It’s called prolotherapy — a modern procedure growing in popularity that is based on the ancient techniques of creating a small injury to prompt healing. Back then, it was a hot poker, placed into a ligament. It’s a needle essentially filled with sugar water. The premise: If something fails to heal completely the first time, you can re-ignite the body’s natural repair response by creating a small injury in the same spot again — and again, until the part is fully healed. The therapy can prevent unnecessary surgeries and painkillers. (In fact icing an injury or taking anti-inflammatory medicine stops the body’s built-in healing process.)
Surgeons use similar techniques when they score ligaments with scalpels or needles in something called “percutaneous tenotomy,” the Centeno Schultz website says. Except prolotherapy is a 20-minute, outpatient, non-surgical treatment, often done with the guidance of an ultrasound or X-ray. Centeno says prolotherapy works best to help stretched ligaments that aren’t completely torn, like a sprain or whiplash, and chronic tendon issues. For more serious cases, the center offers platelet-rich plasma therapy (which Centeno says is 20 percent more effective but twice as expensive) and stem cell therapy for orthopedic injuries. Read the full article here.
Dr. Hughes is a certified osteopath, trained and specialized with prolotherapy, prolozone, and platelet rich plasma.
Heckel, A. (n.d.). Prolotherapy claims to treat sprains and pains without surgery or pills. Retrieved March 02, 2016, from http://www.dailycamera.com/ci_21263857/prolotherapy-claims-treat-sprains-and-pains-without-surgery.