Thinking and acting outside any conventional box is not for the faint of heart. Rather it is for courageous individuals who are open to shifting paradigms, written or unwritten frameworks of thought, which have long been upheld as traditions within our culture. Paradigm shifters, such as Jan Kersschot MD, the father of biopuncture, are in the business of creating a new future for medicine. Polina Karmazin, a Doctor of Medicine and Board Certified family physician, and Robert Davis, a Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine, are several of the paradigm pioneers who are open-minded enough to follow in his footsteps to make sure the shift continues to gain momentum.

In 2007, Karmazin, founder of Integrated Family Medicine LLC, was already blending modern and alternative approaches to medicine when she enrolled in one of Kersschot’s seminars on biopuncture, an injection therapy which uses safe and gentle FDA regulated biotherapeutic and homeopathic substances to stimulate natural biological repair. “My mother is a medical doctor who uses homeopathic remedies, so I grew up around them,” says Karmazin, who comes from a family of physicians.

Although she was trained as an allopathic physician, Karmazin never abandoned her interest in a holistic approach to medicine. After graduating from Kishinev State Medical Institute in 1976, she served an internship at an acupuncture medical center. “Acupuncture is a big part of my practice as is homeopathy and biopuncture,” says Karmazin.

In 1997, Davis joined Karmazin in providing a holistic approach to patient care with homeopathic or osteopathic treatments in conjunction with traditional medicine. “Dr. Karmazin and I both took our initial training from Dr. Kersschot and since then have gone on to take advanced biopuncture training,” says Davis. “Dr. Kersschot’s continued practice and case studies have led to a refinement in protocols regarding new areas on the body which are injected as well as the type of substances used.”

Polina Karmazin, M.D.

For example, a small vial of the homeopathic medication, Traumeel, an anti-inflammatory and analgesic formulation of 12 botanical and two mineral substances, can be injected for inflammation and sports injuries. Its inflammation-regulating effects are due to direct impact on immune cells. As only low doses are injected, toxic side effects are very unlikely.

Both Karmazin and Davis report that they are successful in using biopuncture to treat patients for back and neck pain. Karmazin sites an example of the treatment’s effectiveness. “A patient with back and neck pain couldn’t lie down on the table because of her severe neck discomfort, therefore I had to treat her neck first,” explains Karmazin, who adds that after only four weeks of biopuncture injections the neck pain was gone. “Thereafter alternating biopuncture and acupuncture treatments on her back, for a total of two visits per week, she has had great results.”

Davis offers his example of a patient who complained of tennis elbow, a condition where the outer part of the elbow becomes sore and tender. “He had nagging pain in the lateral part of his elbow and it extended into the forearm causing his muscles to weaken,” advises Davis, who adds that the patient had previously seen a physician who injected for three shots of cortisone, prescribed anti-inflammatory medication and physical therapy and advised him to wear a tennis elbow strap. “A four-week period of biopuncture injections produced excellent results and six months later he is still symptom free,” notes Davis.

Two positive things that Karmazin and Davis like to point out about biopuncture are the minimal or essentially painless tiny gauge needles that are used for injections as well as the fact that each treatment is based on the patient’s response to the previous one.

Both doctors also biopuncture to shorten the duration or diminish the intensity of flu symptoms or the respiratory discomfort of a cold. “We have found that it is also effective for TMJ, headaches, asthma, acid reflux and even irritable bowel, which is a complex disorder,” they say.

“Biopuncture is a safe, natural, and effective treatment for many problems,” says Karamzin, “and there is no need to wait until orthodox treatments have failed to try it.”

Integrated Family Medicine, LLC, 701 Cooper Rd. Ste 16, Voorhees 08043. Call 856-783-5000 or visit Sjifm.com