PROLOTHERAPY: A GREAT ALTERNATIVE TO CARTILAGE TRANSPLANT SURGERY
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PROLOTHERAPY: A GREAT ALTERNATIVE
TO CARTILAGE TRANSPLANT SURGERY
Ross Hauser, M.D.
Let me start by asking you some questions. Think about the questions and give me a logical conclusion to these questions.
What does it mean when people with advanced osteoarthritis of the knee tell you that they have improved range of motion of the knee after Prolotherapy?
Prolotherapy Regenerates CartilageWhat does it mean when people with advanced osteoarthritis of the knee tell you that the massive amount of crunching in their knees has either declined significantly or completely remitted after Prolotherapy?
What does it mean when people with advanced osteoarthritis of the knees tell you that they now can go up and down stairs without pain and are exercising again?
What does it mean when you have before and after x-rays of the knee and now the space between the tibia and femur bones is bigger after Prolotherapy?
What does it mean when a patient’s before Prolotherapy x-rays of the knee show bone-on-bone, yet after Prolotherapy, the patient reports he is pain-free?
Given the totality of the above, what is your conclusion? What if you were me and have seen this response over and over again in most likely 1000 knees (over 15 years, I don’t know the exact number, but am just estimating). What would you conclude? Would you conclude that Prolotherapy regenerates Cartilage? Why or why not?
The bottom line is this: Over my years of treating many knees, I have seen hundreds upon hundreds of people get Prolotherapy instead of knee replacement surgery or arthroscopic surgery. Do you realize that the amount of people in the United States who get arthroscopic surgery and/or knee replacement and other knee surgeries is about 1 million? Yes, one million people per year get knee surgeries in the United States! I am confident that at least half of these should get Prolotherapy instead. If the above doesn’t convince you that Prolotherapy regenerates cartilage, what will? Who is going to fund a study that shows Prolotherapy regenerates cartilage when the substances used are simple and not patentable? No one, get my point?
A patient came to us. He told us he had a cadaver cartilage transplant in 2006. He was on crutches for 3 months and had physical therapy for four more months, three times a week. Is he better? A little bit, but what he really needed was Prolotherapy.
You see, one of the main determinants in whether cartilage transplant is going to work is also how much ligament injury is present. If a person has an Anterior cruciate ligament injury and a cartilage problem, for the cartilage transplant to have any hope of being successful, the ligament must also be repaired. Thus, Prolotherapy is a great alternative to cartilage transplant, in my opinion. At the time of getting Prolotherapy, a person can get Prolotherapy inside the joint to stimulate cartilage repair and at the same time get Prolotherapy to the injured ligaments and tendons.
You see, people often get surgical procedures like arthroscopy and knee replacements and other orthopedic procedures with the hopes that they will get cured of their pain. Most of the surgical procedures do not cure a person of their pain. They often help for the first year or so, but then the pain recurs or changes and the person is back on a lot of pain relievers. Prolotherapy, on the other hand, stimulates the body to repair painful structures. It does so without a person needing to be on crutches for several months and have months and months of physical therapy.
Ideally, after Prolotherapy a person with a lot of cartilage degeneration would start cycling at least 30 minute per day. Cycling obviously helps with motion and is the number one exercise a person can do to stimulate cartilage repair.
Cartilage is only nourished by movement. The movement moves the joint fluid into the cartilage and the cartilage is nourished. This is why if a person has back, neck, shoulder, or knee arthritis, the number one exercise they need is something that is moving the stiff area. Knee cartilage injuries need movement. The exercise that moves the knee the most is cycling. It is the movement that helps, so resistance on the bike should be minimized. You just need a cadence or revolutions per minute of 90 or greater for least 30 minutes per day.
The take home point is this: If you are contemplating a knee cartilage transplant, realize another option is Prolotherapy. One can always get a knee cartilage transplant if Prolotherapy doesn’t work, and likewise if the cartilage transplant doesn’t work, you can always get Prolotherapy.
From a conservative approach, obviously Prolotherapy injections into and around the knee is a lot less money, time, disability and results are a lot quicker than cartilage transplant. Anyone researching cartilage transplants knows that the technology is still evolving. It is changing every year.
At Caring Medical the technique of Prolotherapy is done the same way my predecessor Dr. Gustav Hemwall did it some 50 years ago. The injection technique is the same. The solutions used are about the same. The results, of course, are the same. For the person with knee degeneration, even with cartilage deficits, a decrease in pain and clicking sensation in the joint, improvements in range of motion and exercise/walking ability are typically seen. Generally, the person needs four to ten visits of Prolotherapy. For very advanced cases sometimes ten to fifteen monthly visits are needed. While the Prolotherapy is stimulating repair, the person is working on other aspects of their health by exercising, eating right, and taking supplements. So at the end of the one year period (or however long it takes) the person is the healthiest they have been in years! Getting healthier that is what Prolotherapy and Natural Medicine is all about!
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