Prolotherapy: Delivering a Non-surgical Solution for
Traumatized Joints & Chronic Pain
Neck and Back
Many of our patients turn to Prolotherapy for chronic neck and back pain after failing physical therapy, chiropractic, acupuncture and occationally after failed surgery. Prolotherapy is often very effective for these conditions because it focuses on strengthening the ligaments that stabilize the spine.
Prolotherapy repairs the stretched and unstable ligaments. When the ligament strength is restored the overworked muscles relax and rebalance. Muscle tension decreases and pain is relieved and range of motion is restored. Exercise to strengthen the area can then be accomplished to complete the treatment.
Effective treatment that didn't work
Most of our patients have failed other therapies either because the relief did not occur or did not last. Pain medications temporarily reduce pain. Massage helps the muscles but does not address the deepest ligaments. Manipulation helps spinal alignment, acupuncture may provide temporary relief, physical therapy exercises may aggrivate the injury. If these effective therapies do not adequately address the pain investigating prolotherapy to strengthen the ligaments is a logical next step.
Neck Pain
Never well since that car accident? Chronic neck pain often begins with some trauma that causes whiplash that stretch and destabilize the ligaments of the neck. Headaches often are from injuries to the ligaments that connect the neck to the base of the skull. Chronic mid neck pain often results from overworked muscles holding up the head because the ligaments are injured.
Pain in the base of the neck/trapezius/"shoulders" or upper back is often from the ligaments that connect the neck to the upper ribs and thorax. Falling on an outstretched arm or gripping a steering wheel in an accident often caused trauma to this area. Often numbness and tingling in the hand can be traced to injuries in this area.
Mid-Back Pain
Pain in the rib cage, sternum and mid-back is common. The ligaments that connect ribs to the spine and connect the vertebra are often injured and often respond to prolotherapy.
Low back Pain
There are two main areas that require assessment in low back pain and both may be invloved. The sacro-iliac ligaments are the most frequent cause of unresolved chronic low back pain that we see in our patients. Prolotherapy is very effective is stabilizing low back pain from the sacro-iliac ligaments.
Pain from the lumbar spine and disk injuries are more complicated and require careful assessment as pain may be from several sources. Patients often have MRI's indicating mild, moderate or severe degenerative changes to disks, facets and foramens that can be both informative and misleading. A physical exam is essential to identify the specific source or sources of pain in the lumbar spine in order to treat it effectively.
X-rays and MRI's
Many of our patients have had X-rays and MRI's and we ask that you bring your reports to your visit. If you have films or CD's bring them also. Reports indicate if spinal degeneration, herniated disks and arthritic changes are mild, moderate or severe. We assess these carefully looking for the significant areas that can be treated effectively.
We all have mileage on our physical frame and that shows on MRI's which detect many minute defects some of which may be irrelevant to your pain. A good physical exam, careful assessment of imaging and clinical experience is needed to design a treatment plan that will decrease pain, increase function to the extent possible.
Note: there are limits to what prolotherapy and Platelet therapy can accomplish.
