Dr. Curtis Martin’s first real memory of medicine was at the age of six, standing in the hospital in the city of Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. He was more than a 10-hour drive plus a ferry ride away from his hometown of Port Mcneill on Vancouver Island. He stood there in the hospital with his mother and older sister, looking at his father. His father was suffering with debilitating back pain, and the doctors were trying to figure out what to do. He remembers the immense fear and uncertainty he felt. His father was a strong and stoic man, a heavy-duty mechanic who had grown up on a farm working the land and was no stranger to hard physical work. Curtis watched his father lying helpless in the bed before him, waiting for care and barely able to tolerate the pain. After a long wait, he was told he needed surgery, and there was nothing more that could be done. Allan Martin was discharged home to wait for the soonest surgery date he was given six months out. At home, Curtis watched his father in agony, barely able to move, while his terrified mother was trying to look after the family. “It was terrible, and worse knowing there was nothing I could do but stand by his side and wait.” Indeed, after a short time, his father became desperate. Unwilling to wait and feeling he had nothing to lose, Allan got a recommendation from a friend to go see a chiropractor in Vancouver. “That guy is a miracle worker!” said the friend. He took a chance and made the long, painful 10-hour journey back to Vancouver to see Dr. Brian Blower. In his weakened condition, it was actually more than a day’s journey, and so he had to stay with his sister for a whole six months to receive necessary treatment from the chiropractor. When he finally came home to his family, he no longer needed surgery and was able to resume the life he had left behind. At that point, he functioned very well and without pain. However, because of the distance to Dr. Blower’s office, he was not able to receive regular care. His family was used to limited access to health services because of where they lived. But his family wished that the relief that Allan received and, indeed, the care Dr. Blower gave to the whole family was readily available to them in their community. The people in Port Mcneill chopped wood, went hunting and fishing and led active lives connected to the outdoors. Chiropractic like this was a miracle solution for those looking to lead active lives without depending on medicine. To young Curtis, Dr. Blower could not have been a more important man for saving his dad and his family.
Two years later, however, his dad noticed a small polyp in his nose that was bothering him. The doctor said not to worry that it could be simply removed in a routine outpatient procedure. However, while in the clinic, something went terribly wrong, and suddenly Allan was in anaphylaxis. Curtis saw his dad almost die that day. He was only narrowly revived with emergency interventions and adrenaline. Because their family almost never used medicine, Allan had no idea he was highly allergic to a simple aspirin. This event was especially terrifying for young Curtis because, growing up, he knew the story of his grandfather’s death. Because of a freak accident when Curtis’s dad was only a 13-year-old boy, his grandfather was suddenly gone, leaving Allan as the head of his large family on the farm. He knew his dad still felt immense grief from that loss so long ago. With the backdrop of his family history and having almost lost his own father that day, Curtis now held a deep fear and mistrust of medical intervention.
Unfortunately, his father’s back troubles were not over. Although he saw the chiropractor as much as he could when he was feeling symptoms, because his condition was not regularly maintained, problems would arise. It was when Curtis was 15 that his father’s back began to have an especially bad episode. Over the years, he had found a chiropractor halfway down the island to help him when he couldn’t get to Dr. Blower. On this occasion, because of how much he hurt, he knew he had to get help fast. The family only had one car, so while his mother worked and cared for his sister, Curtis was charged to travel with his dad, carry his bags and assist him in the 3-hour bus ride down-island. Seeing his dad in this state caused the past to echo and weigh on his young heart. As they traveled, Allan got worse and worse. They were almost there when this 15-year-old boy, who had never seen his father cry, watched as tears streamed down Allan’s face. He told his son that he couldn’t make it and had to go to the hospital. Knowing how allergic his father could be to unknown medication and having no medical knowledge himself, Curtis was terrified. In fact, all he could think about was the abrupt death of his grandfather. Would history be repeated? Curtis recounts clearly a moment he remembers as he sat alone and scared in the cafeteria of the hospital. He recognizes this as being the moment he chose to work for health and ultimately chose the life of a doctor. He prayed to God and asked to become a chiropractor so he could care for his father and keep him safe. As the only son of a mechanic and a school teacher in a tiny remote Northern logging town, this was a big ask.
“By all accounts, my childhood shouldn’t have led me into medicine. I didn’t know anyone who wanted to become a doctor, and I was never good in school. I had never even planned to go to college! But suddenly, I knew I had a big purpose, and God directed me to that purpose. It was actually pretty ironic because my high school guidance counselor told me not to take college prep courses because I would only ever work with my hands. I guess he was right! Despite all that, at 26 years old, I was a chiropractor right out of school and ready to make a difference. In my heart, helping people like my dad to avoid needless suffering and live strong has always been my passion, mission, and drive,” Dr. Martin smiles.
His Doctor of Chiropractic Degree was from Western States in Portland, Oregon. His school was more medically oriented than most chiropractic colleges, and he received a strong background in diagnosis and physical exam. Driven by his own passion to be a great healer, however, he wanted more and attended endless seminars with top adjusters and technique gurus outside of his rigorous curriculum. As he continued his accelerated learning into his practice years, his precision and reputation grew. Working only with his hands, he was continually amazed at how well his patients did! Not only getting out of pain, he started to notice that many were getting off of prescription drugs like inhalers, lowering or discarding blood pressure meds, antacids, and even blood sugar medications! At first surprised, he then started to understand the rather obvious connection between organ function and pinched nerves at the spine. “Even beyond chiropractic, I started to understand that the body is an incredible healing organism, more than we can possibly know! If we can remove interference, whatever that interference may be, whether it’s chemical, emotional, or structural, the body can heal or adapt from anything. This is the basic philosophy of chiropractic and a strength that I’ve seen proven over and over again by thousands of patients,” he said. “This frankly gave me great hope as a young doctor, and it excited me to be able to help people so much!” Rather quickly over the next decade, with his reputation for excellent results and service leading the way, he found himself the owner of three clinics, training a full staff and many other doctors in his techniques.
On October 25, 2016, life was about to change again. An unexpected accident forced his wife to call 911, and in the middle of the night, Dr. Martin was taken by ambulance to the hospital, where they spent several days trying to control the full-body spasms and debilitating back pain he could barely withstand. Having flashbacks of his childhood and terrified of what this would mean for his life and practice, he lay in the bed, in and out of consciousness. After four days, he was discharged home into his wife’s care with a bottle of prednisone and a walker. Realizing that chiropractic adjustments alone would not give him his life back because the damage was too great, he was forced to look for new solutions. Praying that he could regain his strength and health without constant pain, Dr. Curtis Martin began a new journey. Reevaluating his philosophy, he started studying anything he could find to make sense of his situation. This is how he found regenerative medicine and cellular healing. “It made sense that sickness could accumulate in the cells, disabling the body’s innate wisdom and healing power.” Ultimately, he began to realize that there is a new “smart medicine” gaining momentum and that the most successful and cutting-edge treatments are those that harness and enhance the body’s self-healing ability at the cellular level. At first, he was terrified that his beliefs had failed. He dreaded that he would have to submit to traditional medicine and succumb to the risks of a major surgery, something he had feared his whole life! What started as a very real crisis of faith ultimately led him back to a deep reverence and trust in nature.
“I realized that the interference in the human body has evolved and changed form! This has happened gradually over time since my grandfather was a kid with the introduction of modern chemicals and other types of stress he never had to deal with. We are seeing new increases in chronic illness and disease that weren’t here before. Now more than ever, it’s not only structural interference like I was taught. Now, we see powerful emotional and chemical disruptions that cannot be overlooked! We can’t fix these new problems with solely the tools of the past, and this realization is what sent me diving into regenerative medicine and, ultimately, into Soft Wave technology, which, at a cellular level, is really powerful! All my career, I had resisted using technology to override the systems of the body, and yet here is a machine that actually works with the body, magnifying the innate ability of the cell to heal itself! And ultimately, it helped me.”
Shockwave therapy, whose medical term is ESWT or Extra Shockwave Therapy, is a profound addition to healthcare originating in Europe that Martin feels is a massive piece of modern medicine. “To explain shockwave therapy, it’s basically a unique hydroelectric acoustic wave, a special sound wave in water. They use a similar wave for lithotripsy to break up kidney stones because, at these very high doses, it is catabolic, meaning it breaks down tissues. SoftWave is different because it passes through normal tissue without harming it but recognizes damaged cells and helps to quickly recycle them. This is incredibly helpful for scar tissue in old injuries by removing restriction to a joint without an invasive surgery! Treatment also triples blood flow to the area, which brings focused oxygen, nutrients, and immune cells needed for healing. Lastly, it creates a mechanical transduction. What this means is that it pushes inward, putting pressure on the cells almost like a basketball. It squeezes the cell, and in response, the body has a rebound effect. When the cell goes under pressure and then bounces back, the body recognizes the stress via its innate intelligence. Immediately, it uses cell signaling to sequester and then release a small vesicle from the outside of the cellular wall. This is called an exosome. Exosomes are basically powerful little packets of chemical signalers essential for tissue regeneration within the body. They are a massive and crucial form of communication. When the body releases exosomes in the area of the injury, they are filled with growth hormones and other repair-directed chemicals made by the cell. The contents of the exosome are released at the site of the injury. In response, the body reacts and recruits stem cells to the area, telling them to build and repair whatever you need: bone, muscle, tendon, ligament, cartilage, and whatever else is necessary for that injury to heal innately. Those exosomes are like smart little power packs of fuel turning on the stem cells and helping them grow and develop. Everyone is talking about the power of stem cells, but the truth is that without the direction and communication of the exosomes, it doesn’t matter how many stem cells you have! Undirected stem cells are like architects with no plans, they can’t build anything. That’s the power of this machine, to tap into and enhance your body’s own repair system. There is literally no other device in the U.S. that does that, and it’s fairly new to this country, even though it has been successfully used in Europe for well over a decade. That’s why this is such an incredible breakthrough for patients! SoftWave is fast, effective and uniquely non-invasive. It’s also probably one of the most inexpensive forms of treatment when compared to surgery and other treatment options at this level, like hyaluronic acid, PRP, PRF, and stem cell injections. Also, because of how it activates stem cells, it is incredible for boosting the efficacy of stem cell injectables, enhancing the more invasive procedures that some patients elect. In fact, using SoftWave on an area pre and post-surgery has been used successfully to speed healing and minimize scar tissue. I love having something that is so safe and effective to offer patients with a wide variety of problems, and I’ve seen miracles happen almost daily from using this. It’s incredible!” He shared with me that he is also currently collaborating with other doctors, helping them to add SoftWave to already successful protocols and making them better. “This is a perfect example of how unique technology can actually work with the body, harnessing the power of nature. I am excited to see what else will develop in the next five to ten years, and I’m looking at how we can translate this to helping more people.”
For Dr. Martin’s own health, even before he really knew how to use the machine, his first few treatments gave him significant improvement. So, he bought a machine and started using it in his clinics. It worked very well, so he bought two more to have one at each office and started learning. He began a research and development process that took shape over several years. “This machine is so new to the US that not a lot of information existed on what to do to get the best results and what it could be used for. It just worked so darn well that the NFL and other sports franchises started using it to help players recover and improve performance. But most clinicians had no idea what to do and how to apply SoftWave in an effective treatment plan for a wider range of patients.” He began developing and refining protocols to improve outcomes and broaden application. He talked to other doctors and clinicians using the machine to understand their experiences. He talked to the makers of the device in Germany to have a deeper understanding of the technology. He questioned how different settings and energy levels would penetrate different areas of the body. He interviewed Rafael Gonzales, a leading scientist in the field of stem cell harvesting and proliferation. He wanted to understand more clearly how stem cells respond to the hydroelectric acoustic wave and why the body responded so magnificently to it. He talked to Harry Adelson, a cutting-edge doctor doing some of the most highly respected procedures for stem cell injections in the spine. He then developed principles and guidelines into practices that he could teach to his doctors for clinical excellence. He interviewed Dr. Dan Pompa, an innovator and leader in the field of cellular detox. He realized that by optimizing cellular health, the power of the body to heal became exponentially up-leveled. He also met Glade Tuckett, a lead distributor for SoftWave, who was excited by how much Dr. Martin knew about advanced techniques to use the machine. Glade had written the only existing manual for the Soft Wave machine, and he asked Dr. Martin to help rewrite it! Soon, other doctors outside his organization wanted to learn from him, too.
As he did his research, he got to know many more key innovators in the health space of regenerative medicine, and as he did, he realized that what he was doing offered something unique. At this point, he had over two decades now of successful chiropractic practice while running three offices. He also had many years of experience coaching over 35 other chiropractic offices to significantly higher levels of success. He had enjoyed coaching; however, with the injury he sustained, he had stopped in order to focus on his health. With all he had learned and the healing he received, he was ready to start something new. Repeatedly since he stopped, colleagues had reached out to him, eager to get his advice. Now, he had a growing number of doctors who, hearing of his success, wanted him to be their coach. They wanted to know how to use Softwave with excellence and how to teach patients what it is and how it works. They also needed a successful business model in order to serve large masses of people and bring this incredible therapy to regular patients. The potential to really help moms and dads, active people, older people, those with heavy physical jobs, and the countless people with chronic old injuries with this therapy is largely unrealized. In the beginning of 2022, Dr. Curtis Martin decided to do just that, and the Alignment Health Practice Group was born. He has created a learning platform through which he runs a program helping clinicians learn core treatment procedures to a high level of excellence. His advanced higher-level program includes the latest protocols for complex cases, how to educate patients, and train staff to integrate SoftWave technology successfully. This becomes a powerful new branch of their existing clinic or a model for profitable stand-alone offices. For the last year, he has quickly grown to doing this in 40 offices across the United States. With this early success, his company is now working on a project to make SoftWave readily available to huge numbers of people in need by opening 500 offices nationwide in the next two to five years.
“This is going to really change how people feel about the options they have to get well. Most of us want to stay active and don’t want to just bear the pain and wait to get so bad that surgery is your best option. By having SoftWave available in most cities, a lot more people will have access to help within reach and without downtime. Many people will actually be able to avoid the risks and side effects of surgeries, injections, and prescription medication by getting the help they need early on. There is a time and place for drugs and surgery, and for some, it is their only option, but I think most of us hope to avoid those risks but still get to heal and live a great life. I just feel that if patients can achieve that, naturally, we’re definitely making this world a better place. It’s funny, looking back, I didn’t really set out to have such a big mission, I really just dreamed about helping my own family. Somewhere along the way, it became more about everyone’s family.”
If you are a healthcare provider who is striving to achieve clinical excellence, SoftWave Therapy is an outstanding opportunity to better serve your patients. If your clinical focus is in chiropractic, podiatry, physical therapy, urology, or neuropathy, or if you want to maximize the effects of injectables in regenerative medicine, please reach out to Dr. Martin and his team through www.alignmenthealthpracticegroup.com or by calling (925) 633–7922 to explore if their coaching would benefit your practice. If you are a patient who hopes to benefit from this incredible.
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