Does your elbow or knee bend past neutral? Can you touch your palms to the floor when bending at the waist or bend your thumb back to your forearm? Perhaps you have frequent dislocations or even chronic pain in certain joints that seem to be loose. If so, you probably have hypermobile, joints also known as benign congenital hypermobility. Hypermobility can provide an advantage in athletes by adding length to their stride or flexibility to a throw. There are disadvantages, however, to hypermobile joints. They tend to injure easier and can possibly lead to osteoarthritis later in life.

There are subtler cases of hypermobile joints that can only be determined by a physical examination, which is why seeing a Prolotherapy doctor for chronic pain is important. Many physicians overlook the fact that ligament laxity can be a source of chronic joint pain.

Prolotherapy is the treatment of choice for benign congenital hypermobility. Whether the symptom is frequent dislocations, chronic pain or injury, Prolotherapy treats the root cause by strengthening connective tissue to prevent overextension of joints. Sometimes patients with BCH also need to assess their bodies’ overall ability to heal. For instance, a natural medicine evaluation in addition to Prolotherapy, to ensure that their bodies are in “healing mode” or anabolic versus “break down mode” or catabolic.