What is prolotherapy?
Prolotherapy is an alternative treatment for repairing injured ligaments, tendons, and joints. Treatment typically involves injection of a mixture of a local anesthetic, saline, and sugar water, into the affected tissue or joints, along with a numbing medication like lidocaine. By injecting these substances into the site of your injury, it stimulates your body’s natural healing process. This involves the regeneration of healthy cells to replace the damaged.
As a result of treatment, you can achieve a reduction in your pain and an improvement in the overall functionality and strength of the affected area.
What conditions can prolotherapy treat?
Prolotherapy can be effective on a number of degenerative diseases, such as arthritis or tendinitis. To achieve the optimal benefits of prolotherapy, Dr. Waltrous may recommend multiple treatments to continually stimulate new tissue growth. He bases your treatment on your injury type and the severity of your symptoms.
What can I expect during a prolotherapy procedure?
Using a custom treatment plan, Dr. Waltrous administers injections to very specific areas of your body. He will use image guidance, either ultrasound or fluoroscopy to guide the injections. The entire procedure takes less than 30 minutes and you only need to recover briefly before you can go home to rest.
Immediately after treatment, you may feel some soreness, stiffness and swelling in the treated area, which resolves on its own without further treatment. In many cases, you can expect to get back to your usual routine the next day.
You may still have soreness for as long as a week before you can notice a difference in the severity of your pain and your range of motion.
What are the benefits of prolotherapy?
Prolotherapy is a safe, effective treatment. It is helpful for long-term healing, especially when other treatments haven’t worked well for you.
Benefits of treatment include:
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No incisions
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No need for anesthesia
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Fast treatment times
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May prevent surgery
Prolotherapy can be used even if you’re already experiencing severe pain, and Dr. Waltrous uses a liberal amount of local anesthetic to keep you comfortable during the procedure.
If chronic joint pain is interfering with your life, you may be a good candidate for prolotherapy. Find out more about this innovative treatment by calling Maryland Sports, Spine and Musculoskeletal Institute or requesting an appointment online today..