Taking a Team Approach: Integrated medicine optimizes joint health naturally

Carrera Williams, APRN, headlines care planning and does initial evaluations and regenerative injections at PC Medical Centers in Cape Girardeau. She offers these services in conjunction with the expertise offered by a chiropractic neurologist and exercise therapist to help patients heal long-term without the use of steroids, chronic medications and invasive surgery.

Aaron Eisenhauer

With the new year comes a focus on healing and becoming better, healthier versions of ourselves. Here, meet Carrera Williams, APRN at PC Medical Centers in Cape Girardeau, who shares her knowledge about the power of integrated medicine and the difference having a team of experts under one roof can make in a patient’s journey toward mobility. May her expertise usher in a year of health and movement for all.

Carrera Williams, APRN, became a nurse practitioner to help people, but after multiple years in the traditional medical model, she felt frustrated with prescribing medications and rushing appointments while talking with patients. So, approximately two years ago, she decided to join an integrated medical clinic where multiple types of experts work in the same building, using a team approach to patient care.

At PC Medical Centers in Cape Girardeau, the team practices regenerative medicine to help the body heal using the body itself, with the goal of giving patients a more natural option than symptom treatment and joint replacement surgery. They avoid using steroids, chronic medications and invasive surgery, which all carry increased risk for complications such as drug dependency, impaired tissue healing and worsening pain or stiffness. Instead, the PC Medical Centers team utilizes regenerative injection therapy to stimulate healing in the area of dysfunction, chiropractic manipulation to increase joint mobility and regenerative rehabilitation to treat muscle imbalances within the body.

“The goal with the integrated medical clinic … is to create a home base for patient care, where they can receive multiple services under one roof,” Williams says. “All of that care is coordinated together. So, it’s really a team approach, with the patient at the head of the team helping to guide care or to move that care along, so we get the best long-term results possible with the patient with the least-invasive procedures.”

Williams headlines care planning and does initial evaluations and regenerative injections in conjunction with the expertise offered by a chiropractic neurologist and the exercise therapist on staff. Together, they offer four tiers of service: injection therapy to improve the body’s ability to heal, chiropractic manipulation to keep the joints mobile and the body aligned to decrease abnormal wear and tear, regenerative exercises aimed at retraining muscle imbalances, and bracing to stabilize joints and reduce pain. The team meets multiple times throughout a patient’s treatment to discuss progress and adjust the treatment plan.

Together, they take a holistic approach to doing what is best for the patient’s long-term healing.

“The goal is even when you’re done with the program, that we’ve given you the tools that you need to help see continued success,” Williams says. “We don’t want you back in the office with the same problem. We want you to come back talking about how you’re doing even better than you thought you could, how you’re running and playing with your grandkids, or even getting down on the floor. We want to see that those results have continued and maybe even gotten better.”

PC Medical Centers

5 Doctors Park Drive

Cape Girardeau, Mo 63703

(573) 335-9188