Ankylosing Spondylitis
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It is an accepted fact in the medical literature that an individual who presents with four out of the following five symptoms, without having any trauma to the lower back, has an 80 percent chance of having the diagnosis of ankylosing spondylitis: - onset under age 40 - gradual onset - duration of low back pain over three months - morning stiffness and better with exercise.
Ankylosing spondylitis involves ankylosing, or hardening, of the ligaments and tendons where they attach to the bone (enthesis).
Patients who gradually overstretch the ligaments of the low back and the pelvis as a result of repeated injuries (athletics, work requiring duties that can cause back injury), can gradually start to experience low back problems in his early 20s and 30s (onset under age 40). If the overstretched ligaments are not treated and "tightened", the symptoms may last for months and years (gradual onset and duration greater than three months).
Patients with ankylosing spondylitis usually suffer from moderate to severe stiffness and pain in the low back (morning stiffness), which will improve during the day with activities (better with exercise). The morning stiffness being caused by the ligaments loosening during sleep. The patient will feel better with activity as the day goes on as the ligaments begin to "tighten."
The great fact for the person with ankylosing spondylitis is that Prolotherapy helps this condition. Prolotherapy is very effective in treating ankylosing spondylitis because it treats the exact structures that are affected by the disease, the tendons and the ligaments where they attach to the bone.
SPINAL CORD STIMULATORS AND PROLOTHERAPY
Ross A. Hauser, M.D.
“Can I get Prolotherapy if I have a spinal cord stimulator?” This is a question I get asked once or twice a year. When modern medicine fails to help someone’s pain, despite high doses of narcotics, the final assault on their bodies is to implant a spinal cord stimulator. The spinal cord stimulator gives a small electric current to the person's spinal cord so the impulses of pain and injury are not felt as much. Typically the people are still on narcotics despite their spinal cords getting continually zapped.
Since Prolotherapy gets at the root cause of pain, it would be a good treatment for those on narcotics and those with spinal cord stimulators. The only thing I ask of patients is that they bring their x-rays showing exactly where the spinal cord stimulator is placed. As long as I can see where the stimulator electrodes are located (typically at the level of the upper lumbar vertebrae) then I can safely do Prolotherapy at the areas below this. Generally the pain is coming from the sacroiliac ligaments, iliolumbar ligaments and the levels of L4 and L5 which are generally two segments below where the spinal cord stimulator electrodes are located. Prolotherapy to the above areas can be safely done without hitting the spinal cord stimulator or the electrodes.
For the person on a spinal cord stimulator to get completely healthy though I also recommend a comprehensive natural medicine evaluation. Typically because of the severity of the chronic pain and multiple surgeries, disability,...the person is in a state of hormone depletion. An aggressive course of anabolic natural hormones, nutrition, and nutritional supplements, and of course Prolotherapy the person can be weaned off of narcotics and their spinal cord stimulator.
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