Anyone know anything about Prolotherapy or other injections for back pain?

[Slava]

I haven't tried the prolo myself. I know someone who tried it. Their explanation to me was that it hurt an incredible amount, and accomplished nothing for them.

[iggyntangs]

Hmm, that is somewhat disappointing...I myself was curious about this.

[Slava]

Well the description of the excruciating pain for the treatment itself was enough to dissuade me from considering it! That and I don't like needles to begin with.

[NBC]

Originally Posted by iggyntangs

Anybody know anything about prolotherapy? http://www.calgaryprolo.com/

It seems quite promising.

I've had it - was OK. I believe that one usually requires a number of treatments over a period of time. I have a friend who does it and he's convinced that it can help with the pain I've been experiencing in my knee.

The key will be the number of injections.

[troutman]

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.

[Ashartus]

My wife had it every few months for a couple of years - quite painful during the procedure (apparently it's fairly common for patients to pass out), but she says she felt better after. A lot of experts are a bit skeptical about whether it helps long term (in the long run most back pain resolves on its own regardless of what type of treatment is used), and placebo-controlled clinical trials haven't shown a convincing benefit yet - but it's still fairly new and I don't think anything has been settled conclusively either way.

[troutman]

http://www.quackwatch.com/01Quackery...ics/prolo.html

Dr. Abraham submitted a number of additional materials to support his request. The materials included some articles describing the technique and increased awareness of prolotherapy, as well as some listings of conferences and member organizations in which prolotherapy is taught and practiced. While this information supports Dr. Abraham's contention that prolotherapy has many disciples, it does not provide HCFA with any scientific evidence on which to base a coverage decision, nor does it prove that treating low back pain with prolotherapy has evolved into the prevailing standard of care.

Some of the materials Dr. Abraham provided noted that further studies on the benefits of prolotherapy are now being conducted. Should these additional studies be developed with larger sample sizes and should the results be based on objective measures that can clearly attribute the claimed benefits to the therapy under investigation, HCFA would be happy to reconsider the issue

[troutman]

http://www.aetna.com/cpb/medical/data/200_299/0207.html

1. Aetna considers prolotherapy (also known as proliferant therapy or proliferation therapy) experimental and investigational for any indications because there is inadequate evidence of its effectiveness.

2. Aetna considers Sarapin, an herbal extract that has been used as a sclerosant in prolotherapy, experimental and investigational for any indications because there is inadequate evidence of its effectiveness.

http://www.ctaf.org/content/general/detail/564

This topic was reviewed on June 9, 2004. It was determined that: Prolotherapy for the treatment of chronic low back pain does not met CTAF technology assessment criteria 3-5.

[iggyntangs]

Wow some interesting opinions so far. I hope the OP continues through their current methods and weighs some patience and rides out their problem. As I've heard and personally experienced, especially for someone who's only 21, time will help and the body will heal itself it will just take some time.

[flamesrule_kipper34]

One last thing...so I've been told by my family doc to avoid lifting any heavy weights...quitting ball hockey all together and really only exercises I should do is my light physiotherapy stretches, walking on the treadmill (minimally), avoid sitting as much as possible and absolutely no running/high impact exercises.

My physiotherapist on the other hand who is also a doctor and my back specialist disagrees. Says to treat this aggressively, rest is important, avoiding sitting as much as possible actually is a good recommendation.

However that with NSAID's and pain killers, I should be doing my physio, swimming but staying as active as possible to keep my body moving. He doesn't think doing something like floor hockey (no contact) once a week is detrimental, he thinks even though I'm sore the next day it will help strengthen the back in the long term along with my other exercises.

So any other opinions? I really would love to continue floor hockey, fight through the pain and get better through that sort of regimen.

Thoughts CP? Thanks.

[nickerjones]

I think the physio is right. Before I had my ESI injections the only thing that would make my sciatica pain ease was activity... Running around , skating it always loosened my back pain. I have found that physical ther. really helped mine as they gave me tons of stretches and exercise to strengthen my back. I played hockey through my back ordeal and it hurt a lot but halfway through the game I got loose and felt great the rest of the day.

[Hanni]

I would trust the specialist and physio over your gp. I've somewhat lost faith in gp's though, took them over a week to figure out my shoulder had been separated, the physiotherapist knew right away.

[Deuce Bigalow]

I have no idea if icing is required for your recovery, but if it is i'd recommend this:
http://www.buyaircast.com/cryo-cuff-back-hip-rib.htm

I use'd it for my two knee surgeries and it helped a lot. Its nice to have a pack cold for 6-7 straight hours.

[automaton 3]

The Physio helped me the most by far, keep with the stretching, exercises and walking and you should start to feel better. Get that core strength built up. No heavy lifting or strenuous physical activity.

The Chiro helped for short periods of time but it never lasted for me.

+1 on the new bed recommendation.

I know a few people that swear they have been fixed by yoga, that might be worth looking into.

A coworker's wife has tried the prolotherapy...so far I hear it has been very painful for her with no discernible benefit.