Prolotherapy

Candidates

You should consider prolotherapy if you are suffering from long-term chronic pain or have developed a recent injury to a ligament or tendon. Prolotherapy has been successful in eliminating chronic muscle spasm due to ligament instability. Imaging is not necessary to determine the source of your pain as MRIs and X-rays can miss ligament abnormalities. I find the best value for diagnosis is in an orthopedic exam to trace pain to its roots, following referral pain patterns.

Factors that can interfere with results from prolotherapy include hormonal and nutritional deficiencies. Dr. O'Neill looks at pain from a holistic approach and addresses these deficiencies along with the prolotherapy injections.

When will the pain go away?

Procaine, a local anesthetic, is part of the prolotherapy solution. Patients experience immediate relief of their pain after a prolotherapy session, yet as the anesthetic wears off, it's expected and normal to have more pain, swelling, and tenderness over the area injected for up to 72 hours. These are good signs. The body is now doing its work to bring inflammatory cells into the site. NSAIDS and ice are to be avoided here, or the healing process will be thwarted. As this initial process settles down, pain may return, yet usually to a lesser degree than at onset. Follow-up exam and/or treatments are indicated to further push this process and bring complete resolution of pain along with full healing of the ligaments and tendons.

How many treatments?

Treatments are traditionally given 2 to 4 weeks apart. The number of treatments varies based on the degree of injury and how chronic the injury is. Most patients receive between 4 and 6 treatments. You should expect to see improvement in your pain by the second or third treatment.

Prolotherapy in the News

The use of Prolotherapy has been endorsed by a number of prestigious medical journals, including the Archives of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, the Journal of Orthopaedic Medicine, the Journal of Spinal Disorders & Techniques, and the Mayo Clinic’s Health Letter publication.