Calgarypuck Forums - The Unofficial Calgary Flames Fan Community - View Single Post - Anyone know anything about Prolotherapy or other injections for back pain?

troutman · 11-16-2010, 01:39 PM

http://www.skepticnorth.com/2010/01/prolotherapy/

If prolotherapy has weight to it, great, but those who promote prolotherapy don’t say “this a treatment that is currently gathering evidence that might work for you and here are our sources so far”, they say “traditional treatments will hurt you so you should do this”. Evidence? What’s that? I take issue with these misleading methods because these therapies are expensive, carry unacknowledged risks (infection, etc), and are not science-based.

Generally, and especially in medicine, if something sounds too good to be true (promoted vociferously without objectively acknowledging caveats), it probably is. There are always pros and cons that need to be considered – maybe sometimes more of one than the other, but both must be verified carefully with evidence. Ignoring information for the sake of promotion is not responsible medicine – so I must conclude that prolotherapy is not responsible medicine.

I won’t recommend an invasive treatment on a patient that at worst could cause harm and at best could do nothing when there are other available science-based methods. If there’s no evidence either way, I’ll try something low risk, but in this case there are acceptable alternatives. Given the current evidence, I would not recommend prolotherapy for shoulder subluxation, nor should anyone else until there is research to back it up.

11-16-2010, 01:39 PM	#25
troutman Unfrozen Caveman Lawyer Join Date: Oct 2002 Location: Crowsnest Pass Exp:	http://www.skepticnorth.com/2010/01/prolotherapy/ If prolotherapy has weight to it, great, but those who promote prolotherapy don’t say “this a treatment that is currently gathering evidence that might work for you and here are our sources so far”, they say “traditional treatments will hurt you so you should do this”. Evidence? What’s that? I take issue with these misleading methods because these therapies are expensive, carry unacknowledged risks (infection, etc), and are not science-based. Generally, and especially in medicine, if something sounds too good to be true (promoted vociferously without objectively acknowledging caveats), it probably is. There are always pros and cons that need to be considered – maybe sometimes more of one than the other, but both must be verified carefully with evidence. Ignoring information for the sake of promotion is not responsible medicine – so I must conclude that prolotherapy is not responsible medicine. I won’t recommend an invasive treatment on a patient that at worst could cause harm and at best could do nothing when there are other available science-based methods. If there’s no evidence either way, I’ll try something low risk, but in this case there are acceptable alternatives. Given the current evidence, I would not recommend prolotherapy for shoulder subluxation, nor should anyone else until there is research to back it up.