Prolotherapy is short-form for “proliferative therapy”. This type of injection therapy is used for damage and injuries to tendons, ligaments, and joint capsules. It involves injecting dextrose with an analgesic solution (most commonly, procaine) to help promote proliferation of the connective tissue in the tendons, ligaments, and cartilage/connective tissue within joint capsules. This helps to add stability to the joint. The proliferation happens due to dextrose stimulating a controlled inflammatory response which aids in tissue repair through bringing platelet-derived growth factors to the site of injection. These growth factors help create the collagen connective tissue framework. Over time, this framework remodels itself and becomes stronger. The more injections, the more opportunity for the connective tissue to develop better tensile strength.
Prolotherapy can benefit:
- Osteoarthritis
- Tennis elbow
- Golfer’s elbow
- Knee pain
- Hip pain
- ACL/PCL injuries
- MCL injuries
- Partial meniscal tears
- Shoulder pain / Frozen shoulder
- Partial ligament tears or sprains
- Partial tendon tears or strains
- Medial tibial stress syndrome (shin splints)
- Weak ligaments/ligament laxity
- Tendonitis
- Rotator cuff injuries
- Foot and ankle pain
- Wrist/finger/thumb pain
Treatments are typically every 3-4 weeks and 4-6 treatments are usually recommended for prolonged injuries. Most individuals will experience pain relief after the first few treatments but some may not experience relief until the 5th treatment. For an acute situation, one or two treatments may be sufficient.
Neural prolotherapy is a prolotherapy technique that uses a lower dose of dextrose and is used to help with neurogenic pain and inflammation “nerve pain”. The reason for using a lower dose of dextrose is because the goal is not to proliferate and grow new tissue but rather to stop the pain-producing signals from the nerves (reduce the amount of Substance P). This reduces inflammation in the nerves.
Trigger point injections use procaine (an analgesic) along with vitamin B12, magnesium, or other therapeutic injectable solutions to help relieve trigger points in muscles. These are great for athletes or anyone involved in any form of physical activity and has developed tight muscles or notices ‘knots’ in their muscles which creates pain as the muscle is unable to relax completely. Trigger points can be identified through palpation of your muscle and identifying areas of pain that feel harder than normal.
Neural therapy is great for helping to break up scars that can be creating pain. This can be used for cosmetic scars however should be refrained from surgical scars. Depending on the circumstance, breaking up a surgical scar can cause more damage.
Chiropractic treatments are recommended prior to the injection to help with joint mobilization.
Massage therapy is recommended after the injection to help with moving the fluid around the affected area.
It is advisable to not take any anti-inflammatories (Advil, ibuprofen, Curcumin, Turmeric, Aspirin, Boswellia etc) for 2-3 days prior to your prolotherapy treatment and 2-3 days after. This allows for the controlled inflammatory response needed for tissue repair to take place. If you are wanting to take something for pain, Tylenol is okay.
Absolute contraindications are:
- an allergy to analgesics (procaine, lidocaine)
- surgical implants in the area
- pregnancy
If you are curious to know if these injections are right for you, contact Dr. Shah.
Cortisone injections: These involve injecting a corticosteroid into the joint or area of pain which help with short-term pain relief. Corticosteroids work by stopping the inflammatory process by suppressing the immune system. Less inflammation leads to less pain in the area. This is why corticosteroids are given to people that have received transplants - to suppress their immune system so it doesn't act and reject the transplanted organ.
Since the inflammatory process is needed for healing of the injured tissue, suppressing the inflammation can result in weaker tissue over time. Another important thing to note is that cortisone injections can increase the amount of cortisol in the body and high cortisol (just like when you are always stressed) can affect your blood sugar, other hormones, cholesterol levels, and blood pressure plus contribute to weight gain. For this reason, cortisone injections are usually restricted to 3-4 injections per year.
Prolotherapy: the dextrose triggers a controlled inflammatory response which helps attract immune cells and growth factors to the injured tissue to help it heal. The procaine in the injection helps to act as an analgesic to reduce the pain sensation. Injections can be provided every 3-4 weeks until the tissue heals. Even though the dextrose is sugar, it has not been shown to affect blood sugar levels and prolotherapy can benefit those with diabetes as well.
If a chronic injury is not improving with prolotherapy, this is a sign to look deeper at what else is going on with the rest of your body!
Prolotherapy and pain management injections are available at Dr. For Moms Natural Health Centre. Prolotherapy treatment is covered under extended health benefit plans that cover "naturopathic services"
Please note at this time Dr. Shah is currently trained in prolotherapy for shoulders, hips, knees, and ankles
You can call Dr. For Moms or inquire by clicking here.
