Prolotherapy: How Does It Work and What Conditions Does It Treat?

Joint and muscle pain can last for weeks or even months despite your efforts at caring for your injury at home. Prolotherapy, a stimulating treatment for various types of pain in the joints or back, offers a reduction in pain plus improvements in the function and mobility of targeted joints. It’s a minimally invasive treatment that might help you avoid surgery or put it off for some time. 

At Naples Regenerative Institute in Naples, Florida, double board-certified pain management specialist Dr. Glenn Flanagan routinely performs several pain management procedures and is deeply familiar with the benefits of prolotherapy. Here, you can learn exactly how prolotherapy works and explore the many conditions it can treat.

How prolotherapy works

Prolotherapy, like other regenerative treatments, involves injecting a natural irritant into injured tissue to cause inflammation. The inflammation sends a signal to nearby cells, causing them to initiate a natural healing process. The natural irritant is usually a concentrated sugar solution.

Once the healing response has begun, regenerative cells repair your damaged ligaments or tendons. Prolotherapy causes a mild healing response to be triggered, and it can require many sessions to help strengthen the supporting tissue and improve joint stability.

Each prolotherapy session will target the supporting tissues around the painful and dysfunctional joint(s). For the best possible results, you may need several sessions at regular intervals over several months. Platelet Rich Plasma and Bone Marrow Concentrate may be incorporated into prolotherapy treatment protocols to optimize outcomes.

The conditions prolotherapy treats

Prolotherapy treats several soft tissue injuries, particularly of ligaments and tendons. Ligaments are bands of tissue that attach one bone to another and keep joints stable. Tendons, on the other hand, are bands of tissue that attach muscle to bone and help your joints move.

Ligament and tendon injuries can occur very suddenly or over time. Both circumstances can result in long-lasting pain as the injury struggles to heal properly. Prolotherapy can resolve some of this pain as well as associated immobility or instability from:

• Tennis elbow
• Golfer’s elbow
• Carpal tunnel syndrome
• Temporomandibular joint disorder (TMJ)
• Achilles tendinitis
• Shoulder tendinitis
• Whiplash injuries

Prolotherapy also works well for chronic back pain, often related to degenerative disc disease and degenerative arthritis. The sugar solution is injected with a local anesthetic such as lidocaine for minimal discomfort.

Neural prolotherapy, a specific type of prolotherapy, uses a lower concentration in its sugar solution irritant. Instead of treating musculoskeletal pain in the joints or back like traditional prolotherapy, neural prolotherapy targets neuropathy or nerve pain. 

Ready to find out more?

Here at Naples Regenerative Institute, Dr. Flanagan is happy to assess your painful condition and let you know if prolotherapy is the right choice. Schedule your appointment with a phone call or online today.