Trigger Points, Myofascial Pain, Prolotherapy
March 18, 2011 by Dr. Marc Darrow, M.D.
Filed under Trigger Points
Despite the overwhelming evidence of its effectiveness, Prolotherapy has yet to achieve full acceptance by the medical community.
Perhaps it is because, as Dr. William Faber, Director of the Milwaukee Pain Clinic and a leading authority in the field of Prolotherapy, points out, “.the substances used in Prolotherapy are not patented and therefore would not provide the huge profits that pharmaceutical therapies receive.”
Nevertheless, the big companies have nothing patented in the field of trigger point therapy or acupuncture, both of which are accepted today.
Could it be that there is a resistance to Prolotherapy because it would substantially reduce the number of surgeries?
If this is the case, it is a sad comment on our dollar driven medical system. Without all of the unnecessary surgeries, would hospitals go out of business?
Prolotherapy also requires specialized training, sometimes with long needles, and only a few hundred physicians have made the commitment to master the procedure. But based on the public demand, this is about to change.
The Natural Healing Cascade
In order to fully appreciate how Prolotherapy works, it is essential to understand the natural healing process that it mimics, known in the world of medicine as “the natural healing cascade.”
This process is complex, but has been extensively studied by the medical community and is readily understood.
When an injury occurs to a muscle, joint, tendon or ligament, or loss of fluid in the body through aging or illness causes a weakening of these tissues, it becomes inflamed, or irritated.
This irritation provokes a defensive immune response and sequestering of fibroblasts into the damaged area. These cells produce the miraculous healing compound collagen.
Absorbed into and around the damaged tissue, the collagen builds up and fortifies these structures. It then shrinks and stabilizes. After proliferative therapy, a ligament can become 50% thicker and 200-400% stronger.
It is interesting to consider that inflammation is the inciting factor that actually stimulates the entire healing process.
In his massive and scholarly tome, “Prolo Your Sports Injury Away,” Dr. Ross Hauser suggests a very intriguing theory about inflammation and sports injuries.
Sports injuries are commonly “treated” with an injection of steroids—which are administered specifically for their anti- inflammatory effect. Hauser wonders if recurring sports injuries aren’t in fact caused by this routine use of steroid injections—which by their very nature would interfere with the body’s ability to produce fibroblasts and therefore to produce the collagen it sorely needs to repair and strengthen its damaged tissue.
If this indeed proves to be true, then the decision to choose Prolotherapy over corticosteroid injections could mean the difference between a record-breaking career and or a career-breaking decision.
