PROLOTHERAPY AND NERVE BLOCKS
Ross Hauser, M.D.

Sometimes people believe nerve blocks are the “last ditch” effort to get rid of their pain or prevent them from getting a surgery. Prolotherapy can be the answer when nerve blocks are not. Do not let anyone tell you that surgery is your only hope if you have not tried Prolotherapy. At our office when a person is an appropriate Prolotherapy candidate, he/she has an 80-85% chance of achieving pain relief without surgery, even when they have been told that surgery is their only option.

Wrong diagnoses?
When a person presents with radiating pain down the leg, often traditional doctors “assume” the condition is “sciatica” or a nerve problem. Well, I am here to tell you that almost all of the time it is not a sciatic nerve problem. If it isn’t a sciatic nerve problem, (or neck/cervical nerve problem), then is it any wonder that nerve blocks do not relieve the pain? Most of the time the person suffering from the pain has not considered that maybe the doctors are treating the wrong diagnoses. Makes you think, doesn’t it?

How can you know? Clues?
Are there any clues that the doctors are treating the wrong diagnoses? You bet there are! One of the best ones is that the person has no numbness. If you do not have any numbness in your leg/foot/arm or hand then it is doubtful you are experiencing a pinched nerve. If you do have numbness, but the feeling in the leg/foot/arm or hand is normal, again, it is doubtful you truly have a pinched nerve.

Yes, there are some other clues. If you primarily have low back pain or neck pain and the referral pain to the extremity is 25% or less of the pain problem, then, again, it is doubtful you have true radiculopathy or a sciatic nerve problem. What does this mean? It means that there is a great chance that Prolotherapy is going to work for you!

What is Prolotherapy?
Prolotherapy is a treatment that stimulates the body to repair painful areas. When a person has, say, for example, low back pain with referral pain into the leg or foot, then typically this means that the pain is coming from injury to the sacroiliac ligaments. In the neck, we see injury to the verterbral ligaments. Yes, ligament injuries can refer pain into the extremities (leg/foot/arm/hand) and even cause a numb feeling. Yes, ligament injuries can even cause a pins and needles sensation that radiates into the leg or arm.

Prolotherapy to the ligaments of the pelvis, lower back, or neck not only get rid of the localized pain, but get rid of the referral pain. Prolotherapy to the sacroiliac ligaments is one of the most common procedures we do at Caring Medical in Oak Park, Illinois. Since the sacroiliac ligaments are injured very easily when a person bends forward and twists in either direction, it is, to say it plain and simply, “a very common injury.”

When a person experiences “sciatica” down the leg, he/she should first think sacroiliac injury before disc injury. When contemplating various treatments, it just makes plain sense to think Prolotherapy instead of nerve blocks and surgery. The next time a doctor says to you, “I am referring you for a nerve block,” ask him/her, “How about sending me for Prolotherapy?” After the doctor wakes up from shock, explain to him/her the above principles.

For the person with low back pain and/or neck pain referring to the leg/foot/arm/hand Prolotherapy is often curative. Prolotherapy is given about once per month for three to six visits. Remember a great alternative treatment to nerve blocks is Prolotherapy.

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