Prolotherapy is a therapeutic treatment for pain and joint instability that I have practiced since 1977.  As a pain specialist, board certified by both the American Board of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation and by the American Board of Pain Medicine, I find that prolotherapy is simply the application of the basic science of healing and repair.  It is cost effective, safe and works when nothing else does.  It is just common sense good medicine.

Prolotherapy stimulates the body’s own system to grow new tendon and ligament fibers in order to patch torn, worn out or over stretched areas in the tissues.  The problem with having an old sprain (tear) that did not repair itself completely or an over-used tendon, ligament or joint, is that it causes local or referred pain and joint instability.  Joint instability causes the cartilage to wear out or break down more rapidly with the development of spurs and arthritic changes.  It also allows the spinal discs to be injured more easily, with nerve involvement from the spurs or from disc herniation.

Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs are prescribed or obtained over the counter for fresh injuries. These drugs may cause the patient will have a chronic problem of pain, joint instability, or both, because the healing is impaired by the anti-prostaglandin effect of the drugs.

Prolotherapy is the use of stimulating substances, such as 15% dextrose ( a very concentrated sugar) in anesthetic or very diluted sodium morrhuate (a cod liver oil extract used to treat varicose veins) which are injected onto the attachment point of the tendon or ligament on the bone.  The healing process is started and the tendon or ligament cells multiply as if they been sprained.  Each new fiber weaves itself across the bridge of the existing tendon or ligament and patches the hole or weak spot in the structure.  The result is a larger, thicker tendon or ligament, elimination of the pain and better joint stability.

The former Surgeon General of the U.S., C. Everett Koop, benefited from prolotherapy for his low back and used it to treat the parents of his pediatric patients.  He later had a severe neck problem that was helped with treatment.  Dr. Koop was treated by Dr. G. A. Hemwall, who is the doctor that first trained me in prolotherapy.

Low back pain treatment with prolotherapy requires an accurate diagnostic work up to separate nerve pain from ligament-referred pain.  Dr. George S. Hackett did much of the original work with prolotherapy research and patient treatment and coined the word “prolotherapy”, meaning “proliferative therapy”.  Dr. Hemwall was trained by Dr. Hackett.  Dr. Hackett wrote and published many papers on prolotherapy and on pain referral patterns from the neck and back.