How we got started

Our organization was created through the generosity of Michael Marcus. Several years ago, Michael injured his low back after a fall. Within months of his fall he was experiencing excruciating low back and leg pain. After consulting with several medical physicians, he was diagnosed with a lumbar disc herniation and referred to a spine surgeon. Uncertain about this recommendation, Michael decided to do some research on low back surgery and sought advice from others who had received this treatment. Discouraged by stories of failed back surgery and continued pain, Michael decided against surgery for himseld and sought alternatives.

This lead him to try numerous non-surgical therapies, some of which helped temporarily, but the severe pain persisted. While vacationing in Sun Valley, Idaho, Michael discussed his back pain with a local juice bar owner who told him about a chiropractor in Irvine, California, that he should contact. This was Dr. Jim Wooley, who diagnosed Michael with a coccyx (tailbone) injury due to his fall, in addition to the disc herniation. To address dysfunction and impaired mobility from the coccyx injury, Dr. Wooley recommended a form of manipulation under anesthesia (MUA) called intravenous sedation, analgesia-assisted traction therapy, or IVSAATT, a technique protocol he had developed with Dr. Chris Kemper.

Michael experienced a considerable improvement in pain and mobility following several IVSAATT treatments. To stabilize the ligaments that were likely injured during Michael's fall and may have contributed to his disc herniation, Dr. Wooley also referred him to a medical physician offering Prolotherapy, a treatment involving repeated injection of sclerosing solutions to stimulate healing. Several treatments later, Michael was well on his way to a complete recovery from the severe, chronic low back pain that had once confined him to a stretcher.

Michael was overjoyed at his recovery but puzzled that few people knew about the treatments he had benefitted from. He then learned that these treatments, and many others considered experimental by medical physicians, were not widely used due to lack of rigorous scientific research demonstrating clear benefits and acceptable safety. To overcome this lack of scientific research to support treatments such as IVSAATT and Prolotherapy, Michael offered to provide some funding to conduct research into these, and other, promising forms of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM).

CAM Research Institute was then founded by Drs. Jim Wooley and Simon Dagenais to carry out this type of research.

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