Introduction to Injection Therapies

The goal of all injection therapies is to correct the underlying cause of muscle & joint pain. To do this, we need to understand the causes of chronic pain (pain that persists for 4-6 weeks following an initial injury).

Injuries that don’t heal can be caused by several different factors. Because there is more than one cause to muscle & joint pain, there are several different injection therapies that are used. The main causes of persistent muscle & joint pain are:

Ligament & tendon laxity – loose ligaments & tendons are unable to stabilize joints & cause the supporting muscles to spasm in order to do their job . . . this ultimately leads to painful trigger points & often referral pain to other areas.

Partially or fully torn ligaments, tendons and/or muscles – torn ligaments, tendons & muscles are active pain generators in & of themselves in addition to being unable to stabilize joints & other boney structures.

Decreased oxygen uptake – ligaments & joints have poor circulation. Aging further decreases both circulation and oxygen uptake. Decreased circulation and oxygen uptake result in reduced nutrient delivery, reduced immune response & increased acidosis in the site of injury.

Scar adhesions – scars from surgery and trauma heal in a 3-D net that can often bind nerves, acupuncture meridians and cause stickiness of the serous lining of other tissues that impair normal movement and activity.

Nerve plexus dysfunction – in some cases a large bundle of nerves known as a nerve plexus can be under-functioning. This is often the case with a large nerve plexus called the Frankenhauser plexus which determines a lot of the functioning in the pelvis that is associated with pelvic pain.

The injection therapies used to treat these causes of pain include:

• Prolotherapy - this is the use of dextrose (purified sugar water) to stimulate your own body’s immune system to be drawn to the area of injury so that it can heal itself.   READ MORE

• Prolozone - this combination of ozone gas and tissue building blocks are injected into joints and areas of reduced oxygen uptake to stimulate a healing response. This is often utilized in more degenerative tissue injuries, osteo-arthritis and spinal disc problems.   READ MORE

• Platelet Rich Plasma (PRP) - this therapy begins with drawing the patient’s own blood. The blood is then centrifuged and the growth factors are isolated and combined with the patient’s serum. This injection calls out the body’s own stems cells to regenerate damaged tissue. It is the strongest of the injection therapies for pain.   READ MORE

• Neural Therapy - this is the injection of scars to free adhesions that are impairing nerve and acupuncture meridians. It is also used to normalize the function of various nerve plexus in the body.   READ MORE