Dr. Alvin Philipose DC, ICCP

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Prolotherapy, Oklahoma City, OK

HomeServicesRegenerative Medicine, Oklahoma City, OKProlotherapy in Oklahoma City

A knee that aches every time you take the stairs. A lower back that never quite stabilizes. A shoulder that’s been “strained” for two years. When joint, ligament, or tendon pain lingers after rest, physical therapy, and time, many people start looking at prolotherapy.

Venturis Clinic offers prolotherapy in Oklahoma City, including dextrose prolotherapy and ozone-based injections. Here’s what it is, what the research shows, and what to expect.

What prolotherapy is

Prolotherapy is an injection-based approach for chronic musculoskeletal pain. A solution is injected into or around a painful joint, ligament, or tendon, typically at the points where those tissues attach to bone.

The idea is that ligaments and tendons have limited blood supply and heal slowly. Prolotherapy aims to stimulate the body’s own repair response in tissue that has stalled.

Types offered at Venturis

  • Dextrose prolotherapy uses a concentrated dextrose (sugar) solution. Dextrose is the most studied prolotherapy solution in published research.
  • Ozone-based injections, sometimes called prolozone, use a medical oxygen-ozone mixture. See ozone joint injections for details and important regulatory information.

Which approach fits depends on the area involved, your history, and your goals. It’s discussed at your consultation.

Common areas treated

What the research shows

The evidence varies by body area, and we think you should know that before deciding:

  • Knee osteoarthritis has the strongest support. Randomized trials and a systematic review (Sit et al., Annals of Family Medicine, 2016) found dextrose prolotherapy improved pain and function compared with control injections.
  • Rotator cuff tendinopathy has encouraging but more limited trial evidence.
  • Chronic low back pain has mixed evidence. A Cochrane review found prolotherapy alone was not shown to be effective, while results in combination with other approaches were inconsistent.
  • Ozone injections for knee osteoarthritis have shown short-term pain improvement in systematic reviews, with limited long-term data.

Responses vary. Prolotherapy typically involves a series of sessions, and not everyone improves.

Who may be a candidate

  • Chronic joint, ligament, or tendon pain lasting months
  • Pain that hasn’t resolved with rest, physical therapy, or activity changes
  • Mild to moderate osteoarthritis
  • Joint laxity or recurrent sprains

Prolotherapy may not be appropriate for people with active infection, certain bleeding disorders, uncontrolled diabetes, or pain from causes that need other care, such as fractures or nerve compression with weakness.

What to expect

  1. Consultation and exam: your history, prior imaging and treatments, and your goals.
  2. Treatment plan: which areas, which approach, and a realistic number of sessions.
  3. The injection visit: the area is cleaned and injected. Most visits are brief.
  4. Afterward: soreness and stiffness for a few days are common, because the goal is to stimulate a healing response.

Risks

  • Most common: post-injection pain, swelling, stiffness, and bruising.
  • Less common but possible: infection, nerve irritation, or allergic reaction.
  • With ozone, rare serious complications have been reported if gas enters a blood vessel.

These are discussed in detail before any treatment.

Cost and insurance

Prolotherapy is generally not covered by insurance. Read why in Why isn’t prolotherapy covered by insurance?

Serving Oklahoma City, Tulsa, and all of Oklahoma

Venturis Clinic is located in Oklahoma City and sees patients from Oklahoma City and surrounding areas, including Tulsa, and from across Oklahoma.

Frequently asked questions

How many prolotherapy sessions will I need? It varies by area and response. A series of sessions spaced a few weeks apart is typical, and your plan is reassessed along the way.

Does prolotherapy hurt? Injections cause brief discomfort, and soreness for a few days afterward is common.

Is prolotherapy the same as a cortisone shot? No. Cortisone reduces inflammation. Prolotherapy aims to stimulate a healing response.

Do you see patients from Tulsa? Yes. We see patients from Oklahoma City and surrounding areas, including Tulsa, and from across Oklahoma.

Wondering if prolotherapy fits your situation? Book a free 15-minute discovery call.

Individual results vary. This page is for educational purposes and is not a guarantee of outcome.

By Alvin Philipose, DC, ICCP

Sources

  • Sit RWS, et al. Hypertonic dextrose injections (prolotherapy) in the treatment of symptomatic knee osteoarthritis: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Annals of Family Medicine. 2016;14(4):314–322.
  • Dagenais S, et al. Prolotherapy injections for chronic low-back pain. Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews. 2007;(2):CD004059.
  • Sconza C, et al. Oxygen-ozone therapy for the treatment of knee osteoarthritis: a systematic review of randomized controlled trials. Arthroscopy. 2020;36(1):277–286.