Info. about Prolotherapy and PRP–Platelet Rich Plasma

Prolotherapy is becoming more widely known everyday as a treatment and sometimes cure for musculoskeletal chronic pain conditions. Injections delivered to the site of pain trigger healing responses in the body.
The solutions used are harmless and non-toxic. Dextrose prolotherapy typically consists of dextrose diluted with lidocaine. This is a combination that has been used for over sevent odd years, and has been shown in rigorous studies to be safe in all cases and very effective in many cases. All in all, PRP and prolotherapy injections treatments seem to be growing in popularity, especially for sports injuries and the like.
According to John Neustadt, ND, medical director of Montana Integrative Medicine, Platelet Rich Plasma (PRP) is created by withdrawing some blood from the patient, spinning down the blood to concentrate the platelets and growth factors, then putting the PRP into syringes and injecting it into the damaged area (tendon,ligament, joint). The Montana Integrative Medicine website claims that PRP has been subject to many studies and is also found to be both safe and effective; “Dextrose prolotherapy is typically used for chronic pain when little degeneration is suspected, and PRP is used when more severe tendon, ligament or joint degeneration exists.”
Dr. Neustadt’s site quotes the former Surgeon General of the United State, C. Everett Koop as saying, “I have been a patient who has benefited from Prolotherapy….My intractable pain was not intractable and I was remarkably improved.” —excerpted from the book: “Prolo Your Pain Away: Curing Chronic Pain with Prolotherapy,” Beulah Land Press, 2000, By Ross Hauser, MD and Marion Hauser, MS, RD.
Dr. Neustadt’s site explains it well. For his part, Doctor Dr. Gary Matson is a board certified family practice physician who has been providing prolotherapy treatments to his patients since 1995, according to his website. Dr. Matson also provides Platelet-Rich Plasma Therapy, noting that, “Professional athletes have been using Platelet-Rich Plasma therapy (or PRP)……” In addition, Los Angeles based Doctor Marc Darrow does PRP injections and prolotherapy treatments as well.
Prolotherapy has been shown to increase the size of tendons and ligaments up to 40%. The tissue formed from Prolotherapy is flexible ligament or tendon tissue, not scar tissue. The goal is the achieve a stronger ligament or tendon in which the nerves are no longer stretched or irritated.
Prolotherapy is used to treat the spine (neck and back), the sacroiliac joints, shoulders, elbows, hips, knees, ankles, and temporomandibular joints (TMJ).