, ND, PhD





Greetings! Max MacCloud, aka The Nutrition Ninja Doc here to explain our approach to Musculoskeletal Pain & Injuries. I’ve spent over 50 years intensely studying health, nutrition, fitness, and natural therapies. I’ve learned a LOT and still feel like I’ve just scratched the surface. I constantly strive to put it all together to improve my efficiency at helping people to achieve their health goals. Correcting musculoskeletal injuries & helping people get out of chronic pain has been one of my main specialties because it is vital to quality of life.


If you’re human, you have most definitely experienced a Musculoskeletal pain & injury at some point in your life.


In the vast majority of cases (90+%), injuries and chronic pain are associated with damage to the connective tissues as opposed to the joint itself. This damage can be due to a single traumatic event, the accumulation of damage from several traumas, or from repetitive motion activities/injuries where there was no ‘apparent’ trauma at all. Of course, over time the other joint structures also begin to degenerate.

Joints are held together and stabilized by ligaments. Joints are able to move due to muscles which are attached by tendons. Most injuries are the result of damage to either ligaments, tendons, or both.


  • When ligaments are damaged, they do not heal back to full strength, anyone that has ever sprained an ankle can attest to that. They heal back with only about 50-75% of their original strength and a bit longer than they were before. In the case of tendons, they are also weakened & may become chronically inflamed, especially where they connect to the bone.

  • This leads to joint instability which sends messages to the brain about the reduced stability of the joint; the brain does the only thing it can do; it sends messages to the surrounding muscles to tighten up to help compensate and stabilize the joint.

  • This leads to chronic muscle tension and restricts blood flow leading to reduced nutrient delivery (including oxygen). This eventually causes damage to the mitochondria inside the muscle cells leading to reduced energy production, increased lactic acid production, inappropriate inflammation, restricted movement, & pain.

  • Pain comes from irritated nerves associated with Muscles that are chronically contracted trying to compensate for damaged Ligaments & Tendons.

  • Additionally, neuromuscular ‘trigger points’ will tend to form which leads to additional muscle tension in areas not directly involved with the primary injury.

    Over time, all of this leads to joint damage and breakdown including calcium deposits (arthritis).


  • Our Solutions


    We use a blend of both the most proven, time-tested & cutting-edge techniques, to help restore proper integrity & stability to the joint, the damaged connective tissues (ligaments and tendons), and the associated muscles.

    Some of those techniques include

    1. Joint Decompression

    2. Shockwave Therapy

    3. Red & Near-Infrared Light Therapy

    4. Electro-Frequency Therapy

    5. Trigenics Muscle-Brain Reeducation

    6. Regenerative Injection Therapies including Prolotherapy



    Pain comes from irritated nerves associated with Muscles that are chronically
    contracted trying to compensate for damaged Ligaments & Tendons.

    Additionally, we place a strong focus on proper Nutrition & Restoring & Resetting the MICROCIRCULATION! The Microcirculation is the only place that nutrient exchange takes place between the blood and the trillions of cells of the body. This consists of the tiny arterioles, capillaries, and venules. Everyone’s microcirculation becomes compromised with age & injuries thereby restricting this process. Several of the approaches we use play roles in supporting proper blood flow and nutrient exchange to the damaged tissues.

    Each person’s injury, pain, and situation is unique; there are different therapies & approaches depending on your particular situation. It is important to have a proper consultation & examination for us to learn how to best help your body heal. We will design a program to help restore the damaged joint complex to get you out of pain and back in the game.

    Here’s where it is important for you to understand what sets us apart from every one else. There is NO ONE that combines all of the pieces required for total healing & regeneration like we do. We’ve been doing this for over 40 yrs & have continuously modified & tweaked each component to maximize the results & provide the best value.

    There are many offices that offer SOME of the things that we do, but NONE that have our experience and put all the vital pieces together for you. As the ‘disease’ care industry continues to evolve and many realize that the old, limited approaches such as standard physical therapy, chiropractic, massage, acupuncture, and orthopedic surgery have major limitations & flaws, many of these practitioners are finally beginning to open up to some alternative approaches. Things that we have been doing for decades.

    For example, there are many docs that have jumped on the PRP and Stem cell band wagon over the past several years. They are great techniques when properly applied; they are also extremely expensive & not necessary in most cases. They are simply modifications of Prolotherapy which has been around since 1937 & already had a 92-97% success rate!

    The problem is that very few doctors know how to do prolotherapy properly; they skipped over that steep learning curve because PRP & Stems allow them to get good results with questionable technique. Unfortunately, this all too common, poor placement accounts for many of the marginal results and failures of PRP and Stem cell injections. There are additional factors pertaining to the quality of the PRP and Stem cell solutions that we won’t address here.

    We/re all for healthy competition when it comes to health care providers. What we’re not for is false & misleading advertising by those who inflate their experience and expertise, thereby leading people astray. Our office has the most experience of anyone in this region with Regenerative Injection Therapy (Prolotherapy). In fact, our founder introduced it to this area back in 1999.

    Additional details about Prolotherapy:


    Prolotherapy is used to stimulate the PROLIFERATION and regeneration of connective tissue by attracting & activating fibroblasts. The technique involves carefully injecting small amounts of a mild irritant solution at specific locations called the ‘enthesis.’ These sites are where either ligaments or tendons connect to the bones depending on which structure is being targeted.

    The ‘enthesis’ is the site where injury occurs in most situations. This safe irritant stimulates a chemical messenger called cytokines to attract and activate a special type of cell called fibroblasts. Fibroblasts, once activated, will produce collagen & elastin proteins that strengthen the damaged connections; essentially rewelding the connections.

    Prolotherapy is simply a technique that tricks your body into thinking there is a fresh injury, thereby mobilizing, activating, and enhancing your body’s natural healing response.

    It typically takes a series of 4-6 treatments that are spaced one to three weeks apart; this stimulates a gradual ramp up and building of new connective tissue to restore the original strength to the area.

    There have been over 150 studies published on the efficacy of prolotherapy. The first study was published in 1937. These studies consistently show a 92-97% success rate at improving joint stability, reducing pain, and restoring proper function.

    The tragedy is that very few doctors know about it and only a handful are proficient at it. It should be the primary tool used by Orthopedic Surgeons; however, most are not interested since insurance pays big bucks for surgery and that’s what they spent several years learning to do. Sadly, Medicare, being the illogical, brainless behemoth that it is, has chosen not to pay for prolotherapy since it is ‘regenerative.’

    For some bizarre reason they do not consider it to be ‘medically necessary,’ although they will pay for a joint replacement once the situation is allowed to progress to that point. Prevention & regeneration do not seem to be concepts that this agency understands! Of course, most insurance companies follow Medicare’s lead and do not pay for prolotherapy and other regenerative treatments either, since Medicare won’t. As ludicrous as that sounds, it is the reality of our current, hopelessly corrupt, and inefficient ‘disease care’ system.

    The good news is that the procedure is very cost-effective, and most importantly, it JUST WORKS.
    There is a tremendous amount of material about Prolotherapy online so by all means do your homework. Also note that our approach is quite comprehensive as we incorporate several other components to maximize your results.

    A quick word about cost


    As much as we’d love to provide our amazing services for free our landlord, staff & overhead don’t for that. What we have done is to make it as cost-effective as possible by providing up to 2-year, no-interest financing. You get what you pay for, the ‘free’ stuff from Medicare & Insurance simply doesn’t work & can cause more problems down the road!

    Back to Prolotherapy: In the vast majority of cases, 4-6 sessions will do the job very nicely. More severe or chronic damage may take 8-10 sessions, but that is only when the damage is very severe, has been there for decades, and the individual has a reduced healing capacity.

    Most people have heard about PRP (platelet rich plasma) injections as well as stem cell injections. Prolotherapy is the predecessor of these techniques; they simply use different regenerative solutions as irritants and proliferants.
    In most cases, the significant increase in expense is not warranted since prolotherapy already has a 95+% success rate. Be that as it may, there are certainly cases and situations where it is reasonable to use one of the latest ‘Biological agents’ to magnify and speed the regenerative process.

    If the damage to the underlying joint and connective tissues is extensive or if the individual is not able to mount a solid healing or regenerative response, that might be a time to pull out the BIG guns and add some Stem Cells to the proliferent solution. Currently, the best choice is to use the latest ‘Biological Regenerative Agents’ from Wharton’s Jelly that contains a plethora of nutrients, growth factors, and stem cells. We can discuss this option as indicated or needed.

    As mentioned, and briefly discussed earlier, there are a number of interventions that can be utilized to help your body to repair and overcome musculoskeletal pain & injuries.
    It is important to properly address both the underlying cause of the problem, which in most cases is the connective tissues, ligaments & tendons. It is also vital to deal with the muscles that have been called on to help compensate for the weakened ligaments & tendons.

    This is where many of the other techniques come into play. Decompression helps to unload the joint thereby allowing for improved circulation, exchange of nutrients, & waste removal. Acoustic Shock Wave therapy breaks up trigger points & scar tissue while increasing circulation & collagen synthesis. It is a fabulous tool that I will soon do an entire video on.

    Red Light & Near Infrared Light Therapy help to increase circulation & oxygenation, boost cellular energy production, reduce inflammation, and stimulate regeneration & collagen production. There are over 4,000 published studies supporting these mechanisms of action. We often recommend a home treatment system to enhance your recovery.

    Electro-Magnetic Frequency therapy is a wonderful tool that helps to both regenerate & retrain damaged nerves in severe cases of degeneration. We mainly utilize it for Peripheral Neuropathy which can occur from over 100 different conditions including musculoskeletal injuries.

    Nutritional Support is something that very few doctors are trained to understand & use. It is the very foundation of health & healing. It must be addressed since MOST people simply are not getting all of the vital nutrients their bodies NEED to HEAL & function properly. We can’t make you eat right & supplement appropriately, but we’re sure going to try.

    We have been developing & manufacturing our own line of food-based nutritional support products for over 13 years. It isn’t easy or convenient, but it allows us to provide the best quality & value to our patients & those who need to boost their nutrition to improve healing & performance.

    Few people are aware of it but the only place that nutrients are actually delivered to the cells is via the MICROCIRCULATION! This consists of the tiny arterioles, capillaries, and venules. Everyone’s microcirculation becomes compromised with age & injuries thereby restricting this process.

    To help correct this universal problem, we provide the only therapy ever identified to open & reset the microcirculation to youthful levels. It is called EWOT which stands for Exercise With Oxygen Therapy.

    EWOT entails breathing high flow oxygen while performing physical exercise to increase one’s metabolic activity and increase carbon dioxide levels. It may seem counterintuitive, but it is vital to increase both CO2 and O2 at the same time as this dramatically increases oxygen delivery to the mitochondria in the tiny blood vessels that have become constricted. A series sessions ‘revives’ and resets the microcirculation so blood flows freely, properly nourishing the trillions of cells of our bodies.

    As you can see, the process is comprehensive, however, not everyone needs all of the components mentioned, but it is vital to have them available for those who do. We have pioneered, developed, tested, and refined this approach to the point where we know that virtually everyone can and will benefit.

    Our overall approach to preventing & correcting any & all health challenges uses a system we developed called the 4Ms that you won’t find anywhere else. It focuses on restoring the Microcirculation, Mitochondrial function, Metabolic balance, and building one’s Metabolic Reserve (Muscle). There are additional video presentations detailing the 4Ms and each of those components on our website.

    This covers a wide array of things that are vital for proper healing and overcoming the vast majority of health challenges including musculoskeletal injuries & chronic pain. There are no magic, simple solutions, although many will claim that there are. Do your homework. Use critical thinking & choose wisely.

    If that leads you to choosing us to assist you, we will do everything in our power to make sure that you are provided the best ‘HEALTH’ care available anywhere to assist you and your body to heal itself while regaining full function & peak performance.

    - The Nutrition Ninja signing off.