I deal with bodywide OA since 18 and I'm headed to 77.

Shoulder injuries from workout equipment, and did dextrose Prolotherapy over 6 yrs ago in one shoulder and got 3 yrs great relief...I could use it again, but drag my feet on doing it...I seem to manage.

Anterior hip replacement in 2010, left me with many complications including Femoral Nerve Damage, thigh is numb and tingles/burns....less of the latter since on new Nerve supps, I think.

From this hip job, my body is OFF alignment, shorter right leg, hence worse knee and advanced OA and into right foot and ankle.

I've studied the Prolotherapy work and know of many workers here in my area, today what is used mostly for more advanced chronic issues are PRP (Platlet Rich Plasma) injections and Stem Cells from one's own bone marrow.

There are prolo workers across the U.S. and here is a good site: getprolo.com

I'm sure there are even more providers not on this listing.

I could not talk about the possibility of this work working for people if I didn't get help on my shoulder.

The doc I listen to on weekends does primarily PRP and Stem Cells...he did dextrose for many yrs prior. Here is his website and one can read and see the work: jointrehab.com


The alternative rheumy I've seen for some yrs after hip replacement also does dextrose prolo and I had 2 sessions in my knee and it didn't work....could be if I did 3-4 sessions I would get relief, but money is a factor for me. She did help me a lot with acupuncture to the spine and knee and was able to help with insurance, now insurance clamped down...

As I see it, after my long life, so many alternatives that COULD really help are not insurance covered. My hip job was covered a lot with me paying some copays, but I'm dealing with a lot of complications from this surgery. And these replacements are more major than I ever realized before I did one.

There are NO GUARANTEES. But we take our chances and IF I had more money to work with, I'd be doing PRP now.....

Prolotherapy continues to show weak evidence of effectiveness.

Here is a review:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prolotherapy

You will find most positive internet sites are run by practitioners who do this therapy. Same with your Prolo doc on the radio. He is only drumming up business. The reason insurance will not pay for it, is just that strong effectiveness is lacking. This also happened to Anodyne therapy for PN... insurances stopped paying for it because of its weak effectiveness.

http://doctorskeptic.blogspot.com/20...ctiveness.html

If it didn't help me, I could not talk about it as I do. We even have an ortho surgeon here who offers his patients PRP and they can get it from him for $1000.

Acupuncture helps a lot of people, helped me, and my rheumy was able to help me do many sessions with my insurance, but then insurance called her on it and now she can't work with me. Some insurance pays for limited acupuncture treatments.

My thinking is that if it really does work and insurance pays, surgeons can lose business...we see it differently. True all these surgeries are paid for by insurance and then MANY are left with the damages. I'm one for sure.

I've talked to so many over the last almost 5 yrs with messes from hip, back, knee surgeries....

Look at all the athletes who do this work, they make their millions and cost is no object for them...the rich don't hang out on health groups I'm sure...they go for what they can afford...and these injections are nothing in cost to them.


PS: I've done 2 series of the SynVisc type injections, all covered by our insurance, and none of them did anything for me. Helped those owning pharma stocks.

Prolotherapy is not without risk. It is an invasive procedure, injecting a foreign substance into a joint or tendon.

Here are some risks:
http://www.spine-health.com/treatmen...s-prolotherapy

One I don't see on that list is INFECTION!

Another interesting observation about the tendons changing with prolotherapy:
https://thesportsphysio.wordpress.co...-as-it-sounds/

I don't want to debate, we just feel differently on choices to try to fix ourselves. That is fine. PRP is from my own platlets and Stem Cells are from my own bone marrow...I'd like to make the PRP leap when I see my way clear. I had high hopes for the hip replacement but was one of the unfortunate ones. I know I'm not alone.

I've never had the mindset of cutting, but succumbed to the hip job. Guess I felt pretty badly back then but now work with a set of other issues. But I thought I'd come out good.

I've had two surgeries in my life, hysterectomy which left me with sciatic nerve damage, so have dealt with that for 30 some yrs and now the hip surgery, femoral nerve damage dealing with that going on 5 yrs.

Caroline, this is a written format and when someone comes on tooting a horn, well, it is to be expected that offering both sides of the topic is going to be more helpful than just one. After all people are not going to get the other side of statins, at the doctor's office either. Places like this offer more information, on many topics of interest.

Then the readers here can decide for themselves, should they consider the topic for themselves. Most people don't find the really good sites online either. They tend to like splashy expensive ones, or watered down ones like on Yahoo etc. I look for the sites that reflect the research and reality of the subject.

I’ve taken the time to read up on this subject, and it seems to me that mrsD’s arguments are persuasive. If insurance doesn’t cover the treatment, it can’t be very effective for most people.

Did anyone else ever have Prolo work? I did. And the early type prolo (dextrose) gave me 3 yrs of relief with one injured shoulder. And my thinking is, surgeons could lose a lot of patients/money if insurance paid for Prolo, PRP and Stem Cells. And patients didn't need their surgeries. Am I the only one who has these thoughts?

My sister with Advanced MS has been waiting for Stem Cells that her MS specialists said "could help her" and they never have happened for her....she has spent mega $1000's on drugs and is losing her battle. Probably due to pharma fighting against stem cells. It's done in other countries. A friend here with MS went to Dominican Republic for stem cells for MS. This person takes very few drugs, LDN for one that I told her about a couple yrs ago.

And all these providers on getprolo site, they are not authentic? They don't help people...I do believe in the work so we'll just disagree. And yes it's good to hear other sides on healing protocols.

I'm not going to start posting positive reviews on prolo work but it just came to me. My dear longtime friend, she babysat my daughter, I babysat her children...so we go back at least 40 yrs. She's in late 50's....

We were talking on the phone about 5 months ago and she happened to hear the Prolo MD on Saturday while she was driving...Her knee was giving her problems at that time.

By fluke, we were talking and I told her about my rheumy who does the dextrose prolo and Cindy ended up going to the rheumy and went thru 3 dextrose sessions and she is like a new person, going all over the creation with her new found knee. The dextrose injections are much less money and have been around forever and all I can figure when she did her knee, it was at where mine was about 20 yrs ago. Mine is much worse now and the 2 sessions didn't help, but IF I did more they may have. She is financially more comfortable than me. The rheumy at the time charged $150 per session.

Insurance pays out $1000's for those synvisc injections that do very little if anything.

Caroline, no one here has denied that prolotherapy was effective for you. If you say it helped you, then I believe you. After reviewing the links provided on this thread, my opinion was that prolotherapy can’t be very effective “for most people,” but there are always exceptions.

Anyway, as I see it, that is not the primary issue here. In your initial post, you touted the use of prolotherapy and provided links as to its effectiveness without once mentioning the fact that the procedure can have some dangerous side effects. If you are going to provide a testimonial for a product, I think you also have a responsibility to talk about possible adverse effects too.