Prolotherapy

Joint and back pain is one of the pervasive health issues that most adults experience and the pain becomes more common as they grow old. Several conditions lead to painful joints like arthritis, bursitis, gout, strains, sprains, and other injuries. The pain ranges from mildly irritating to deliberating, and whatever the cause of the joint pain is, there are methods available to reduce and heal the pain.

One of the practices is Prolotherapy – a regenerative injection therapy (RIT) used to stimulate the healing of damaged tendons, ligaments, and wounded joints. The connective tissue adheres to muscles and bones. If it weakens, it can lead to various joint pains like knee pain, shoulder pain, back pain, neck pain, elbow pain and ankle & wrist pain

Prolotherapy is a regenerative injection therapy that stimulates the body’s natural healing methods to strengthen joints weakened by any trauma or injury. The approach is unlike steroid injections that defeat the immune system. The body has the inherent strength to heal itself. Naturopathic experts refer to this as “the healing power of nature.” Prolotherapy can help activate the body’s resilience to heal itself by initiating it in the immune system.

Conventional approaches include surgery, steroids, and anti-inflammatory drugs that often fail to stabilize the joint and relieve the pain permanently. With its unique ability to directly address the cause of the instability, Prolotherapy can repair the weakened and pain-prone areas and produce new fibroid tissues, resulting in stabilizing the joint permanently.

How does it work?

The practitioner uses a precise injection containing a mild proliferant solution and injects it directly on the weak path or area to trigger the body’s healing response. The mild inflammatory response caused by the injection promotes new ligament or tendon fibres, strengthening the weakened structure. Once the structure is entirely constructed, the pain disappears. Further treatments include repeating this process, allowing gradual tissue development to restore the area’s primary strength.

Experts who recommend Prolotherapy believe that strengthening the joints means the pain is reduced and the area is healing. The enhanced strength of the joint improves the overall movement and function of the back and joints.

The entirely natural process is considered the permanent treatment as it activates the body’s self-healing properties to heal and reduce pain.

Prolotherapy improves blood circulation, nutrient distribution, and wound contraction.

Conditions Where Prolotherapy can be used

Prolotherapy can be favourably used to treat a range of conditions. Following are some of them:

• Joint pain and instability
• Back and neck pain
• Whiplash
• Tendinitis
• Degenerative disc disease
• Knee or ankle pain
• Meniscal tears
• Osteoarthritis
• IT band syndrome
• Temporomandibular joint (TMJ) disorder
• Rotator cuff tears
• Plantar fasciitis

Before administering the process, the physician or the practitioner determines the patient’s medical background, physical exam, X-RAY exam. With the entire lab report, the examiner evaluates the potential of achieving the health objectives of the patient. The therapy is only applied to the patients holding positive reports.

Success depends on the following factors:

• Comprehensive analysis of the damage caused to the patient’s body.
• The patient’s healing abilities and overall health condition.
• Any specific nutritional deficiencies that would prevent the healing process.

Based on the clinical evidence, this therapy is an excellent alternative for patients trying to relieve muscle pain by practicing conventional methods yet finding effective. It has also been proven to be effective in treating osteoarthritis of the knee and finger joints.

For patients who haven’t applied any conservative methods such as physical therapy, Prolotherapy has been proven effective in treating spinal and pelvic pain.

Prolotherapy has been practiced in different forms for more than 80 years. However, new technology-driven surgical procedures such as laparoscopy and robotic assistance have been introduced. Many experts, including the emerging ones, have been practicing these new techniques over the past several decades. No matter how effective the long-established therapies are, it has been replaced. And the replacement brought doesn’t do justice to the ones who introduced the therapies in the first place. That is because the therapy has been proven to be effective in general, and for many patients, it represents the best alternative for joint pain and instability. Besides, it is a non-invasive and cost-effective treatment.