Prof. Dr. med. Wolfgang Bauermeister
Function: wissenschaftlicher Mitarbeiter
Contact:
Email: w.bauermeister(at)tum.de
Working and research focus
Bauermeister's scientific work focuses on the physiological and biomechanical basis of myofascial pain, as well as the effects of trigger point shock wave therapy using focused shock wave systems from various manufacturers and repetitive peripheral magnetic stimulation (rPMS). He is considered a pioneer of trigger point ultrasound elastography, which he first developed in the mid-1990s as strain elastography and later continued with shear wave elastography in order to quantitatively measure tissue stiffness and visualize therapeutic effects.
Career history
After receiving his medical license, Bauermeister worked as an anesthesiologist and emergency physician until 1980. In 1981, he received a research fellowship with Dr. David E. Bresler, founder of the UCLA Pain Control Unit, at the Bresler Center for Allied Therapeutics in Santa Monica, California. From 1981 to 1985, he ran his own practices in Los Angeles, California, and New Bedford, Massachusetts. From 1984 to 1987, he completed a residency program in physical medicine and rehabilitation at Tufts New England Medical Center (Tufts University) in Boston.
After completing his stay in the USA, he returned to Germany, was chief physician at several rehabilitation clinics, and founded a private pain practice in Munich in 1991. In the 1990s, he performed the first treatments of myofascial trigger points with focused shock waves. In 2000, trigger point shock wave therapy was introduced for the clinical treatment of myofascial pain syndromes. In the same year, he began collaborating with Lorenz and Pesavento (University of Bochum) on research into strain elastography of trigger points and was able to demonstrate objective changes resulting from shock wave treatment for the first time. Since the mid-1980s, Bauermeister has been training doctors and therapists in trigger osteopathy—a holistic treatment concept that integrates manual techniques, acupuncture, osteopathy, shock waves, and later also repetitive peripheral magnetic stimulation (rPMS).
Academic career
In 1988, Bauermeister began lecturing in rehabilitation medicine at the Medical Faculty of the University of Hamburg, where he was involved in supervising doctoral students. Since then, he has supervised bachelor's, master's, and doctoral theses at various universities. He is a university lecturer at Kharkiv National Medical University (KNMU), with which the Munich Pain Institute has had a scientific cooperation agreement since 2016.
In 2017, he was awarded the title of Professor honoris causa by Kharkiv National Medical University. Since 2018, he has been a professor there in the Department of Sports, Physical and Rehabilitative Medicine, Physical Therapy, and Ergotherapy.