Chronic pain? Sports injuries? Knee, shoulder, neck, or back issues?
These are common reasons people come to us looking for a solution. Tulsa prolotherapy is the solution!
What is Tulsa Prolotherapy?
Prolotherapy is a simply, minimally-invasive, in-office procedure that stimulates your body to heal itself. Prolotherapy has been in Tulsa for more than 10 years. Dr John Merriman was a cardiologist in Tulsa who suffered from neck pain which resolved with prolotherapy. He became an advocate for the procedure and treated hundreds of patients in Tulsa with prolotherapy.
We have found that many patients with pain and injury actually have damaged ligaments and tendons. Due to the relatively poor blood supply these tissues are notorious for not healing completely in many cases. Prolotherapy stimulates the body’s natural inflammatory healing mechanism which repairs these damaged ligaments and tendons.
It doesn’t matter how long ago the injury occurred and it doesn’t matter how long you’ve had pain. Tulsa prolotherapy re-stimulates the inflammatory process healing these damaged tissues. Once the tissues are healed the pain resolves.
How long does Tulsa Prolotherapy last?
If your pain is truly due to damaged ligaments and tendons then when the tissue damage is resolved the pain goes away. The idea is that we restore these tissues to normal. Just like the rest of your body that doesn’t hurt. The results last until you re-injure the area. Dr Hackett, the founder of modern day prolotherapy, performed studies from the 1930’s through the 1950’s. He noted an 85% success rate and these results persisted for over 14 years!
If we are truly healing these damaged tissues then the results last as long as you do.
Why not just have surgery?
Surgery is an excellent option when you know the exact reason you have symptoms. However, this often is not the case. I have seen countless patients with knee pain, neck pain, low back pain, shoulder pain, etc who have had MRIs showing some type of abnormality. The problem is that the abnormalities just don’t always correlate well with the patient’s symptoms.
That is one of the beautiful things about prolotherapy! We can usually identify the exact source of pain because of the way we perform the procedure.
Surgery has risks. I remember a patient who came to see me and she was in a wheelchair and had an above-the-knee amputation of the left leg. I asked her why and she said she had a total knee replacement that got infected and they had to amputate. Ouch!
The first dictum of medicine is “first, do no harm.” In other words do the best you can for the patient but above all don’t do anything to hurt them. We should always look for the fix that has the lowest risk of complications, the least invasive, and the lowest cost.
Prolotherapy is less expensive, has lower risk, is less invasive, and often has a much higher success rate.
Personally, I wouldn’t have surgery until I have maximized the benefit of prolotherapy. You may still need surgery if you aren’t getting benefit with Tulsa prolotherapy. But that is rare!
Can’t I just take naprosyn (or any other NSAID) for my pain?
Not if you want to get better! All anti-inflammatory medications inhibit the inflammatory process. In fact, anti-inflammatory medications (NSAIDs) can block the healing process. Inflammation is part of the healing process and you don’t want to slow or block your healing in any way. We recommend avoiding anti-inflammatory medications for any musculoskeletal issue.
If you have any pain or injury then you should strongly consider prolotherapy in our Tulsa, Oklahoma clinic. Our patients typically have excellent results (read their testimonials here).
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