Gustav Anders Hemwall

Infobox Person
name = Gustav Anders Hemwall

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image_size = 250px
caption = Hemwall circa 1990-1995
birth_date = birth date|1908|10|24|mf=y
birth_place = Chicago, Illinois
death_date = death date and age|1998|11|22|1908|10|24|mf=y
death_place = St. Mary's Hospital
Madison, Wisconsin
occupation = Physician
spouse = Helen M. Moore (m. 1933)
known_for = Prolotherapy
parents = Anders Hemwall I (1887-1956)
Sigrid S. Lawson (1877-c1960)
children =

Gustav Anders Hemwall (October 24, 1908 – November 22, 1998) was a physician at West Suburban Hospital in Oak Park, Illinois and pioneer in Prolotherapy. cite web |url=http://getprolo.com/the_history_of_prolotherapy.htm |title=The History of Prolotherapy. |accessdate=2007-08-26 |quote=In 1955, at an American Medical Association meeting, Dr. Gustav Hemwall was astonished to see so many doctors at one particular exhibit. The presenter was talking about a very successful treatment for chronic low back pain. Nothing was worse at the time for Dr. Hemwall than having a chronic low back pain patient come to him, because the treatments he was able to offer were not very successful. The doctor doing the presentation was George S. Hackett, M.D., and he was discussing the technique of Prolotherapy. Once the crowd diminished, Dr. Hemwall asked Dr. Hackett how he could learn the treatment described in his book, Ligament and Tendon Relaxation Treated by Prolotherapy. Dr. Hemwall went to Dr. Hackett's office in Canton, Ohio, to learn the technique. Dr. Hemwall became so proficient at administering the technique that Dr. Hackett would later refer patients to him. Prolotherapy owes a great debt to Dr. Hemwall. Between 1955 until his retirement in 1996, he was the main instructor and proponent of Prolotherapy in the United States. He was not a researcher but a clinician, and perhaps the world's greatest Prolotherapist. He treated more than 10,000 patients world wide and collected data on 8,000 of these patients. In 1974, Dr. Hemwall presented his largest survey of 2,007 Prolotherapy patients to the Prolotherapy Association. |publisher= ] [cite news |first= |last= |authorlink= |coauthors= |title=Prolotherapy |url= |quote=Dr. Hemwall inserts needles into of the back and injects a simple dextrose solution, [which] sets up a localized inflammatory condition and stimulates the body to build new fibrous material in the weak ... Dr. Hemwall explained [it] causes the ligaments to become stronger thus eliminating the back pain ... |publisher=News Journal |date=Sunday, October 1, 1972 |accessdate=2007-08-21 ]

Personal

Gustav was born in 1908 in Chicago to the Swedish immigrant Anders Hemwall I (1887-1956) and Sigrid S. Lawson (1877-1957). His father was a tailor. His siblings include: Anders Hemwall II (1904) who died as an infant; Ruth Elizabeth Hemwall (1905-1993) who married Charles Peter Tiedje I (1912-1980); and Helen Edith Hemwall (1913-1997) who never married. [cite news |first= |last= |authorlink= |coauthors= |title=Helen Edith Hemwall |url= |quote=Miss Hemwall was born Jan. 16, 1913 in Chicago. She was a graduate of Austin High School and Northwestern University, where she was a member of Phi Chi ... |publisher=Forest Leaves |date=July 17, 1997 |accessdate=2007-08-21 ] Gustav married Helen M. Moore in 1933. He died in 1998 of a stroke at St. Mary's Hospital in Madison, Wisconsin, where he had been attending a medical conference. He was buried in Woodlawn Cemetery in Chicago. [cite web |url=http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=8730979 |title=Gustav A. Hemwall |accessdate=2007-08-26 |quote= |publisher=Findagrave ] [cite news |first= |last= |authorlink= |coauthors= |title=Dr. Gustav Hemwall, Medical Humanitarian. |url= |quote=Dr. Hemwall, 90, died Sunday of a stroke in St. Mary's Hospital in Madison, Wisconsin, where he had been attending a medical conference. "This man was pure gold," said Paul Jordan, an orthopedic surgeon who worked with Dr. Hemwall. "He lived a very sacrificial life. He took just superb care of people and he took care of the total person, their body, their mind and their soul." Afterward, Dr. Hemwall started doing medical charity work. He helped found MAP International, an organization that now donates more than $90 million in medicine and medical supplies around the world each year. Former Surgeon General C. Everett Koop was one of the original directors of MAP and a friend of Dr. Hemwall's. ... |publisher=Chicago Tribune |date=November 22, 1998 |accessdate=2007-08-21 ] cite news |first= |last= |authorlink= |coauthors= |title=Gustav Anders Hemwall |url= |quote=A memorial service for physician Gustav Anders Hemwall will be held at 1 p.m. January 9 in Calvary Church, 931 Lake St., Oak Park. ... He was born Oct. 24, 1908 in Chicago, to his Swedish immigrant parents, the late Anders and Sigrid, nee Larsson, Hemwall. He married Helen M. Moore on July ... |publisher=Forest Leaves |date=December 9, 1998 |accessdate=2007-08-21 ]

Prolotherapy

In 1955, at an American Medical Association meeting, Gustav was introduced to a novel treatment for chronic lower back pain by George S. Hackett. This new technique was called Prolotherapy. Hemwall went to Hackett's office in Canton, Ohio, and was trained in the technique. Between 1955 until his retirement in 1996, Gustav became the main proponent of Prolotherapy in the United States.

Publications

*Neuropathic Pain: A New Theory for Chronic Pain of Intrinsic Origin, Annals RCPSC, 1989

References

Further reading

*George S. Hackett; [http://books.google.com/books?id=0blGAgAACAAJ&dq Ligament and Tendon Relaxation]

External links

*Findagrave|8730979