Knee pain and injuries are an incredible inconvenience. Even a small tear to the meniscus cartilage can leave you unable to walk or create so much pain you can no longer work. Dr. Neal H. Pollack at Neurology & Pain Treatment Center has the solution: knee prolotherapy. An outpatient treatment, prolotherapy consists of a series of non-cortisone injections into the affected ligaments, tendons, or joints that regenerate tissue and produce pain relief.
Knee surgeries are on the rise as a treatment for patients with arthritis and knee injuries. The two most common variations are partial replacement surgery and total replacement surgery. Partial and total replacement surgeries are both invasive and involve intensive physical therapy during recovery. The damaged portion of the knee is removed from the femur and replaced with an artificial knee, usually made of metal or medical-grade plastics. As with all surgical procedures, there are risks involved and the chance it will not work.
Prolotherapy treatment for knee pain and injuries is an alternative to full knee replacement surgery. Even a minor knee surgery can leave of scar ranging from 4 to 6 inches in length, whereas prolotherapy is a series of injections requiring no incisions or scars. Another downside to replacement surgery is the potential to need additional surgery later in life, known as replacement revision surgery. This is usually a result of the metal or plastic degrading within the body and failing to function. If pain ever returns after prolotherapy, another series of injections is all that is required. No more surgery, replacements, or revisions.
First, it is different because it is non-cortisone. It is very natural and helps stimulate the body’s defenses to strengthen the area in question. What is extremely important is to determine what the generator of a painful problem is, and by careful examination this can be done.
Second, I have the option of treating these areas with specific solutions that strengthen these areas. And number three, after these areas are strengthened, I teach patients how to use proper biomechanics to avoid the continuation of the stresses which produce these conditions in the first place.
The area is numbed down naturally. You walk in and walk out; it does not require a general anesthetic and it is extremely efficient. Sometimes a series of injections are necessary. It has been highly effective for a number of conditions: neck pain, back pain, elbow pain, shoulder pain, knee pain, and a number of different joints and their associated ligament and tendon connections.
Frequently, patients have seen a number of other doctors or physicians and have not gotten relief. If you want a direct approach to your problem, prolotherapy is a natural answer. You should not have to tolerate pain.