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RESEARCHSARMSUGFREAKeudomestic
napsgeargenezapharmateuticals domestic-supplypuritysourcelabsRESEARCHSARMSUGFREAKeudomestic

Prolo therapy

Anyone heard of this or used it themselves?

Experiences and opinions welcome...see description below.

Prolotherapy is also known as nonsurgical ligament reconstruction,
and is a treatment for chronic pain

Prolotherapy is helpful for what conditions?

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.

What is prolotherapy?

First, it is important to understand what the word prolotherapy itself means. "Prolo" is short for proliferation, because the treatment causes the proliferation (growth, formation) of new ligament tissue in areas where it has become weak.

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.

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 repair itself.

Historical review shows that a version of this technique was first used by Hippocrates on soldiers with dislocated, torn shoulder joints. He would stick a hot poker into the joint, and it would then miraculously heal normally. Of course, we don’t use hot pokers today, but the principle is similar—get the body to repair itself, an innate ability that the body has.

How long will it take to complete a course of treatments?

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 10 or more. The average number of treatments is 4-6 for an area treated. The best thing to do is get an evaluation by a trained physician to see if you are an appropriate candidate. Once you begin treatment, your doctor can tell better how you are responding and give you an accurate estimate.
 
I am fortunately blessed to get my medical care at the Mayo Clinic. Just a few months ago, I spoke with one of their ortho's about this very treatment, and another that is almost identical to treat the severe tendinitis I have at the insertion of my quadriceps tendon. He explained to me that this is a treatment to consider more for the aged population, or those that are more sedentary - not for athletes. One of the main reasons is the reasons we have the tendinitis in the first place - our active lifestyle. As he explained further, the injections actually increase inter tendon pressures, and under forceful movements like squatting heavy, significantly increase the chances of a tendon rupture.

All that said, there is a new treatment that is not dissimilar to the one you mention. However, in this case it involves 2-3 injections of a smaller amount of material. This material is also your own platelets. The theory here, of course, is that injecting small amounts of the actual ingredients needed to heal is a more direct and safer method. Unfortunately, this treatment too has rupture risks, and is new enough that it has not yet had the chance to be examined on a wider population.

Finally he said that in the end, using the strongest liniment you can stand (something like Equi-Block) has similar effectiveness to prolotherapy and doesn't carry the risks of tendon rupture.

B-
 
I've heard good things about voltaren. I need to ask my doc about it. He is a big fan of indocin, but says I can't workout on it. It worked really well.

Long story short, the low back is still not 100% and the sciatica has returned slightly. Indocin got rid of it the first time, but I don't want to take another week off.
 
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