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What's New in Pain Management?
There is more to pain management than taking various prescription drugs to only cover up the pain until the drug wears off. You should find a physician who will get to the root cause of your chronic pain such as low back pain, tendonitis, headaches, and fibromyalgia. Chronic pain is so debilitating both mentally and physically that you cannot live your life to its fullest. Treatments such as prolotherapy and osteopathic spinal manipulation can be utilized to reduce the need for prescription narcotics and anti-inflammatories.
What is Prolotherapy
Prolotherapy is an injection technique that proliferates your body's own natural tissue. It’s a great choice after you have had little improvement with physical therapy and want to avoid surgery. Ligaments are the structural "rubber bands" that hold bones to bones in joints - acting like the body's shock absorbers. Ligaments can become weak or injured and may not heal back to their original strength or endurance. Ligaments also will not tighten on their own to their original length once injured. This is largely because the blood supply to ligaments is limited, and therefore healing is slow and not always complete. To further complicate this, ligaments also have many nerve endings and therefore the person will feel pain at the areas where the ligaments are damaged or loose.
How does it work?
Prolotherapy uses a sugar-based solution that is injected into the ligament or tendon where it attaches to the bone. This causes a localized inflammation in these weak areas, which then increases the blood supply and flow of nutrients and stimulates the tissue to repair itself, strengthening and tightening and thereby stabilizing the area. The response to treatment varies from individual to individual, and depends upon one's healing ability.
How Many Treatments Do I Need?
The average number of treatments needed is 3-5. For some patients over 35, hormone optimization can be utilized in conjunction with prolotherapy to increase the anabolic response by growing more tissue and increasing the stability in the respective problem area. This may reduce the amount of sessions required to reduce or even get rid of your pain. Dr. Lovegrove utilizes his additional training in preventive-aging hormone optimization to improve chronic pain utilizing this comprehensive approach to healing.
What is the Process
The area where the ligament attaches to the bone or other structures is injected with a proliferant. Normally 50% dextrose (sugar) mixed with Lidocaine, a local anesthetic. The proliferant solution causes a local reaction or inflammation. The body reacts by laying down collagen that in turn becomes new ligament or tendon tissue. We apply local anesthetics to numb the area to reduce the discomfort of the procedure. The patient may be a little sore for a day or so, but this usually goes away. The injection process is repeated every 2-3 weeks. Patients should not expect results for about 2-6 weeks. After that the patient will notice the pain level diminishing. The good thing about prolotherapy is that the results are more of a permanent nature. You may need a "booster" injection every year or so after the initial series. If prolotherapy is administered correctly by a trained medical practitioner and the patient is chosen well, there is over a 75% chance for the chronic pain sufferer to have signifincantly less pain or even become pain free.
Prolotherapy and Dr. Lovegrove
Prolotherapy has been around for over 40 years. Various new techniques and protocols have been developed that have continued to improve its efficacy in treatment of chronic pain. Very few doctors have gotten this specific training. Dr. Lovegrove started utilizing this technique in 1999 after his own chronic neck pain was cured from 2 sessions of prolotherapy. He had suffered with chronic headaches with associated dizziness for 6 months and saw multiple specialists in surgery, physical therapy, and neurology without any solutions. He continues to have no problems and has not had to repeat any treatment. Dr. Lovegrove was so inspired from this healing that he learned the art of prolotherapy and has provided it in his family practice since 1999. Dr. Lovegrove worked with Dr. Ross Hauser at Beulah Land Clinic in 2003 to improve his research in prolotherapy for low back pain while at St. Louis University. Dr. Lovegrove’s expertise and knowledge in this technique has improved joint stability and reduced pain for hundreds of chronic pain suffers.
What can it help?
The treatment is excellent for many different types of musculoskeletal pain including:
- Arthritis
- Tendonitis/Bursitis
- Back and Neck pain
- Fibromyalgia
- Sports injuries
- Unresolved whiplash
- Carpal Tunnel syndrome/wrist pain
- Torn Tendons, Ligaments and cartilage
- Degenerated or Herniated discs
- TMJ
- Sciatica
- Barre-Lieou syndrome
- Cluster headaches
- Deep Aching
- Heel Spurs/Plantar Fasciitis
- Knee/Ankle/Foot Injuries
- Migraine Headaches
- Muscular Dystrophy/Ehler Danlos
- Rotator Cuff Tears
- Tennis Elbow
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