What Is Prolotherapy?
Prolotherapy (proliferation therapy) is a treatment designed to stimulate the healing of tendons (which connect muscles to bones) and ligaments (which connect bones to bones). Tight tendons and loose ligaments are the supportive structures around the joints, and are the actual cause of the pain.
The National Institutes of Health (NIH) recognizes that one of the causes of arthritis pain is not the bones themselves, but the looseness of the supporting structures, which causes excessive motion, thereby producing the pain.
Prolotherapy works by gently inflaming the tendons and ligaments, thereby allowing the patient’s own body to repair and create more healthy tissue in areas where it has become weakened and/or damaged.
Dr. Gloria Tucker teaching prolotherapy to other physicians
Guided by ultrasound, a mild dextrose solution is injected into tendons and ligaments to encourage repair of damaged tissue. The result is the strengthening of the support system around the bones and joints.
The inflammation induced by prolotherapy is the first phase of the healing process. In this phase, which begins with the injections and continues for four or five days, cells are irritated and disrupted, releasing natural chemicals that draw healing cells to the area.
The second healing phase is the granulation phase, which occurs over a period of six to ten days. In this phase, there is an increase in blood supply to the treated area, bringing curative cytokine proteins to that area.
The third phase of healing is the remodeling phase, where collagen fibers are generated through the secretion of healing nutrients by the body’s immune system, making the fibers shorter and stronger, returning the joint to its natural integrity. In short, once we cause very precisely controlled damage to the treated area, the body takes over and heals itself.
Sometimes one treatment is enough … often, multiple treatments are necessary, depending on the severity of the problem and the length of time it has been troubling the patient.
In prolotherapy treatments, utilizing PRP (platelet-rich plasma) from the patiient’s own blood is even more effective than utilizing dextrose. PRP is filled with growth factors, and produces even stronger results than can be achieved by utilizing dextrose.