Prolotherapy for Chronic Musculoskeletal Pain Q&A

Yes, prolotherapy is used to reduce both acute and chronic pain caused by persistent musculoskeletal conditions. It is an effective way of utilizing regenerative medicine to reduce the pain and discomfort associated with bones, muscles, and connective tissue.
 
Prolotherapy is most commonly used to help people who are experiencing pain as a result of conditions such as arthritis, degenerative disk disease, fibromyalgia, tendinopathy, and physical injuries. While prolotherapy isn’t a cure for these conditions, it can help alleviate pain, strengthen muscles and joints, a promote healing in the structures around the affected area. 
 
It’s important to talk to your primary physician before committing to prolotherapy to ensure it’s a viable and safe treatment option for you.

There is no minimum or maximum amount to how many times you can receive prolotherapy.
Treatment efficacy can vary from person to person depending on the nature and severity of the injury, as well as their own immune response, with some experiencing relief after only 1-2 sessions while others require more time to experience results.

On average, a patient will typically require 3-6 treatment sessions, with each appointment being 4-6 weeks apart. The success of prolotherapy hinges on the ability of the body to initiate a healing response and have a healthy immune system. Your performing specialist may modify the amount of solution injected into the affected area to best suit your unique needs.

Both prolotherapy and cortisone shots are types of injections that you can receive to help eliminate pain in an affected area.

A cortisone injection reduces inflammation in the targeted site, helping patients to experience immediate pain relief. However, this pain relief isn’t permanent, and over-reliance on cortisone injections can result in damage to the inflamed area in the long term. This is because cortisone hinders your ability to feel pain, increasing the likelihood that you’ll continue to injure the area without being able to feel it. This can lead to chronic, or more severe, pain overall.

In comparison, prolotherapy is a type of regenerative medicine that is used to help repair damaged and weakened ligaments, joints, and tendons. In prolotherapy, a dextrose solution is injected into the affected areas which trigger inflammation. Inflammation plays a key role in the body’s healing process, encouraging the body to send more natural defenders toward the affected area so that it can mend using its own internal resources.

Prolotherapy can provide a safe and affordable alternative to surgery, pain medication, cortisone, and other steroidal injections with far fewer risks and complications. While it is not a permanent solution, it does offer more long-term benefits than its cortisone injection counterpart.

It has been reported that about 80% of patients who undergo prolotherapy experience at least a 50% improvement in their symptoms.
 
On average, patients who undergo this treatment typically experience between 8-12 months of improvement and relief from their initial symptoms. However, this may vary depending on the complexity of your medical issue and the strength of your body’s immune response.
 
If you would like more information about prolotherapy or are wondering if it’s the right treatment option for you, contact our team of specialists at Golden State Medical Center. We’re happy to answer any questions that you may have and will help you get booked in if you decide that prolotherapy is a treatment you’d like to pursue.
 
Prolotherapy procedures are available at Golden State Medical Center. Dr. Basem R. Farag, MD, and his team in our clinic will help you heal the torn ligament and reduce your back pain. For more information, contact us or book an appointment online. We are located at 2551 San Ramon Valley Blvd. Suite 108. San Ramon, CA 94583. We serve patients from San Ramon CA, Dublin CA, Blackhawk CA, Danville CA, Alamo CA, Diablo CA, Dougherty CA, Tassajara CA, Livermore CA, and Pleasanton CA.