Dr. Joanne Gordon, a naturopathic physician / physical therapist, focuses her practice on working with
people who have musculoskeletal pain and hormonal problems.
I have been practicing in OC for the past 8 years focusing on musculoskeletal pain and hormone
imbalances. I have a very unique way of working with patients. When someone comes in to see me, I
take a complete health history in order to get a full picture of the problem. I want to know when the
problem began, what’s being affected and any contributing factors and such as stress, diet, digestion,
hormone imbalance, sleep habits, recent trauma, food sensitivities, etc.. When there is a pain problem, I
incorporate manual therapy (osteopathic manipulation) into the treatment, always working with the
whole body. I see the spine and extremities as a continuous unit, with one end affecting the other. What
this means to you is, if you have a neck problem, I will start at your feet and treat up from there, if you
have an ankle problem, I will still work the whole body. I explain it as a domino effect, especially in the
spine.
One of my favorite treatments for joint pain is prolotherapy. Prolotherapy is an all-natural injection
treatment that heals ligaments and tendons. It’s the only treatment that I have found that directly
addresses the source of many pain problems. Ligaments are often overlooked as pain generators
because there aren’t many ways to treat them. Most people are given strengthening exercises to
stabilize the joint, but the muscles become overworked and start to tighten up. Prolotherapy allows the
muscles to relax because the ligaments get stronger and are able to stabilize the area.
Hormones are powerful messengers within the body. They influence how the body works physically,
mentally and emotionally. I only use bio-identical hormones. This means that the hormones I use match
the body chemistry exactly. Hormones that are not bio-identical often have unwanted side-effects. I
test hormone levels to optimize my treatment approaches. All hormones need to be treated holistically
because they all complement each other in many ways. The natural hormones I work with are thyroid
hormones, adrenal hormones (cortisol and DHEA), and sex hormones (estrogen, progesterone, and
testosterone).
