Pain medicine is a different kind of medical specialty. Rather than relying exclusively on prescription medications and medical devices, pain medicine doctors rely on alternative therapies to help people feel better. One of those therapies is known as prolotherapy.

Prolotherapy is on the list of treatments at Lone Star Pain Medicine in Weatherford, Texas. Lone Star doctors describe it as a regenerative treatment primarily reserved to address chronic musculoskeletal pain. Prolotherapy targets joints, ligaments, and tendons. What makes the treatment so interesting is that it actually triggers an inflammation response.

Unlike more traditional treatments that seek to reduce inflammation at all costs, pain medicine doctors promote inflammation via prolotherapy because doing so encourages a healing response. This explains why prolotherapy is considered a form of regenerative medicine.

‘Tricking’ the Body Into Healing

Some doctors describe prolotherapy as a technique for tricking the body into healing itself. But why wouldn’t the body do that on its own? Let us look at ligament and tendon blood supply for that answer.

Ligaments and tendons don’t always get the same generous supply of blood that other tissues get. So when one is weakened by an injury or chronic wear and tear, the body can struggle to heal it completely. There isn’t enough blood to get the job done. This can lead to chronic instability and pain.

Prolotherapy is designed to change that. During a prolotherapy session, a physician injects a mild, irritating solution into the targeted area. The solution is usually concentrated dextrose, mixed with a little bit of anesthetic. Targeted areas are typically joint capsules or the affected ligament or tendon itself.

How the Body Responds to the Injection

The key to prolotherapy’s success lies in how the body responds to it. Here’s how it should work when all things go as planned:

• Tissue Irritation – While the anesthetic portion of the injection provides temporary pain relief, the irritant goes to work. It creates a local cell-stress reaction to encourage inflammation at the site.
• Immune Response – The body’s immune system perceives this irritation as a fresh injury. It immediately rushes blood, growth factors, and healing cells to the area.
• Tissue Proliferation – Over time, usually a few days to a few weeks, the body begins laying down new tissue. The impacted ligament or tendon strengthens and tightens around the tissue as it rebuilds.

If all goes as planned, complete healing is experienced within a few weeks to a couple of months. It should be noted that most patients require more than one injection. The exact number differs from one case to the next, but rare is the patient who gets maximum results from a single injection.

Who It’s for and What They Can Expect

As exciting a treatment as prolotherapy is, it is not the best choice for all types of soft-tissue injuries. Pain medicine doctors tend to reserve prolotherapy for certain cases. You may be a good candidate if you are dealing with:

• Chronic joint instability.
• Chronic back or neck pain.
• Tendinopathies (tennis elbow, Achilles tendinitis, plantar fasciitis, etc.)

In terms of what patients can expect, prolotherapy is an outpatient procedure. Each session involves visiting the doctor’s office for about 30 minutes. The injection is conducted and the patient may be asked to hang around for a few minutes of observation. Patients can then leave and go about their business. Most cases require three to six injections before complete pain relief is realized.

Prolotherapy is an alternative to long-term prescription medications and invasive surgeries. Though it is not ideal for every patient, it seems to work well for those to whom it’s recommended.