Prolotherapy, it is good for you? Prolotherapy, which is shorthand for the treatment of proliferation, refers to a variety of techniques to cure or repair of damaged ligaments and tendons. reports that date to the earlier practice back to Hippocrates, who used a hot poker to repair the rotator cuff in javelin throwers, and a hot needle puncture in and around the vertebra to heal back pain. seemingly barbaric, it is thought that this inflammation stimulated and the response of the body's natural healing.
"Stimulate natural healing"
Prolotherapy does not use modern hot pokers, practitioners today use a variety of injectable fillers to generate local inflammation and stimulate natural healing. Often, dextrose, phenol, glycerine, and others are used to trigger the cascade of events that occur with normal healing.
This is particularly useful in the case of ligaments and tendons. These tissues have a solid minimal blood, causing very slow healing. When there is an injury, the healing of ligaments and tendons located behind the muscles and bones, which have a rich blood supply.
"Healing in an extended, non-functional requirement"
Remember, the ligaments connect bone to bone and stabilize joints. Tendons connect muscles to bone, and give your joints a smooth action. In many cases, after an injury when patients are eager to resume their activities, these fabrics never heal completely. Or, they can heal in a stretched condition of non-functional. This allows a continuous pain, and if a municipality is involved, abnormal movements and early arthritis.
Prolotherapy is not only after injury. It is also useful for people with ligamentous laxity. Some people have very loose ligaments that hold the bones in proper position.
This can occur naturally, which is more common in women, or it may occur because the lifestyle. Things like poor posture, or a lifetime of lifting and bending can cause chronically tense and ligaments. Prolotherapy is reported to shorten and strengthen the damaged structures.
Proliferators, irritating, and particles "
Injection techniques, solutions, and theories vary among practitioners. In general, the substances can be separated into three groups, proliferators, irritants, and particulate matter. Proliferators and the work of some irritants damaging cells, which stimulates the inflammation and the cascade begins the healing of wounds. Particles of work by attracting macrophages of the area began a series of events resulting in the production of collagen.
The new advance Prolotherapy is the injection of growth factors. They are used to directly stimulate the cells leading to proliferation of fibroblasts and collagen production.
"The success rate varies with Prolotherapy ..."
The success rate with Prolotherapy vary depending on who you talk. Proponents claim a success rate of 85-95%, but the reports are mostly anecdotal, and independent well-controlled studies are lacking. Acceptance in modern medicine requires the study of the gold standard, a double-blind comparison, using a large number of people.
Prolotherapy is not widely accepted in the medical community in the United States, but that does not mean it does not work. It just means that adequate studies have been made, and doctors have not adopted the procedure.
Designing a large scale, double-blind study of high quality prolotherapy is a difficult task. A double-blind study requires an adequate control or a placebo for comparison with the study procedure. It's pretty easy when studying oral medications because you can do two different pills look exactly the same. It becomes much more difficult with the procedures, especially procedures involving an injection. .
Posted on February 28, 2010.
