The PEMF Effect: Chronic Pain Relief, Recovery and Vitality Podcast

Dr. Shiroko Sokitch is an MD, a board-certified acupuncturist, functional medicine doctor, and best-selling author with expertise in both acupuncture and conventional medicine. Her unique perspective allows her to consider all the options and find the best solutions for helping patients manage pain.

When Dr. Shiroko was five, her great-grandmother collapsed in front of her, dying from a heart attack.  This experience spurred her passion for problem solving and saving lives.  As a surgical resident, Dr. Shiroko realized that many times, patients weren’t being helped by the conventional methods of managing pain. As she looked for solutions, her mission transformed from “saving lives” to helping people heal and thrive. That’s when she discovered Chinese medicine – and she was hooked!

She left her surgical residency to become an ER doctor and study acupuncture, building expertise in both Chinese and Western medicine.  In 1993, Dr. Shiroko opened her Heart to Heart Medical Center in Santa Rosa, CA, bringing the best of both into one practice.

Her book, Healing When It Seems Impossible: 7 Keys to Defy the Odds outlines her core philosophy and offers practical healing tools that can help readers start healing immediately. Dr. Shiroko is a frequent presence on radio, local television, and podcasts, and offers webinars on creating a fundamental shift in how to relate to your body and health.

Today, she is sharing her unique perspective on combining conventional approaches with acupuncture to treat pain in this episode of the High-Tech Wellness podcast.

Highlights include:

3:09 The Basis of Chinese Medicine

4:57 Integrating Western and Chinese Medicine

14:43 The Triangle of Wellness

31:30 The Emotional Connection

Dr. Shiroko offers the following valuable insights:

The Basis of Chinese Medicine

The basic tenant of Chinese medicine is that your body has currents of energy flowing through it. Pain indicates energy that is not moving, and the problem that needs to be solved is how to get that energy flowing again.

Integrating Western and Chinese Medicine

Dr. Shiroko feels that Western and Chinese medicine can be used in an integrative way for best results.  Chinese medicine, she says, is the big picture, while Western medicine can fill in the gaps.

“You do your best with any tool that you have available and then you move on in order to help somebody.”

No one system will do it all. Surgery or medication may be necessary to deal with some issues, such as a fracture or infection, while Chinese medicine can help with underlying issues, like pain.

“One of the things that acupuncture is most famous for is helping people with pain…A person can come in in acute pain and within a few minutes you can have the pain gone…”

The Triangle of Wellness

Dr. Shiroko describes a “triangle of wellness” which is the three systems that impact any condition: the hormones, the nervous system and the immune system. These three elements are especially important when considering “mystery” illnesses.

“If you figure out what’s going on with the hormones, the nervous system, and the immune system you begin to get those systems into balance, then your body can do nothing but get well.”

Initial assessments, then, must consider all these systems. Acupuncture can be used for balancing these systems, rather than simply treating symptoms.

The Emotional Connection

Every organ in the body has physical functions that impact other organs and systems.  Chinese medicine looks beyond these physical connections to explore emotional and spiritual connections as well.

“In traditional Chinese medicine that’s our training. Whatever your health issue is, it comes from inside your body, there’s an emotional component to it.”

Acupuncture helps shift these emotions to promote healing.

Connect with Dr. Shiroko

Want more insights from Dr. Shiroko? 

Brendon Lundberg is no stranger to chronic pain.  As a teenager, he began experiencing low back pain that worsened as he reached his twenties and thirties.  Rather than seeking conventional solutions such as medications, injections, and surgical interventions, he simply lived with the pain.  A new technology inspired him to co-found, with Harvard-MIT trained physician David Farley, MD,  Radiant Pain Relief Centres in the Portland, Oregon area.  Their vision was to build the safest, most consistently effective, and appealing solution to the epidemic of pain. With the success of the first center, plans for expansion nationally and internationally are in the works. 

Brendon holds a BS in business marketing and an MBA.  He serves as President and CEO of Radiant Pain Relief Centres.  He and Dr. Farley have authored an Amazon Bestselling book, Radiant Relief – A Case For a Better Solution to Chronic Pain.

Prior to co-founding Radiant, Brendon played key operational and business development roles in two Portland Business Journal and Inc. Magazine Growth Award-winning companies and was the Director of Sales and Marketing for another Portland-based medical device start-up company.

His own experience with chronic pain and his commitment to finding solutions led Brendon to gain extensive education on the neuroscience of pain.

In this episode of The High Tech Wellness Podcast, Brendon will share his insights on the brain-pain connection and describe the unique therapy used at Radiant Pain Relief Centres to address this connection.

Highlights include:

5:15 Pain originates in the brain

23:20 Scrambler Therapy

32:10 The Starbucks of Pain Management

TIME Key Questions About Scrambler Therapy

Here’s a sneak peek at some of Brendon’s insights:

Pain originates in the Brain

In Brendon’s case, a neurological deficiency in his right eye that went undetected for many years was the root cause of his pain.  His brain prompted his body to adapt in subtle ways that created his pain problem.  Modern pain science demonstrates that pain, while felt in the tissues, originates in the brain as a survival tactic.

While this is critical in acute situations, chronic pain indicates that the brain has become wired to expect it, even when the damaged tissues have healed. Then the pain becomes, literally, in the head.

“It’s not in the brain in the sense that I made it up and I’ve wished it upon myself but It does become a psychological component because it starts to impact your ability to be present at work, or in your relationship, or with your kids, or function, or move.”

The development of chronic pain isn’t a linear process. Brendon compares it to a credit card that can serve a useful purpose until it’s over the credit limit.

“A simple injury can put us in this place where the nervous system goes ‘oh my gosh, buddy, we’re at or over the limit. And if we don’t change course we’re going to die.’”

When pain is prolonged, the wiring in the brain can change and the body perceives pain as the new normal. Eventually, low-level chronic pain develops into a bigger problem.

“if the brain is experiencing pain, the tissues are on high alert, expecting to look for pain and then it becomes a feedback look because it’s validating the pain experience and it becomes a viscous cycle.”

Scrambler Therapy

The pain solution used at Radiant Pain Relief Centres is a technology that the medical literature calls “scrambler therapy.” This technology involves the attachment of electrodes to the skin in the area of the pain when then provides the brain with new information that can change the pain experience.

“It acts like an artificial nerve, this technology, and it generates a dynamic and changing set of information, which is why it’s called scrambler therapy.”

Looking for more insights or information about Radiant Pain Relief Centres?

Join award-winning PEMF and wellness expert Dr. William Pawluk for unbiased, research-based information on Pulsed Electromagnetic Field (PEMF) therapy for home and clinical use. Dr. Pawluk frequently interviews health authorities, biohacking practitioners, and chronic pain experts to provide valuable health information on current trends and biomedical breakthroughs.

Dr. Christina Bjorndal, ND is one of the only licensed NDs in Canada who is considered an authority in the treatment of mental illnesses such as depression, anxiety, bipolar disorders, and eating disorders.

A gifted speaker and writer, she has shared her personal story and philosophy of wellness with audiences across North America.  She has appeared on many health summits, podcasts, webinars, and radio shows, including the Jenny McCarthy Show and a docuseries, “Interconnected.”

Dr. Chris has helped many patients navigate through labels and stigma towards physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual wellbeing.  Her personal experience with mental health challenges has made Dr. Chris an exceptional motivational speaker on overcoming barriers in life and encouraging others to achieve their full potential.

Dr. Chris is the author of four books on mental health, and the creator of a 10-week online course as well as an in-person retreat on mental health. Her body of works helps teach how to regain mental health using a physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual approach to health.

In this episode of the High-Tech Wellness Podcast, Dr. Chris shares her thoughts on spirituality and pain.

Highlights include:

1:30 Does God Hate You?

11:30 The Spiritual Role of Pain

19:49 Four Aspects of Being Human

29:52 Soul Contracts

37:50 Love Yourself First

Key insights that Dr. Chris will share include:

Does God Hate You?

When dealing with chronic pain, spirituality can be difficult.  People often find themselves questioning the idea of a loving God who has given them such incredible pain to handle.

Dr. Chris emphasizes that although it can feel like God is against you, it’s simply not true.

“We can get a bit jaded and we can lose our way a little bit in this connection with God. But what we really want to understand is God is always calling us to close this gap between this side of ourselves that might become a little bitter…”

The harsh way that people judge themselves can lead to fear of judgment by others and by God, she says.

“But at the end of the day, God is love…there is nothing but love and compassion there for you.”

The Spiritual Role of Pain

Physical pain signals can be a call for attention from the emotional side of pain.  The role of spirituality in pain is often to help the person suffering from pain reflect on difficult emotions that may not have been processed.  Learning to truly pay attention to the moment you are in can lead the way to real healing.

“One of the main spiritual roles of pain is for you to turn to the present moment…to figure out maybe what is the source and what is the root of this?”

Chronic pain can be the body’s way of letting you know what it needs to release in order to achieve wellness and optimal health.  Examining the trauma that you’ve been carrying allows the weight to be lifted.

Love Yourself First

The idea that love from someone else is necessary to make you whole is problematic, Dr. Chris says.  When people search for love outside themselves, they aren’t missing an essential component to healing.

Caretakers often make the mistake of giving so much to others that there’s nothing left over for themselves.  That’s why learning to set boundaries is so important, Dr. Chris says.

“We’re talking about really honoring who you are and what makes you tick as a human being. But at the same time, recognizing that you can’t give completely of yourself to the point where you’re depleting yourself to exhaustion and causing illness.”

Finding a spiritual anchor allows this self-love to develop.

“That’s something I’ve had to reframe, shift my attitude around…that understanding that I am here because I’m a representation of life and love, therefore of the Creator.”

Connect with Dr. Chris

Want more insights from Dr. Chris?

Join award-winning PEMF and wellness expert Dr. William Pawluk for unbiased, research-based information on Pulsed Electromagnetic Field (PEMF) therapy for home and clinical use. Dr. Pawluk frequently interviews health authorities, biohacking practitioners, and chronic pain experts to provide valuable health information on current trends and biomedical breakthroughs.

Join award-winning PEMF and wellness expert Dr. William Pawluk for unbiased, research-based information on Pulsed Electromagnetic Field (PEMF) therapy for home and clinical use. Dr. Pawluk frequently interviews health authorities, biohacking practitioners, and chronic pain experts to provide valuable health information on current trends and biomedical breakthroughs.

Join award-winning PEMF and wellness expert Dr. William Pawluk for unbiased, research-based information on Pulsed Electromagnetic Field (PEMF) therapy for home and clinical use. Dr. Pawluk frequently interviews health authorities, biohacking practitioners, and chronic pain experts to provide valuable health information on current trends and biomedical breakthroughs.

Join award-winning PEMF and wellness expert Dr. William Pawluk for unbiased, research-based information on Pulsed Electromagnetic Field (PEMF) therapy for home and clinical use. Dr. Pawluk frequently interviews health authorities, biohacking practitioners, and chronic pain experts to provide valuable health information on current trends and biomedical breakthroughs.

Join award-winning PEMF and wellness expert Dr. William Pawluk for unbiased, research-based information on Pulsed Electromagnetic Field (PEMF) therapy for home and clinical use. Dr. Pawluk frequently interviews health authorities, biohacking practitioners, and chronic pain experts to provide valuable health information on current trends and biomedical breakthroughs.

Join award-winning PEMF and wellness expert Dr. William Pawluk for unbiased, research-based information on Pulsed Electromagnetic Field (PEMF) therapy for home and clinical use. Dr. Pawluk frequently interviews health authorities, biohacking practitioners, and chronic pain experts to provide valuable health information on current trends and biomedical breakthroughs.