Prolotherapy
Prolotherapy is a well established medical technique that treats chronic pain from lax ligaments or injured tendons around the joints or areas of muscular attachments.
This procedure stabilizes, strengthens, and supports these injured areas restoring proper function by proliferating new ligamentous tissue.
This modality of treatment is used mainly in chronic or recurring pain in the head, neck, back or any joint of the body. Weakened ligaments and tendons are frequently the underlying problem of these pain syndromes.
A weak ligament and tendon at its point of attachment to the bone will yield on tension and permit excess pull on the non-stretchable sensory nerve fibers, causing not only local pain but also radiating pain to distant areas with specific and predictable pain patterns.
Movement may aggravate the damaged nerve in the ligament and produce a pain that feel like a shock giving the impression that a nerve is being pinched. It is a nerve type pain due to a stretched ligament, not a pinched nerve.
Weak ligaments can also be the cause of dysfunction at a joint and/or of a displacement that occurs within a joint, both of these conditions being a cause of chronic and/or recurring pain syndromes.
If the ligament is strengthened with prolotherapy, the nerves in the ligaments do not fire off, thereby relieving the pain.
But what happens when the low back pain, and headaches from a whiplash injury, just will not get better? Or, the athletic injury that continues to cause nagging pain and is preventing you from staying active, especially keeping you from the sport you love the most?
Usually, the first line of therapy to the injured area is rest, ice and anti-inflammatories, NSAID’s, and narcotics, but is this pain really from a drug deficiency?
Conditions which may respond to prolotherapy includes:
Prolotherapy aka: Regenerative Injection Therapy
1) Whiplash and associated soft tissue injuries
Barre – Lieou syndrome Dizziness, visual blurring, loss of balance, ringing in the ears, runny nose, salivation, problems swallowing, horse voice, nausea, vomiting, nervousness, and headaches.
Post whiplash – eliminated by prolotherapy
2) Rotator cuff tendonitis
3) Recurrent shoulder dislocations
4) Tennis/golfers elbow (“chronic tendinosis”)
5) Knee, ankle sprains/strains
6) Low back strains
7) Herniated discs
8) Sciatica
9) TMJ +10) Migraines
10) Arthritis
11) Post surgical pain
12) Fibromyalgia
13) Sports injury
Signs and symptoms that may be improved
Arthritis in any joint in the body any popping, grinding, clicking, or snapping in a joint (all of these are signs of joint loosening and instability)
Any joint which is only partially helped by osteopathic or chiropractic adjustments/manipulations (or when adjustments or manipulations help but don't hold) . Manipulation frequently makes big improvements quickly.
If prolonged manipulation is necessary this is an indication of joint instability and injection reconstructive therapy may be helpful.
Any musculo-skeletal problem which has failed with surgery and other methods
Any condition which is helped by a brace, splint, crutch, walker, lift or wheelchair. People that need these aids frequently have weakened or lax joints.
Deep aching which is alleviated some by constantly changing positions symptoms of decreased strength and endurance increased pain with increased activity (swimming, biking and walking may be exceptions)
Various conditions such as osteoporosis with compression fractures, muscular dystrophy, multiple sclerosis and spinal defects such as scoliosis and slipped spine any joint which swells chronically may be a candidate for resolution with this therapy.
Swelling may be an indication of chronic friction from instability
Any joint, tendon, ligament, cartilage, for which cortisone, Indocin, Nalfon, Clinoril, Feldene, Motrin or other anti-inflammatory drugs has been used may respond to reconstructive joint injection therapy
Conditions like carpal tunnel syndrome, rotator cuff tears and temporal mandibular joint dysfunction may also respond to joint reconstruction injection therapy because joint, ligament, tendon, disc and cartilage weakening are involved.
Procedure
Prolotherapy involves injection of a mixture of the following medications – dextrose (sugar water) Xylocaine (numbing medicine), sodium morrhuate, glycerine or phenol.
Often only dextrose and xylocaine are used first and additional medications are added if needed.
The prolotherapy solution 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, strengthening and tightening and thereby stabilizing the area.
But most of all helping the person to become a fully functioning individual.
This procedure does not involve the injection of corticosteroids, such as cortisone. Cortisone is known to decrease inflammation, but will also slow or stop the healing process.
Acute pain may be relieved with cortisone, but repeated use causes a weakening of the tissues and chronic pain develops.
After the procedure, most patients feel fullness and numbness in the areas injected. Some patients even have reported that all their pain was gone. This is due to the numbing effect of the local anesthetic Xylocaine, that was part of the material injected and serves as a check or test that the correct areas were injected.
This wears off in about 3 hours, like dental anesthetic and the pain will return.
To prevent this, patients take oral Tylenol or similar medication.
Aspirin and other anti-inflammatories must not be used, as they will cancel out the injections chemically.
That is to say that the above will be counterproductive healing process of soft tissues and ligaments initiated by prolotherapy.
If the pain is bad enough and relief is required, Tylenol with Codiene may be used, as well as natural analgesic such as Bromelain and Magnesium.
The regular use of MSM and Glucosamine Sulphate may also lessen the pain.
Most post-prolotherapy patients fall into one of the following three groups.
In the first, the pain is immediately relieved due to the injection of the numbing medicine into the area of pain.
Then during the next 24 to 48 hours, their pain may return and maybe initially, more severe.
The pain will gradually decreased in intensity as healing and strengthening occur.
The second group of patients, have little or no pain post injection and the pain stays relieved permanently.
Another group of patients find that their pain is relieved initially but returns after 2-3 weeks, necessitating further injections.
The number of injections to obtain relief varies considerably from patient to patient and injury to injury.
Some people are relieved totally with one injection whereas others required a series of injections which may total up to 15-20 or more sessions.
Generally, several injection sessions are done with most patients.
Exercises
After prolotherapy, patients are encouraged to do regular light mobility exercises but not to over stress the areas that have been treated to allow for proper healing and strengthening.
It is important to remember that even if your pain is relieved and structures strengthened, it is possible to re-injure yourself at some time in the future.
Try to take good care of the previously injured body part so as to minimize the risk of re-injury.
Most practitioners recommend careful resumption of activity as tolerated. This can include normal exercise routines, walking, sports, and other activities. Physical therapy, massage, chiropractic and other treatment does not usually need to be stopped and may in fact assist with the overall process.
Nutrition
It is also important to remember the diet and lifestyle choices on overall recovery process.
Nutrition deficiencies are epidemic in our modern society and this affects overall health and healing of ligaments and tendons.
Ligaments require proper vitamins,minerals, amino acids, and collagen formation for repair, and proper diet and nutrition is thus imperative for healing to occur.
Similarly, lack of proper hydration will hinder healing and caused ligaments to shrink. It is recommended that you drink at least 6-8 glasses of water per day.
Sleep
Lack of sleep is a significant component of chronic pain and chronic pain is a strong factor in sleep disruption.
Chronic pain affects cortisol levels (a response to stress the body perceives-affecting the adrenal glands). Where cortisol goes up the feeling of restlessness and insomnia occur.
The secretion of cortisol stops when the pain cycle is stopped. Other benefits of deep restful sleep is that it produces growth hormone which is released from the pituitary gland and is anabolic (which means growth as repair).
Horomones
Healing in prolotherapy requires inflammation and the assistance of the endocrine system which secretes and produces many hormones to help this. (eg: cortisal, thyroid, growth hormone, prostaglandius, metatarin, testosterone, etc.)
Hormones decrease with age naturally. Therefore knowing the present levels is important to determine of your treatment.
Deficient levels may need to be treated by supplementation or support to optomize benefit of treatment.
Exercise/activity increases blood flow thus nutrients to the joints via weight bearing stress therefore good nourishment to the articular cartilage thereby prolonging joint health, longevity, and mobility.
After ligament or tendon injury, dynamic range of motion exercises like swimming, walking, spinning, (cycling) are essential.
Once stability of the joint occurs secondary to ligament strengthening then a more comprehensive strengthening and static-resistance exercises can begin along with the flexibility and programme.
Who performs the treatment?
At Eclpise Natural Health Studio and Wye Natural Health and Sport Injury Clinic we have a qualified DR who administers the treatment.. Before the treatment is administer you will have a comprehensive consultation with the DR..
To book an appointment with the DR for a consultation or a price list please contact us
Area treated Cost per Treatment Approximate
£45 per treatment or £270 for 6 treatments
Prolotherapy - Low Back
Prolotherapy - Mid Back
Prolotherapy - Neck
Prolotherapy - Shoulder or Hip
Prolotherapy - TMJ
Prolotherapy -
Wrist, Elbow, Knee, Ankle,
Foot and Hand.
Nerve Block
Caudal Epidural
Neural Therapy
(depending on area treated)
Conscious Sedation
Research articles on Prolotherapy please visit here http://www.prolonews.com/
|
