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Prolotherapy and
Knee Pain
 Cartilage Regeneration in
Five Degenerated Knees
After Prolotherapy
Degenerative joint disease is the most common form of arthritis.
The condition is marked by progressive destruction of the articular
cartilage which is easily documented by standard X-ray studies. The
regeneration of this articular cartilage in clinical practice has been
difficult. Five knees with articular cartilage degeneration were treated
with Prolotherapy in this report. Each of the five knees showed
improvement of their standard clinical X-rays after the Prolotherapy,
signifying articular cartilage repair with Prolotherapy. It is suggested
that before and after X-ray studies can be used to document the response
of degenerated joints to Prolotherapy.
Knee
Replacement and Prolotherapy
Why Are We In a Cartilage
Crisis?
This is not too difficult to figure out just from the figures of the
number of people needing joint replacement surgery (120,000
hip
replacements and 245,000
knee replacements) as directly correlated to the number of
people who are developing arthritis, which is directly related to the
number of people who have received
cortisone injections,
arthroscopy,
RICE treatment, and
anti-inflammatory medications
over the past 40 years. These treatments accelerate cartilage breakdown
tremendously, and thus also accelerate the arthritic process.
Knee Pain and Prolotherapy
There are some general principles about
healing knee injuries without
surgery. One of the first principles is to keep the area moving, while at
the same time protecting the joint from strong stresses. Immobilization of the
injured joint causes the repaired area to become weaker and thinner and often
leads to a stiff joint. This is due to a combination of adhesions in the joint
and/or shortening of ligaments, and weakening the site where ligaments and
tendons insert to bone. This is why the R.I.C.E. (Rest,
Ice, Compression, and Elevation) treatment protocols for soft tissue
injuries are so detrimental to healing.
Ligaments are especially
sensitive to immobility, therefore it is not recommended for any type of
ligament tear or sprain when the joint itself is stable.
Pes Anserinus Tendon
A common cause of knee pain is not
ligament
injury. (We realize that this is shocking, since we have been explaining in past
newsletters that ligaments are normally the cause of
chronic pain.)
The most common cause of chronic knee pain is weakness in the pes
anserinus tendons.
ACL Problems and Prolotherapy
When
faced with the ACL treatment decision, a patient will usually weigh two options,
surgery or no surgery. There are a lot of opinions offered as
to which path the patient should take. Every ACL injury is unique to the
patient, so this question is best asked of your physician and better yet, a
second opinion physician. ACL surgery is an elective surgery and many athletes
have chosen not to have it.
ACL SURGERY
Maybe not. "MRI studies have not been shown to be accurate in the
differentiation of complete and partial ACL tears." This is from "the
bible" of MRIs and sports medicine.(1) If athletes would just hold off
on surgery until evaluated and treated with Prolotherapy,
there would be a lot less of them needing pain pills,
knee replacement surgery, and wheelchairs and canes later in life
Prolotherapy
and the Patella
When there is a problem with this part of the knee it manifests as pain in the
front of the knee after strong exertion (running, walking, or stair climbing.)
This may be due to erosion of the
cartilage
on the under side of the patella, poor tracking of the patella in its groove on
the front of the knee, or an inflamed
tendon on the lower edge of the
patella.
PROLOTHERAPY AND THE SURGICALLY FAILED KNEE
During an initial consultation, I explain to patients that
Prolotherapy
stimulates the body to repair painful areas. and can help many
conditions, including a knee that has been through
surgery.
BUCKET
HANDLE MENISCUS TEARS
The lateral and medial menisci sit between the femur and tibia bones.
They are the shock absorbers in the knee. As such do you think it is a
good idea to have them removed. I don’t think so.
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