Prolotherapy: What to Know

Prolotherapy (proliferative therapy), ligament reconstruction therapy, and fibro-osseous injection therapy, is a recognized procedure that stimulates the body’s natural healing processes to strengthen joints weakened by traumatic or overuse injury. Joints weakened when ligaments or tendon attachments are stretched, torn, or fragmented, become hypermobile and painful. Traditional approaches with surgery and anti-inflammatory drugs often fail to stabilize the joint and relieve this pain permanently. Prolotherapy with its unique ability to directly address the cause of the instability, can repair the weakened sites and produce new fibrous tissues, resulting in permanent stabilization of the joint.

How Prolotherapy works: With a precise injection of a mild irritant using various natural solutions solution directly on the site of the torn or stretched ligament or tendon, prolotherapy creates a mild, controlled injury that stimulates the body’s natural healing mechanisms to lay down new tissue on the weakened area. The mild inflammatory response that is created by the injection encourages growth of new ligament or tendon fibers, resulting in a tightening of the weakened structure. Additional treatments repeat this process, allowing a gradual buildup of tissue to restore the original strength to the area.

Is it painful?: Any pain involving an injection will vary according to the structure to be treated, the choice of solution, and the skill of the physician administering the injection. The treatment may result in mild swelling and stiffness. The mild discomfort passes fairly rapidly and can be reduced with pain relievers such as Tylenol. Anti-inflammatory drugs, such as aspirin and ibuprofen, should not be used for pain relief because their action suppresses the desired inflammatory process produced by the injection.

How long has this therapy been used?: Prolotherapy has been used successfully as early as 500 B.C. when Roman soldiers with shoulder joint dislocations were treated with hot branding irons to help fuse the torn ligaments in the shoulder joint. Advances in medicines greatly improved on this process, and led to the modern techniques of strengthening the fibrous tissue rather than producing scarring to fuse tissues. In 1926, a group of physicians met with great success using injection therapy to treat hernias and hemorrhoids. Earl Gedney, D.O., a well-known Orthopedist, decreased his surgical practice and began to inject joints with these newer injectable medicines in the 1940s and 1950s. Also, in 1950, George Stuart Hackett, M.D., wrote a book on injection therapy. His work is still used today in training physicians. In the years since this early work, techniques and medications have advanced to move from a scarring of fusing effect to strengthening effect, which restores the weakened joint to its original level of stability without loss of flexibility and function.

What areas of the body can Prolotherapy help?:This form of therapy can be used to treat dislocation of the joints, knee pain, shoulder pain, Temporomandibular Joint dysfunction, Carpal Tunnel Syndrome, and problems at any level of the spine. The therapy affects only the area treated and does not cause any problems in any other area.

How successful is treatment?: The anticipated rate of success depends on a number of variables, including the patient’s history and ability to heal, and the type of solution used. In patients with low back pain with hypermobility, shows most patients treated experience remission of pain with this form of therapy. In comparison, the Journal of Bone and Joint Therapy reports only a 52% improvement in patients treated surgically for disc involvement.. Many studies done over the years show a high success rate when prolotherapy is used for various ligament, tendon or joint pain/injuries.

You can find out if you qualify for Prolotherapy by calling 405-848-7246 for an appointment with Dr. Alvin Philipose in Oklahoma City. He has treated thousands of patients for over 20 Years and performs over 20 types of prolotherapy depending on the severity and type of conditions.