To learn more about prolotherapy, click on the following link to be taken to the site where I found this information re: prolotherapy. It explains what prolotherapy is, and some of the pro's and con's of the treatment. I know some members have tried it. Feel free to add your own experiences and/or remarks. To return to this webiste, click your browser's 'back' button.

In the article, a 64 yr old male received prolotherapy for complaints of knee pain. Doctors had suggested arthroscopy but the thought of surgery made him shy away from that option. Instead the doctors tried using a solution of dextrose-(a sugar substance derived from corn); local anesthetic, and Sarapin, "a nerve-soothing extract from the pitcher plant.", and injected this substance into his affected joint. The number of injections needed for one treatment can range from 1 to up to 100 injections-just for one treatment, and this procedure may need to be repeated several times to get the desired results. Sedatives may be given to the patient to help them tolerate the actual procedure which can be painful. The desired results from these injections is to cause local inflammation at the site where pain is noted. The inflammation causes scar tissue to form, strengthening the weakened tendons and/or muscles of the affected joint. Prolotherapy(also called sclerotherapy) is used to treat a wide variety of ailments such as back pain, tennis elbow,osteoarthritis, migraine headaches, TMJ, and tendonitits. Surgeon General C. Everett Koop used prolotherapy for his intactable low back pain and claims it cured him of his pain. He is convinced prolotherapy is an effective treatment for certain conditions and learned the technique to use on his own patients.

 

Not all doctors agree that prolotherapy is a safe effective treatment.But those who do believe inflammation is not necessarily a 'bad reaction' that occurs normally by the body when an injury occurs. Some doctors argue that using anti-inflammatory medications, steroids, ice packs and medications such as aspirin and ibuprofen, which are used to decrease the inflammotory process, may actually hamper the healing process. Theoretically, proponents of prolotherapy believe inflammation is good, and the scarring which results from an inflammatory process can help stabilize the weakend joints or area of the body where the injury has occured. Doctors who support prolotherapy believe knee pain and even migraine headaches are the result of weakend tendons and/or ligaments, thereby causing pain from weakened support structures.Weakened ligaments in a knee can lead to instability problems and ultimatley lead to arthritic painful conditions. They believe that if prolotherapy is used to treat painful conditions, the injections stimulate or intentionally cause inflammation of the affected area, "ultimately causing an increase of growth factors and chemical mediators which promote the repair of ligaments and tendons." Hence, instead of giving the patients medications to suppress the inflammatory process such as ibuprofen and ice packs, the doctors beleive inflammation is good and helps the area to heal utilizing the body's normal healing process which occurs without any outside interventions.When inflammation is present, the body makes connective tissues which in turns tightens and stabilizes weakened areas of the body.Prolotherapy can also cause growth of new cartilage within a joint. Some doctors believe that prolotherapy can be used in some patients to help them avoid having hip replacements.By utilizing prolotherapy into the hip joint, enough cartilage may grow to alleviate the pain felt when bone on bone conditions result from lack of cartilage.

The Skeptics View Regarding Prolotherapy 

 

Not all doctors agree that prolotherapy has any therapeutic value. One said that although weakened ligaments may lead to arthitic changes, they don't necessarily cause pain. Yet other doctors were critical of the studies which have been done. In one study, the patients who received prolotherapy also had received more anesthetic on the first day of the study and spinal manipulation which could have affected the results. And there are risks with the therapy too. In the 1950's, two patients died from prolo and three were paralyzed by the injections. But now the solutions used are milder and with proper training complications are now rare. Still infection, spinal injury and puntured lungs may occur with the injections. .