What is Wrong When Prolotherapy Doesn't Work
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The key to Prolotherapy is twofold: you must have a Prolotherapy-Responsive Ailment (PRA), in other words, a pain that Prolotherapy is effective at treating and you must get a sufficient inflammatory response to the area to stimulate repair through the process of Prolotherapy.
The first part is actually quite easy. Is the pain or weakness caused by a ligament, tendon, joint, menisci, labrum, cartilage, disc, or muscle attachment tear, ligament and tendon injury, laxity or weakness? Because most people with chronic pain have seen a lot of health care providers, they typically know what is wrong with them.(See A Retrospective Study Shows Prolotherapy is Effective in the Treatment of MRI-Documented Meniscal Tears)
The second part is not so easy because it isn't under your control. The Prolotherapy doctor who performs the Prolotherapy must give enough shots, with enough strength, and enough time to heal the injury. Here at Caring Medical, we typically do 50-80 shots for a neck, thoracic, or lower back treatment. Peripheral joints need anywhere from 20-40 Prolotherapy injections each. The treatment should give an inflammatory reaction for at least one to two days and the inflammatory phase of healing lasts anywhere from four to six weeks. So we typically see the patient every month. This is considered Comprehensive, or Hackett-Hemwall, Prolotherapy. The patient is given a thorough amount of injections with enough Prolotherapy solution, and a strong enough Prolotherapy solution is used.
Most folks need three to six visits to get over their injuries and chronic pain with Prolotherapy. If I was getting Prolotherapy and on treatment number eight or ten and did not have any improvement, I would seek out another Prolotherapy doctor if the physician did not change anything he/she was doing. Again, this is dependent on having an injury that Prolotherapy can help. For Prolotherapy to work, a strong immune system response is needed, if someone has a compromised immune system, Prolotherapy may or will not be successful. In our practice, we do comprehensive testing and offer natural medicine by way of nutritional counseling and other modalities to assist the patient prior to/during Prolotherapy.
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