Prolotheraphy

[kat]

I forget who I was talking with, but she said that this really helped her back.
She said she got it a few years after surgery.
My back has been way worse since surgery, but it has only been 3 months so I'm not worried yet.
I'm considering having surgery next year to get my right obturator unentrapped and would like some feedback on prologherapy also.

Does anyone have information on this?
How long did you wait to try this approach?
Do you feel it worked on elevating pain for you?

Thanks for any information.

Kathy

[Violet M]

Kat some people have reported very positive results with prolotherapy. If you have lax or chronically strained ligaments it can be helpful. I had one injection in the SI ligament that was helpful but for several weeks after the injection it was painful because it sets up an inflammation in the ligament and the theory is that more blood comes to the area and the ligament heals stronger than before. Too many injections can leave you with a lot of scar tissue though.

[Faith]

Violet, you may not see this since it is an old thread, but if you do did you pay out of pocket for prolotherapy? What type of doctor does it, do you know?

[Violet M]

Faith, actually, I think insurance ended up paying for most of it even though I was told they would not. Maybe the doctor just coded it right. I had mine done by a doctor of osteopathy but there are some MD's who do prolo, it just depends on whether they have had an interest in learning it. In my city there is a spine doctor who gives them and a sports medicine doctor. If you google prolotherapy there is a site that lists docs who do it although their list is not all-inclusive. http://www.getprolo.com/

[smitzel]

I got prolotherapy injections here in MPLS for a few years off and on. I probably had them 15-18 times in my lumbar, sacral and pelvis. he also wanted to do my hips. I spent about 10,000$ on this. Yes i said thousand. my insurance did not cover it. I was hoping it would help the PN and was desperate as we all are. I believe this dr. really wanted to help but it's so expensive and and insurance paid nothing b/c they consider it an alternative treatment. I must say i have loose ligaments and SIJD too, and maybe too severe fir it to help. I got minimal pain relief at best and sometimes it would flare. It is a very painful thing to go thru, and you are very sore for a week after. It's crazy i really can't believe i put myself thru that.

[Faith]

Thanks for sharing your experience smitzel. I think prolotherapy is stil very poorly understood. I think maybe if you only have SIJD and no pudendal nerualgia there might be some chance of help, but once the pudendal nerve is involved for so long I think it is going to take much more than prolotherapy to help. I hope you get answers and help soon.

[Violet M]

Sorry you spent so much on it without relief. I know of people who've had good relief from it but you're right, it's a bit painful after the treatments and I've heard that it can cause scar tissue to develop in the places it was given.

[smitzel]

Faith and Violet, thanks for the supportive words, you guys and this site is amazing.

Stephanie

[amfrazi]

I'm late to post on this topic, but I've had some prolotherapy. I'm still doing it. Yes, it's expensive. It's usually a physical medicine and rehabilitation specialist who does it. There are different types of doctors who do it, though.

I've spent about $1,500 and my illium no longer "recline", which makes the whole spine twist when it happens. I get movement on other planes, though. Like the one illium still does this outflare and inflare thing quite frequently. Also, my pubic symphysis used to separate all the time. That has all but stopped, thankfully. I would do it again. I WILL do it again!

I've felt that it's been helpful. It hasn't gotten me "there" 100%, but I have a hip labrum tear and femoral acetabular impingement that they will fix sometime this month. I think the pelvic instability might heal better from prolotherapy after that surgery.

I'm going to do more prolotherapy after the surgery. I definitely felt it was worth the money, but you need to do it at the same time as some heavy duty physical therapy. And you should go into it knowing you'll need multiple sessions. AND - all doctors are NOT created equal. They all have their strengths and weaknesses. So don't give up if the first one doesn't help.

It's helped me to do a pt session the day after the prolotherapy. It does drive your pain up, but the right physical therapist can get your muscles and ligaments to stop spasming afterwards. It's tolerable then. I've had prolotherapy from two doctors. One uses twice the lidocaine in the injection, so it doesn't really hurt at all, but she can only do 1/2 the number of injections. Since it costs a fortune, I actually prefer to just suck it up and do more injections at once.