Prolotherapy

If you suffer from chronic musculoskeletal pain, you may have heard of prolotherapy as a potential treatment option. This non-surgical approach involves injecting a solution into the affected area to stimulate the body's natural healing process. Prolotherapy is becoming an increasingly popular alternative to surgery or long-term use of pain medications. Learn more about this drug-free option offered and how it may benefit you.

 
 

What is Prolotherapy?

Prolotherapy is a non-surgical technique involving injections of dextrose to heal and repair painful and injured joints, ligaments and cartilage. “Prolo” is short for proliferation, because the therapy stimulates the bodies own growth and formation of new cells and tissue to help repair weakened and damaged structures in the body.

Prolotherapy is an effective treatment for many types of acute and chronic musculoskeletal pain. For patients who have been told their only options are surgery or life long use of pain medications, prolotherapy can be be a viable, drug-free, non-surgical option to regain function and eliminate pain.

Musculoskeletal pain often originates from areas of structural weakness, especially at sites where tendons and ligaments attach to bone. Tendons and ligaments stabilize joints, and when they are torn or stretched, the structures they are surrounding can become painful. This pain can last years, because once injured these structures commonly do not heal back to their original strength and stability. This creates a chronic pain generator that can worsen over time. In prolotherapy, the whole goal is to stimulate the bodies own repair of injured tendons and ligaments, resulting in decreased pain and disability.

How Does Prolotherapy Work?

The basic mechanism of prolotherapy is simple. A solution is injected into an injured area, which leads to local inflammation and triggers a healing cascade. This results in the deposition of new collagen, the material that forms ligaments and tendons. As this new collagen matures, it shrinks, tightening and strengthening the areas where it was injected.

What are some conditions that Prolotherapy has been used to treat?

  • Chronic Low Back Pain

  • Chronic Headaches

  • Ehler’s Danlos Syndrome

  • Knee pain

  • Ligament Sprains (i.e. chronic ankle sprains)

  • Neck Pain

  • Osteoarthritis

  • Plantar Fasciitis

  • Post-Surgery Pain

  • Rotator Cuff Injuries

  • Sports Injuries

  • Tendonitis

  • Tennis/Golfer’s Elbow

  • Unstable Joints

  • Whiplash Injuries

  • Wrist and Hand Pain

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