Dr. Kenneth Proefrock graduated from Southwest College of Naturopathic Medicine in 1996 with his doctorate in medicine and specialty training in sports medicine. Prior to naturopathic medical school, he received degrees in Chemistry and Zoology from Northern Arizona University and worked as a Research and Development/Quality Assurance Chemist for Procter & Gamble. For the past 25 years, he has conducted a very busy, Naturopathic medical practice in Surprise, Arizona and, for the past 14 of those years, he has been focused on the clinical aspects of neurologic injury and the development of innovative and customizable interventions using autologously derived materials. He is also the current president for the North American Board of Naturopathic Examiners (NABNE), the chairperson for the biochemistry portion of the Naturopathic Physician’s Licensing Exam (NPLEX), and co-founder and current President of the Naturopathic Oncology Research Institute (NORI).
Neurological injury is the leading cause of death and disability in children the world over. The pathophysiology of traumatic brain injury includes blood-brain barrier breakdown, widespread neuroinflammation, diffuse axonal injury, and subsequent neurodegeneration. The past three decades have seen exciting treatment options emerging for pediatric brain injury patients that include hyperbaric oxygen therapy, noninvasive brain stimulation, task-oriented functional electrical stimulation, and numerous behavioral/physical therapies. Some of these emerging treatment options entail the use of autologous therapies, harvesting a tissue like blood or fat in order for it to be re-allocated to another area of the body for neuro-regeneration and repair. Autologous tissue transplantation has been shown to increase endogenous cellular proliferation and promote immature neural differentiation in the injured regions of the brain. In this presentation, we will go into some depth about the development and clinical utility of Autologous Transplant techniques with Platelet Rich Plasma (PRP), and fractions of cellular material from stromal vascular tissue (SVF) using hyaluronic acid scaffolding. We will also be discussing the use of the enzyme hyaluronidase as an adjunctive therapy for patients with dystonia, and the clinical utility of liposome based dietary supplements for children with cerebral damage.