Dr. Drew Timmermans

Dr. Drew Timmermans Naturopathic Doctor striving to address the root causes of chronic pain

I specialize in orthobiologic injections such as PRP therapy, platelet lysate, stem cell therapy, and ultrasound-guided nerve hydrodissection. Since 2015 I've treated 1,500+ cases and performed 10,000+ injections, and we track outcomes in a national registry so I can share real data, not marketing hype.

05/25/2026

In 2018 I underwent a bone marrow procedure for my lower back that targeted multiple pain sources. I experienced about 95% relief for the next four and a half years, until a new injury occurred at the gym. The sustained improvement from that single treatment illustrates how powerful this type of regenerative medicine can be for the right patient.

05/22/2026

Scar tissue behaves like an adhesion that can bind fascial layers together. When scar tissue forms over the top of the shoulder, it can restrict fascial gliding in that region so that simple motions like turning the head create tightness. This altered movement can stress the cervical facet joints, strain spinal ligaments, and irritate nerves that may sit some distance away from the original scar.

05/21/2026

Conservative therapies like exercise, sleep optimization, supplements, physical therapy, and peptides can be very helpful for chronic pain, but they do not work for everyone. When someone has done “all the right things” and is still limited by pain, escalating care can make more sense than endlessly searching for the next protocol. Interventional orthobiologics use careful diagnosis to pinpoint which joint, ligament, disc, or nerve is the main pain generator, then place PRP or other orthobiologics right at that site to support a more focused healing response.

05/20/2026

Two commonly overlooked nerves in the low back are the superior and middle cluneal nerves. They are peripheral cutaneous nerves, separate from the sciatic nerve, running closer to the skin and transmitting the sensations that the brain experiences as pain.

05/14/2026

Before committing to regenerative injections, evaluate how the clinic diagnoses your pain. The workup should include ample time to understand your story and a careful physical exam, not just a quick recommendation based on MRI images alone. Then ask about the platelet dose used in their PRP. Research, especially in knee osteoarthritis, consistently shows that higher platelet doses tend to produce better outcomes, while low-dose PRP is more likely to lead to a poor response.

05/12/2026

Effective treatment for low back pain starts with understanding the specific tissue-level source of pain. Similar symptoms, such as pain radiating down the leg, can be caused by nerve root compression, sacroiliac joint irritation, or facet joint problems, and each responds differently to interventions. When only a virtual visit is possible, the lack of a detailed physical exam makes it difficult to distinguish between these causes. A thorough, in-person evaluation allows for more accurate recommendations and better-targeted regenerative or interventional procedures.

Your "sciatica" may not be sciatica at all.The sacroiliac joint contributes to an estimated 15 to 30 percent of chronic ...
05/11/2026

Your "sciatica" may not be sciatica at all.

The sacroiliac joint contributes to an estimated 15 to 30 percent of chronic low back pain cases, and most providers in Mesa and the East Valley never directly test it. Pain that travels into the hip, groin, buttock, or down the leg gets labeled sciatica or a disc problem, and the treatments aimed at those diagnoses do not work because the source is somewhere else.

An MRI is often completely normal in SI joint dysfunction. The pain usually originates in the supporting ligaments, which do not show up clearly on standard imaging, so a clean scan does not rule the joint out. The most reliable clue is pain with transitions: sitting to standing, getting in and out of the car, rolling over in bed.

Treating the joint space alone misses the four ligaments that actually hold it together: iliolumbar, posterior sacroiliac, sacrospinous, and sacrotuberous. Each is identified on physical exam and treated individually under image guidance. Ligaments under ultrasound. The SI joint itself under both ultrasound and x-ray (fluoroscopy) for true intra-articular accuracy.

In our orthobiologic outcome registry of more than 376 cases tracked over 5 years, 78% of lumbosacral and pelvis patients report significant pain relief at 12 months, and 73% still report relief at 18 months.

If you know someone whose low back pain has been called sciatica or a disc problem and the treatments have not held, send this their way.

It can be frustrating when imaging comes back normal, yet your pain persists. What’s even worse is when you start to fea...
05/07/2026

It can be frustrating when imaging comes back normal, yet your pain persists. What’s even worse is when you start to fear that doctors won’t believe your pain because your scans are normal. You are not alone in this experience.

Your pain is a real and valid experience, and seeking support and resources can help you manage it in the best way possible, even when your scans are negative. This often means seeking out a new physician who is able to provide a more in depth physical examination that can evaluate your physical body despite negative scans.

05/06/2026

Chronic low back or orthopedic pain can be misattributed to small MRI abnormalities when the true pain generator lies elsewhere. Without a complete physical exam, issues in ligaments, nerves, or the SI joint can be missed, leading to procedures on the wrong target. Accurate diagnosis depends on combining imaging with a meticulous, structure-specific hands-on evaluation.

You've been told there's nothing else they can do for your joint pain.Cortisone has stopped working, PT plateaued, and s...
05/04/2026

You've been told there's nothing else they can do for your joint pain.

Cortisone has stopped working, PT plateaued, and surgery is on the table for a joint that keeps getting worse. That is where almost every patient is when they find us. The common thread: no one ever did the diagnostic work to identify which tissue is generating the pain, and that missing step is why everything before this point stopped working.

A quick reality check on cortisone. A 2017 trial in JAMA gave 140 patients cortisone every 3 months for 2 years vs saline, and the cortisone group lost significantly more cartilage with no better pain relief. If your path is repeated cortisone, the research suggests it may be accelerating the joint damage you are trying to avoid.

A joint is not one structure, and the pain is rarely from one structure either. We evaluate all five at every appointment: cartilage, tendons, ligaments, peripheral nerves, and subchondral bone. Treat one, miss the others, and the pain comes back.

PRP that fails almost always fails on dose. The industry norm is a 30–60 mL draw and a quick spin; we draw 120–300 mL and process for 60–90 minutes. Every sample we inject exceeds 2 billion platelets per mL, well above the published minimum therapeutic threshold of 1.2 billion per mL.

A 2024 meta-analysis in the American Journal of Sports Medicine found PRP statistically superior to cortisone, hyaluronic acid, and saline for knee osteoarthritis, with benefits at 18 months and published evidence at 5 years. Across 376+ cases in our DataBiologics orthobiologic registry, 76.9% of patients achieve clinically meaningful pain relief, 76.8% achieve meaningful function improvement, and pain reduction averages 57.6% by 18 months. Earlier beats later: treatment within 6 months of symptom onset sees 84–93% responder rates.

If cortisone has stopped working for you, it has probably stopped working for someone you know too. Most people do not know PRP exists, let alone that protocol decides whether it works. Hit the paper-airplane and pass this along.

Education only. Individual results may vary.

Address

726 N Greenfield Road, Suite 101
Gilbert, AZ
85234

Opening Hours

Monday 9am - 5pm
Tuesday 9am - 5pm
Thursday 9am - 5pm
Friday 9am - 5pm

Telephone

+14805084226

Website

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