An Effective Therapy For Injured Joints

Many instances of chronic joint pain are related to connective tissue damage or injury. The most common connective tissues involved are ligaments or tendons; this is usually called a sprain or a strain. When a strain/sprain occurs the ligaments and/or tendons are separated from the bone. Ligaments are the structural “rubber bands” that hold bones to bones in joints – acting like the body’s shock absorbers. Ligaments can become weak or injured and may not heal back to their original strength or endurance. Ligaments will also not tighten on their own to their original length once injured. This is largely because the blood supply to ligaments is limited, and therefore healing is slow and not always complete. To further complicate this, ligaments also have many nerve endings, and therefore the person will feel pain at the areas where the ligaments are damaged or loose. Resulting in an enhanced pain sensation. (Biedert RM) With normal body repair it takes 6-8 weeks for the site of injury to heal. Often the site of injury takes much longer to heal and the patient complains of never feeling 100%. This is because connective tissue has a limited blood supply. Healing components of the blood slowly move into these areas and it becomes difficult for these tissues to receive what they need to properly repair. If the connective tissue remains weakened and overstretched then repeat injury occurs. A perfect example of this is a sprained ankle. If the ankle does not completely heal, it remains weak and continues to roll or re- sprain itself. In the British Jou
al of Sports Medicine, it is noted that most connective tissue injuries are degenerative and not inflammatory in nature. (Kader de et al 2002).
This completely changes the conventional anti-inflammatory treatment approach to chronic pain, where chronic pain is most commonly treated with steroid injections and anti-inflammatory pain medications. A pain management approach that does not address connective tissue damage is limited in the scope of how well it can actually treat the underlying cause of the pain and repair the connective tissue within the joint.

According to one orthopedic jou
al, the best results one can hope for after a sprain/strain are 50-70% of pre injury joint strength. (Frank et al. 1985).
Prolozone is a form of non-surgical ligament/tendon reconstruction and is a permanent treatment for chronic pain. The therapy works by injecting collagen producing substances into the areas of damaged connective tissue and allowing the tissue to rebuild. This injection therapy causes the formation of new ligament tissue in areas where it has become weak. Pain will persist as long as the connective tissue remains damaged. These injections stimulate the tissue to repair itself, strengthening and tightening, and thereby stabilizing the area.
The response of treatment varies from individual to individual, and depends on one’s healing ability. Some people may only need one treatment while others may need as many as ten. It is important the patient no use any anti-inflammatory medications before and during the 48 hours after the injection. For the same reason areas that have been treated with steroid or cortisone injections cannot be treated with prolozone until the injections have worn off. The injection process is repeated every 10-14 days. Significant results should occur after the second treatment.

REFERENCES:
Biedert RM et al: Occurrence of free nerve endings in the soft tissue of the knee joint. A histological investigation, Am J Sports Med 20 (4):430-433,1992

Frank c et al: Normal ligament properties and ligament healing, Clin Orthop Relat Res 196;15-25, 1985

Kader D et al: Achilles tendonopathy; some aspects of basic science and clinical management, Br J Sports Med 36(4):239-249,2002.

Case study #1 woman w/ Chronic Back Pain:
Shari a 35-year old female presented with a chief complaint of fatigue, and chronic back pain. Her back had been in spasm since a car accident 5 years earlier. She had two small children and was upset because she couldn’t do things with her children that other moms could because she was always in pain. She had gotten in the habit of having 3 martinis every afte
oon to take the pain away. She had a home sewing business but could only sit at her sewing machine for 1 hour at a time before the pain started. I looked at her lumber MRI and it showed a 5 mm disk herneation at the L5-S1 and a 3mm disc bulge a the L4-L5 vertebrae. When I examined Shari’s back she had localized pain at the areas of the disc bulges as well as multiple trigger point areas where her back muscles were spasming in order to protect the area of injury. I injected her trigger points to reduce muscular spasm and then injected bilaterally the ligaments surrounding each disc bulge. Shari felt fine following the treatment, I told her to go home and rest for 2 days without taking any anti-inflammatory pain medications. When I saw her 2 weeks later she said that she had been to Disneyland with her kids and had been waiting for the pain to start but it never did and she just kept walking and walking. She had stopped needing the martinis in the afte
oon and felt 90% better. I have see
Shari over the last 12 months as we have been treating her fatigue, her back pain has never returned. She now can sit and sew for 5 hours at a time.

Case study #2 male w/Sciatica:
Dennis a 41-year old male presented with Sciatica. He had had sciatica on and off for the last three years after he had injured his back playing soccer. Dennis worked as a truck driver and the sciatica was a real problem because when he had a flare up it was nearly impossible to drive for any distance. The pain would shoot down his left leg and he described it like a lightening bolt. I examined the MRI and it showed he had a L5-S1 3mm disc bulge, as well as a L2-L3 2mm disc bulge. He had a trigger point muscular spasm in his left buttock as well as one just above the top of his sacrum. I injected his trigger points as well as the ligaments surrounding the weakened joints. After 3 weeks Dennis reported feeling about 70% better. He was able to drive without pain and only experienced stiffness after sitting for a long time. He returned 3 months later for another injection and has reported feeling 90% better overall.