Prolotherapy is a nonsurgical ligament reconstruction, and is a treatment for chronic pain. The treatment is useful for many different types of musculoskeletal pain, including arthritis, back pain, neck pain, fibromyalgia, sports injuries, unresolved whiplash injuries, carpal tunnel syndrome, chronic tendonitis, partially torn tendons, ligaments and cartilage, degenerated or herniated discs, TMJ and sciatica.

Ligaments are the structural "rubber bands" that hold bones to bones in joints. Ligaments can become weak or injured and may not heal back to their original strength or endurance. This is largely because the blood supply to ligaments is limited, and therefore healing is slow and not always complete.

To further complicate this, ligaments also have many nerve endings and therefore the person will feel pain at the areas where the ligaments are damaged or loose. Tendons are the name given to tissue which connects muscles to bones, and in the same manner tendons may also become injured, and cause pain.  more

History

The roots of prolotherapy, as it is presently practiced, date back to the 1920s. It has enjoyed a strong following since a resurgence in the 1950s. Its theory is akin to a technique used by Hippocrates who had a wonderful wisdom about the body’s ability to heal itself.

Greek soldiers of ancient times with torn or dislocated shoulders endured a hot poker thrust into the joint by Hippocrates, which resulted in a miraculous healing of the body by itself. It is also closely related to sclerotherapy, the injection technique, for the repair of hernias by injection that developed in the 1830s.

How It Works

Ligaments that have been injured or have become weak rarely heal back to their original level of strength or endurance. Prolotherapy uses a dextrose (sugar water) solution, which is injected into the ligament or tendon where it attaches to the bone. This causes a localized inflammation in these weak areas which then increases the blood supply and flow of nutrients and stimulates the tissue to produce new collagen. The collagen becomes new ligament or tendon tissue, estimated to be an increase of 20-40%.

One of the properties of new collagen is it shrinks as it matures. This contraction of the collagen makes the ligament tighter and much stronger than it was before. Clinical studies have actually demonstrated increased ligament strength after prolotherapy is that accounts for its lasting benefits.

While ligaments have a poor blood supply, they do have many nerve endings. Once ligament tissue has been tightened and strengthened with the new collagen, the area is stabilized and the pain often relieved.

Because the substances used for injection are no longer patentable, pharmaceutical companies have no financial incentive to promote their use. Instead, we have a huge market focus on prescription anti-inflammatory agents.

Many physicians who appreciate the wisdom and insight of Hippocrates now wonder if we risk limiting our body’s healing response with a "quick-to-write-a-‘script" approach to minimize the body’s inflammatory response. Perhaps, this may account for the fact, pointed out by a European Conference in Rheumatology, that no prescription drug has ever cured a single case of arthritis.

How Many Treatments?

Because the healing process is largely individual, one patient may respond to 4-6 prolotherapy injections and another may need twice that or more to achieve full satisfaction. Patients with healthy immune systems seem to respond more quickly.

Each session involves multiple injections. The pain of the injection is lessened with the use of an anesthetic such as procaine. Swelling and stiffness is very common for a few days after the injections. "The nice thing about prolotherapy, if properly done, is that it cannot do any harm."

The response to treatment varies from individual to individual, and depends upon one's healing ability. Some people may only need a few treatments while others may need more. The average number of treatments is 4-6 for an area treated.

Are There Side Effects?

As with any medical technique, there can be complications. There were only three instances in the medical literature that reported incidences of problems, resulting when the injection was too close to the nerve. However, trained physicians have performed prolotherapy on over 10,000 patients with no serious complications ever noted.

What Is the Success Rate?

The studies involving prolotherapy have been published in prestigious journals including Lancet and The Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) . These studies all cite success rates up to 90% of pain relieved and the results lasting from 2-12 years or even longer.

A quick search of the Internet on the subject listed well over fifty sites of information. While there are several medical textbooks on the subject, Pain, Pain Go Away by Bill Faber, D.O. and Prolo Your Pain Away by Ross Hauser, M.D. will also help educate you on a consumer level.

Take Action

Call OsteoMed II today and make your appointment with Dr. Clay Walsh, our trained prolotherapy expert, to become pain free.

Article: Prolotherapy for Musculoskeletal Pain by By Donna Alderman, DO here