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Synvisc
Alternatives
I could be accused of being too opinionated,
but as most of our readers know, I try to
base my opinions on facts! Sometimes I come
across articles or reviews that I really
need everyone interested in pain medicine to
read. Here is one of those articles that I
came across that definitively needs reading!
In a
comprehensive review published in the
Canadian Medical Association Journal
the authors noted that intra-articular
injections of hyaluronic acid (and its
derivatives, like
Synvisc) did not improve knee function
at any time point and that the reduction of
pain on a scale of 0 to 100 was only -7.1.1
This means that on a scale of 0 to 10 the
reduction of pain was only 0.7. In other
words, if you started with a knee pain level
of 6, after 3 Synvisc visits (after you
and/or the government spent $1500+) you can
expect your pain level to be 5.3 after 22-30
weeks and thereafter the pain to return to
its previous level.
What a complete waste of money!
In summary this article,
noted “The currently available evidence
suggests that intra-articular hyaluronic
acid is not clinically effective and may be
associated with increased risk of adverse
events. There, this type of therapy should
not be used for the treatment of painful
osteoarthritis (except in clinical trials)
until a large long-term trial with
clinically relevant and uniform end points
has been clarified the benefit-risk ratio.”1
How do these results compare to
Prolotherapy?
In a comprehensive review of
our published data involving over 700
patients treated with
Hackett-Hemwall dextrose Prolotherapy
with an average of 18 months post-treatment
follow-up, the mean pain level decreased by
a total of 4.2 points on a scale of 0 to
10. Compared to Hyaluronan/Synvisc,
dextrose Prolotherapy improves pain six
times more effectively, or in other words is
at least 600% more effective. Dextrose
Prolotherapy also provides long-term pain
relief where Hyaluronan/Synvisc provides
minimal relief at best and is only short
term (then pain returns.)
Compilation of Dextrose Prolotherapy Results
for Various Joints at a Charity Medical
Clinic.
Dextrose Prolotherapy caused
a statistically significant improvement in
pain in various joints in patients who on
average suffered with pain for 55 months.
Ninety-eight percent of the patients treated
said dextrose Prolotherapy improved their
quality of life and thus, have recommended
it to other people.
In
my opinion
It is my opinion that
dextrose Prolotherapy is the most effective
alternative treatment to Hyaluronan/Synvisc
intra-articular injections available.
Dextrose Prolotherapy provides short-term
and long term pain relief at a much greater
level than Hylruonan/Synvisc. The Canadian
Medical Association Journal recommends that
patients with painful arthritis not get this
treatment until long-term studies show its
efficacy. Long-term studies have already
determined that it doesn’t work. I concur
with their findings. One point is missing,
however. Patients with painful
osteoarthritis of the knee should receive
dextrose Prolotherapy, because as our
results show, it definitely works!
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