For me, I would have to give prolotherapy a big thumbs down. I had a series of prolotherapy injections in my neck and shoulders last summer. The osteopath I went to said he had "great hopes" for me. I would go in every few weeks and he'd inject some type of solution into the tendons next to my spine and shoulder joints.
This site gives a good explanation: http://prolotherapy.com/prolodefine.htm
The muscles were SUPER sore right after the injections were done. I had trouble moving those areas for a couple of days. The session where he injected my back was horrible. I swear he did 20 shots. . .or more. I am pretty used to getting shots, but the sheer quantity was terrible. He would numb up each area first but still! I got really dizzy and was just hoping I wouldn't pass out.
So then I waited. . and waited. . .for the shots to work! Curiously, the pain and spasms continued as if nothing had been done! So all that messing around and $$$ spent for nothing.
When the doc. saw that the shots were not working he started getting an "attitude" with me. Despite the fact I said I had EDS and Chiari, he wanted me to start PUMPING WEIGHTS. He told me to go to a sports equipment store and buy the largest weight I could pick up!!!!!!!
The topper was he thought I should do his neck exercise machine to strengthen my neck. I grudgingly agreed to do a "test" on this machine. BIG MISTAKE! They strap you into a chair so your legs and shoulders are pinned down. Then you rest this head on this contraption connected to weights, and they ask you to push your neck forward and backward to measure strength and flexibility. Well no surprise, the machine concluded my neck was weak and inflexible. I had migraines for four straight days just from the test! They wanted me to come back and exercise on their machine 2x a week for a couple months. I said "No thank you, four days of migraines is enough."
Now it's been about a year and I still have not seen any improvement from the prolotherapy. So that's why I'll give it a big thumbs down. Maybe it works for other people, but not for me!
I can't tell you how happy I was when my Rheumy mentioned prolotherapy and then stated that in his opinion, prolotherapy only treated conditions that were mental and was basically the placebo effect. Needless to say he won't be doing them on me.
ReplyDeleteProlo was a complete disaster for me. Massage and light weights, one or two pounds only (with the sets spread thoughout the day) seem to help.
ReplyDeleteI'm glad to know I'm not the only one with bad results from prolo. Smaller weights are more helpful to me too. It doesn't make sense to be doing more damage to your joints with big weights.
ReplyDeleteStacey if prolo is mental, why don't they inject your brain instead? LOL
Thanks so much for posting this information. I'm dealing with a shoulder problem and was thinking about prolotherapy. It's nearly impossibly to find anything on the net that's not an ad for it--almost always a bad sign.
ReplyDeleteYou are very welcome! I've heard a few say it worked, and a few say it didn't so - probably just one of those things you have to try and see if it helps.
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