Prolotherapy is a non-invasive surgical procedure designed to stimulate the body’s natural healing ability. Prolotherapy is most frequently used to repair torn ligaments and tendons in addition with other strengthening exercises to restore mobility to the injured joints. The idea is to induce a mild inflammatory response in the injured joints to make the body work faster to heal it.

During Prolotherapy procedures, your doctor injects solutions containing sugar and salt to mildly irritate the injury and local anesthesia to reduce the pain from the injection. The salt and sugar water is responsible for the mild inflammation that spurs on the healing process. The procedure has been in wide use for various musculoskeletal conditions for the past 50 years and is considered quite successful for most patients.

Conditions Treated With Prolotherapy

Prolotherapy is specifically used to rehabilitate tendons and ligaments after injury or degenerative musculoskeletal disease. With that said, some common conditions treated through Prolotherapy include:

Knee Osteoarthritis

Nearly 37% of all Canadians over the age of 20 suffer from osteoarthritis—29% of osteoarthritis patients specifically have knee osteoarthritis. The condition involves loss of cartilage between knee joints so that the joints rub against each other. As the condition worsens, people feel pain during all forms of movement—even while walking and inflammation may cause swelling. Prolotherapy can stimulate cartilage regeneration to help stabilize the knee and reduce some of the pain from knee osteoarthritis. In some cases, Prolotherapy is more effective than physiotherapy.

Lower Back Pain

It’s theorized that some chronic lower back pain is caused by damaged ligaments in the back. With this consideration, many physicians recommend Prolotherapy with pain management and reduction from LBP. Research exploring the effectiveness of Prolotherapy to treat chronic LBP finds that six months of treatment can reduce pain by up to 50% for most patients.

Achilles Tendinitis

Achilles tendinitis is a common overuse condition that affects the tendons near the heel and back of the leg. The condition occurs from overstretching or not resting between bouts of intense physical activity. Research indicates that people suffering from Achilles Tendinitis improve much faster from the condition after Prolotherapy than without it.

These are just a few of the conditions treated through Prolotherapy. When combined with physiotherapy and massage therapy, it’s very likely that you will regain much of the strength and flexibility that you had before your injury.

SEMI is a state of the art sports medicine clinic in Toronto. We offer pelvic floor physiotherapy, massage therapy, PRP treatments, acupuncture therapy, Prolotherapy and much more at our clinics in Sheppard, St. Claire and Thornhill. Get in touch with us today for more information on our services or for an appointment with our doctors.