MINOT — Cornerstone Chiropractic has a new form of treatment for patients, SoftWave, that uses sound waves to stimulate blood flow and bring healing stem cells to areas that have been the source of chronic pain. The SoftWave unit is the first of its kind in the Minot area.
Getting Started with SoftWave
An old business partner in Cornerstone Chiropractic brought the SoftWave technology to the attention of Dr. Matt Hanson, “Through my Facebook feeds I had also seen it marketed. Never really paid much attention to it, but being she mentioned it, I started to pay attention to SoftWave and how it helped promote natural holistic health.”
According to Dr. Hanson, ultimately a chiropractor’s job is to get a sick person well without the use of surgery. “There are so many products that almost work,” continued Dr. Hanson. “They do a little, but they don’t get you over the hump. The more I looked into this [SoftWave] I was convinced that it was the real deal.”
Cornerstone Chiropractic was given the opportunity to be the first to bring SoftWave into the market, “so we stepped up our game a little bit to try to move it forward and trying to make [SoftWave] work out.”
The chiropractic office had to get a little creative with its current space. “We have four doctors in 2,500 square feet,” Dr. Hanson said. “We had to make space for it. We’re glad we did, because we are seeing great results in Minot.”
According to Dr. Hanson, there are two things that are extremely important to chiropractors: results and relationship. “It strengthens us in both of those,” said Hanson.
How SoftWave Works
So how does SoftWave work? “Well, I’ll try to make it as simple as I can,” Hanson said. “We refer to the sound waves as intelligent beams that pass harmlessly through healthy tissue. But when they hit diseased tissue as ligaments, tendons, muscle damage, or inflammation arthritis… they will increase blood flow to the area number one, and number two they shut off the proteins that induce inflammation, and number three, and most important, is they recruit stem cells to that area. I guess you can say it’s a 3-factor punch.”
Potential Candidates
Although 90% of patients who contact Cornerstone Chiropractic for an appointment are good candidates for SoftWave treatments, “everyone has to go through an evaluation to make sure SoftWave will benefit them,” according to Dr. Hanson. “We want to make sure and it’s pretty easy to know, because we put the sound waves into a certain area, and they won’t have a pain response.”
On a patient’s first visit, Dr. Hanson said that the chiropractors determine if a patient is a good candidate, and then they map out the area where the treatment will take place. The cost of a treatment is based on waves. “We map out the area, so that we know where to focus the waves.” The cost of the machinery to generate the sound waves is significant, so “we don’t want to waste waves.”
Areas that are Receptive to Treatment
Lower backs and knees are most responsive to SoftWave treatments, “but it’s also good for hands, wrists, necks, elbows, ankles, migraines… but we were treating people who were already our patients, and those are the problems that these people have been dealing with chronically,” said Hanson. “In those patients we are able to manage their pain, but not take them to the next level, which SoftWave does.” However, Hanson points out that the owner of the company that markets SoftWave owns four clinics where he treats neuropathy, both chemotherapy neuropathy and diabetic neuropathy exclusively.
Dynamic Results
Dr. Hanson said he has been pleased with results of SoftWave, but a recent patient had a very deep thigh bruise. “It was a bruise that normally takes up to 6 months to go away on its own. You would still probably see it months and months from now. After consultation with Dr. Hanson, SoftWave technician treated the area three different times and the “results were amazing” according to Julie, Cornerstone Chiropractic SoftWave technician. “During the treatment we could see the color returning.”
“This type of treatment is what is happening inside your body,” said Dr. Hanson. “We can physically show people the difference that SoftWave makes.”
Your First Move
“Planter Fasciitis, neuropathy, wrist, or hand pain… pretty much anyone who is contemplating surgery on a body part and wants an alternative to try first should come in for an initial appointment. We are generally talking about chronic things, although SoftWave is used extensively for athletic injuries, too,” said Dr. Hanson.
“I guess our bread and butter patients are folks who are sick and tired of being sick and tired, and they reach out to us. From the start of our treatments about four months ago until now, 100% of the patients that we have treated for a number of symptoms have gotten 60% relief… and that’s pretty cool.”
For Dr. Matt Hanson, 2022 marks his 10th year in the Minot market. Originally from the small town of Minnewaukan in central North Dakota, Dr. Hanson grew up on a farm about half an hour west of the western shore of Devils Lake. Before his arrival in Minot, Dr. Hanson spent 10 years in Minneapolis.
