The power of light

Dr. Patricia Delzell, founder of Advanced Musculoskeletal Medicine Consultants, is helping patients find relief from various debilitating conditions—including chronic pain—when other, more traditional methods have failed. Here are the stories of three patients who have found success and have taken back their lives:

Story #1: Beating Back the Eternal Footman

When successful business owner Felix Federowicz sold his business and retired, life was wonderful. His health was good, and he and his wife were building a beautiful new home in Solon’s Barrington Estates.

Then, in late 2022, Felix—who had played full-court basketball well into his sixties—began experiencing breathing problems. “Just bending over made me out of breath, as if I’d run a mile,” he says.

He saw a cardiologist who performed “every test known to mankind,” and was told his heart was fine. So, the cardiologist referred him to a pulmonologist—a lung doctor. That’s when he got the bad news.

“She told me my oxygen levels were low because I had scarring in my lungs, a genetic lung disorder called idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis [IPF],” Felix explains. “She said the progression cannot be stopped, and it’s lethal. So I asked the question: How long do I have? And she said 18 months to three years.”

Felix was prescribed pharmaceuticals, but the side effects were “terrible,” so he began doing his own research online and discovered a pain management doctor in California who was diagnosed with the same disorder and treated himself with infrared (IR) laser therapy, employing a protocol with a specific combination of wavelengths designed to decrease inflammation in the more normal lung, minimize progression, and sometimes reverse the existing fibrosis in the lung.

It worked.

“The laser therapy stopped the progression and he’s still living 25 years after the diagnosis,” Felix says. “It makes sense. If laser therapy works to repair scar tissue to reduce pain, why wouldn’t it work on the scarring in my lungs?”

He then found local physician Dr. Patricia Delzell, whose office features the same Class IV infrared laser. She began treating him in her office in March of 2024 with the appropriate protocols to treat IPF. 

It worked, too. Felix began to breathe better and got off his oxygen.

“I went back to my pulmonologist who did a new CT scan,” he says. “My breathing tests were much better, and the disease was not progressing. But the doctor could not understand why I was not getting worse. When I told her what I was doing with Dr. Delzell, she said, ‘That’s not protocol.’ Honestly, it seemed like she was rooting for the treatments to fail.”

Felix now has laser therapy at Advanced MMC once a week. “I’m breathing so much better,” he says. “In February of 2024, I thought I had a miserable 18 months ahead of me, and now I feel that IPF will not be the thing that kills me.”

Story #2: Freedom from Numbness and Pain

For years, Bob Maloney, of Bratenahl, has had numbness in his upper left leg due to a sports injury or his time in the army. “I have a chipped hip bone, and a piece of that bone could be floating around, affecting the nerve,” he explains. “My leg was numb for about 20 years; then it suddenly turned painful last summer. It went from numbness—which was easy to put up with—to extreme pain. There were times when I could not get out of bed.”

Bob then turned to a major hospital system. “They put me in physical therapy for five weeks. I couldn’t take the pain, so my doctor recommended Dr. Delzell. Through ultrasound, she found the inflamed nerve that comes out of my lower back into my hip. She gave me a steroid shot, and it took all the pain away almost instantly—within one day—and put me on a vitamin regimen.”

Today, Bob receives laser treatments a couple of times a month at Advanced MMC and suffers no more pain. “I’m pain-free for the first time in a whole year,” he says. “Not only that, 90 percent of the numbness is gone, too. I wish I had known about this 20 years ago.”

One of the fastest-growing trends in the treatment of chronic pain is the use of
IR laser therapy. And while more physicians’ offices are acquiring the sophisticated Class IV infrared laser, not everyone knows how to use it properly. Dr. Delzell is one of the nation’s leading authorities on laser treatments as well diagnostic ultrasound.

 IR laser light therapy is only one of many services Dr. Delzell provides in her office. As an integrative chronic pain medicine physician, she offers many other options to help people along their journey through the pain. Not every patient requires or will even necessarily benefit from IR laser therapy. Sometimes, the solution may even be a simpler one:

Story #3: Three Simple Remedies

Barbara Daniel of Aurora was suffering from the pain of carpal tunnel syndrome. “The pain was so disruptive because it wakes you up at night,” she says. “I had surgery on my left wrist, but I did not like the process at all. I was supposed to have surgery on my right wrist but reached out to Dr. Delzell instead. I knew her from a women’s network we both belong to. She did an ultrasound and other testing and offered me very simple remedies.”

Dr. Delzell asked Barbara to do three things. “The first thing was to get a wrist brace,” she says. “I never would have thought of that and the surgeon, of course, did not mention it. I don’t like to take drugs, and that’s what I like most about Dr. Delzell. That’s not what she offers you unless it’s absolutely what you need. I got the wrist brace and wear it every night. I don’t need to wear it during the day.”

Second, Dr. Delzell gave Barbara a list of exercises to do specifically for the wrist. “They are simple and easy to do. You do them every day, any time of day. And ’lo and behold, it worked.”

The third component was also easy to do. “When I wash my hands or do the dishes, I run my wrist under hot water. I do that for a few minutes and it makes a huge difference. So because of these three simple things—and no drugs—I do not have to have carpal tunnel surgery at this time, maybe never. Dr. Delzell also did blood work and recommended supplements to improve my overall health.”

Barbara had one other thing to say about Dr. Delzell. “She’s no-nonsense. She spent a lot of time with me on the initial Zoom call, so we got right down to business on my first appointment. And I don’t have to go back as long as I keep doing the three simple things. She’s very good about not wasting your time—or your money.”

Advanced Musculoskeletal Medicine Consultants’ offices are at 8401 Chagrin Rd., Suite 20A, in Chagrin Falls. Call 440-557-5011 to schedule a chronic pain phone consultation. For more information, including blogs and videos, visit AdvancedMMC.com.