A revolutionary technique for addressing sports injuries.
Prolotherapy, a relatively new natural medicine technique, is beginning to establish itself in the mainstream sports medicine system. Emerging evidence shows positive effects in the non-surgical treatment for myriad musculoskeletal conditions, most of which are associated with athletic injuries. In fact, it is estimated that more than 600,000 people in the United States alone have undergone prolotherapy in recent years with positive results.
What is prolotherapy?
Also known as Regenerative Injection Therapy (RIT), prolotherapy is a procedure whereby a practitioner injects a substance that stimulates “proliferation” in ligaments and tendons. The substance, typically a dextrose-based solution, stimulates the body’s natural healing mechanisms to repair chronically damaged ligaments and tendons by causing a small amount of local tissue irritation or inflammation. The resulting inflammation triggers the body’s natural repair processes to strengthen the existing tissue and to enhance the growth of new tissue—a simple, yet effective way to help the body heal itself.
Prolotherapy injections trick the body into initiating a new healing response.
Before we can appreciate the value of such a seemingly counterproductive procedure, we require a basic understanding of the role inflammation plays in our body.
When we injure a ligament or tendon, such as when we twist a knee or sprain an ankle, a local inflammatory response is initiated and we feel pain, heat, swelling, and have a hard time moving the affected area. This is a normal and natural response by the body.
Through an inflammatory response, substances carried in the bloodstream are deposited in the injured area to promote healing. However, ligaments and tendons receive limited blood supply, which makes them susceptible to poor or incomplete healing. Oftentimes, healing can be incomplete. Affected ligaments or tendons are permanently stretched or weakened with pain and discomfort during movement or activity, especially while the area is unstable. If left untreated, the surrounding muscles will compensate by contracting in an attempt to stabilize the weakened joint and reduce further damage. If the damage to the joint is severe enough and long-standing, the damaged area will deteriorate and ultimately progress to osteoarthritis.
In effect, prolotherapy injections trick the body into initiating a new healing response and are intended to provide permanent benefit. The technique reactivates the healing process by injecting a mildly irritating substance (a dextrose solution), combined with a painkiller such as lidocaine,into the injured area to stimulate a temporary, low-grade inflammation. This initiates the healing process again, this time for the body to get it right.
While most people require anywhere between four to six sessions, each person responds differently to the therapy and needs to be re-evaluated after the first few sessions. Each session should be spaced between two to six weeks apart.
What types of injuries benefit from prolotherapy?
Prolotherapy is a safe and effective injection technique for chronic musculoskeletal pain conditions and for treating loose ligaments and tendons that have been overstretched by an injury.
The literature reports an eighty to ninety per cent response rate to prolotherapy in tightening loose ligaments or tendons, and the results are permanent. It has proven successful in the treatment for the full spectrum of injuries such as tennis and golfer’s elbow, Achilles and patellar tendinosis, spine (cervical, thoracic, and lumbosacral), and sacroiliac joint dysfunction.
Does it have support inthe health-care field?
Scores of prominent individuals and organizations have taken measures to formally support this technique. Formal endorsement from former U.S. Surgeon General C. Everett Coop and the support from the Mayo Clinic in a 2005 Health Letter have solidified prolotherapy as a viable option for musculoskeletal pain. In the sports medicine field, prolotherapy is really hitting its stride. For instance, prolotherapy was highly publicized as the reason Pittsburg Steelers wide receiver Hinds Ward was able to play in the 2009 Super Bowl after suffering a ligament injury to his knee two weeks earlier.
With no specific age group restrictions, a proven safe and effective alternative to surgery and a growing base of supportive scientific research, prolotherapy is truly gaining acclaim in today’s health-care field.
About the Authors
Dr. Michael Hoffmann, B.Sc., N.D., has an independent practice operating out of the Chiropractic Performance and Sports Therapy Centre and is a specialist in injection therapies for musculoskeletal injuries and chronic pain syndromes.
Dr. Greg Uchacz, D.C., FCCSS(C), CSCS, FICC, clinic director of Chiropractic Performance and Sports Therapy Centre in downtown Calgary, Alberta, is a chiropractic sports specialist, and member of the Canadian Medical Team for the Vancouver 2010 Olympic Winter Games.
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Fri 25 Mar 2011 16:11:14 PDT