WHAT DO SOME PATIENTS DO WHEN PROLOTHERAPY DOESN'T WORK? ...THEY COME TO CARING MEDICAL
Ross Hauser, M.D.
 

J received six Prolotherapy treatments to her knees without help. She emailed our office questioning the efficacy of Prolotherapy. It was clear that she needed to come to Caring Medical before she gave up on the treatment. She did come in and received another seven Prolotherapy visits.

In the end, she avoided having a knee replacement surgery!!! You may be asking, “What happened here?”

As it turns out the other physician was not treating the ligaments around the knee.  She also had severe tenderness in her pes anserina area (inside/lower part of the knee) which was not treated. We treated this area as well and added Growth Hormone for the injections inside the knee.  In the end, she needed more extensive Prolotherapy than she was getting.

B was another interesting case.  She had received three Prolotherapy sessions for low back pain.  She decided to fly to Oak Park to have us review the case because she didn’t felt that her results were optimal.  

Upon examining her, she indeed exhibited extensive arthritis in her back, but she her hip was also significantly involved.  Interestingly enough, the pain she was experiencing was primarily on the side of the bad hip.  We gave her Prolotherapy to her hip, as well as her back.

Well, what happened? She was shocked to be 30% better with the first visit!  She required another five sessions. She says her pain is 80% relieved overall.  She is happy with the result.  She wants to see if her body will heal her the rest of the way, but suspects she will come back for another one or two visits. She is very happy that she decided to take the time and spend the money to fly here! She has her life back and avoided having surgery!

R was also an incredible case.  He had Prolotherapy by another clinician every week for four months.  He was 25% better.  He had multiple areas treated, but often just one area treated at each visit.  We let him know we could treat all the areas at one visit.  When he heard this, he did request to be knocked out with some Demerol.  We were happy to oblige by giving him I.V. demerol on the first visit.  We treated his neck, lower back and both knees at the same visit.  He was 50% better after two visits.  He needed a total of four more visits on his lower back, six more on his neck, and seven on his knees.  Even though more travel expenses were involved, he was grateful to have the process expedited! In the end, it cost him less because he didn’t need to take time off of work for so many visits, in addition to the reduced number of visit costs overall.  

Someone who receives Prolotherapy does so with the hope of achieving complete pain relief.  Most people are very happy that they received Prolotherapy.  There are several options available to the person who has a less than optimal results with Prolotherapy.  

 

Surely they could quit Prolotherapy - but what are the other options?  Typically, the patients are offered a lifetime of pain, a lifetime of anti-inflammatories with all their side effects, cortisone shots, or various surgical operations.  

If you are not happy with your Prolotherapy, a better approach is to seek out another Prolotherapist and get another opinion.   Sometimes a fresh look and a slightly different approach is all that is needed.  It is common in our practice in Oak Park, Illinois to get various referrals from other Prolotherapists and have some of their patients see us.  The above patient stories are examples of some of the reasons that people who have already had Prolotherapy come to see us. The main goal of every Prolotherapist is to get their patients well.  We want them to say that they 'Proloed their pain away!...