Prolotherapy is a treatment for chronic muscle and joint pain that has been used for many years and has recently expanded its indication to other types of pain such as neuropathic pain.
It is basically based on the injection of irritating substances, without the adverse effects of other substances such as corticosteroids, into the joints or the muscular area to be treated, which triggers an inflammatory response to subsequently enable the presence of growth factors that will lead to tissue regeneration with pain relief over one or several sessions, depending on the lesion and the pathology to be treated. It has an excellent safety profile and can be helpful in tendon injuries, musculoskeletal pain, osteoarthritis of the hip, knee or spine, sports injuries, low back pain or epicondylitis.
The effect of perineural prolotherapy in the treatment of neuralgia through its blocking action on TRPV1 receptors (transient receptor potential vanilloid or capsaicin) has recently aroused interest. In this way, the binding to presynaptic calcium channels would inhibit the release of neurodegenerative peptides, decreasing neurogenic inflammation and pain, demonstrating effectiveness in such difficult painful and difficult to treat conditions as Complex Regional Pain Syndrome.
For an optimal result of the technique it is necessary to have adequate preparation and experience, as well as to guide the punctures as accurately and safely as possible, either with high resolution ultrasound or with an X-ray C-arm, depending on the diagnosis of the painful syndrome.
Is it a painful technique?
No, it is not, quite the contrary. Prolotherapy is well tolerated, although it is true that since it is necessary to administer the medication through needles, it may cause some minor discomfort.
Does age have an influence?
Prolotherapy can be used at any age, although the indication between the use of a regenerative medicine technique such as prolotherapy or an ablation technique such as radiofrequency (rhizolysis) will depend on several factors, one of which may be age.
As for the effects, although it is possible that the first session is effective and curative, it is most common that several sessions spaced between 2 and 4 weeks are needed for optimal results. In any case, the pathology and its location will influence the responsiveness of the therapy.