Tuesday, July 24, 2012

What Is Prolotherapy and Its Treatments?


The term prolotherapy refers to a special type of treatment for chronic pain on ligaments and around joints. It involves the use of a little sugar solution, which is injected into the affected areas to stimulate the body into carrying out necessary repairs. Concentrated glucose may also be used as an injection.
While some types of treatment aim at curing inflammations, this technique actually leads to localized inflammation. As the inflammations resolve, the pain decreases and stability improves, thereby effecting healing. A series of such injections can maintain the improvements for a long time.
How Does the Treatment Work?
Ligaments usually stretch or strain following a musculoskeletal injury, which makes them painful and hypermobile. Healing usually takes place as the ligaments are restored to their original strength. Unfortunately, this is not always the case, and sometimes people end up with lax ligaments. This condition makes it easy to get injured again or may lead to muscle spasms and instability.
While there are different types of treatment for such a condition, including the use of steroid injections, nonsteroidal medications or surgery, these methods generally work slowly.
Prolotherapy works better because it goes directly to the cause of instability, leading to the production of new fibrous tissues and permanent stabilization of the joints. The method creates a mild and controlled injury to stimulate the body to use its natural healing process to develop new tissue. This makes the weakened structure tighter.
Physicians from the Midwest developed the technique more than 50 years ago and have refined it over the years to treat musculoskeletal pain. The physicians discovered that injecting ligaments and tendons with an irritant led to fast and long-term improvement. However, similar treatments can be traced as far back as 500 B.C. For example, Roman soldiers treated dislocations of the shoulder joints using hot branding irons. The resulting scarring helped to fuse torn tissues. The use of injections can be traced to 1926.
Collagen is among the building blocks of connective tissue, and studies have shown that the injections make it change. Different clinical studies carried out have determined that the technique is helpful in treating particular conditions associated with chronic pain.
Types of Conditions Treated
The technique is used in treating chronic pain associated with:
- Lower back pain
- Tennis elbow
- Fibromyalgia
- Plantar fasciitis
- Osteoarthritis
- Tendonitis
- Neck pain
- Whiplash injury pain
- Spider veins
- Varicose veins
- Hemorrhoids
The method can be applied to different parts of the body, such as the shoulders, knees, hands, feet, face, breast and spine.
Different sugar solutions may be used to treat chronic pain from such conditions. The injections use natural substances and anesthetic agents that stimulate the natural healing response. Different substances may be used, and physicians tailor them as per the needs of their patients.
Like any injection, this technique may lead to stiffness and mild swelling. The pain experienced depends on a variety of factors, including the affected structure, solution used and both skill and experience of the physician. However, the mild discomfort disappears relatively quickly.
The treatment is only localized in the concerned area without affecting other areas.

1 comment:

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