By April on Saturday, June 17, 2000 - 03:50 pm:

Hello all. I just received my first round of prolotherapy and some things came as a
surprise. If any of these things are unsound please let me know soon. Thanks.

1). The doctor (Dr.) asked me to pick where I wanted the shots but made little
attempt to ascertain that the ligaments were actually loose before he gave the
shots. I believe he said that it's sometimes tough to detect loose ligaments.
2). The nurse said no restriction of activity is necessary. Can new tissue really
endure considerable movement?
3) The Dr. wants to charge $500 for shots to all my loose areas (back, neck, and
shoulders).
4). Dr. wanted to prescribe about six supplements including prolomax, cod liver oil,
musculax (?).

By Park Griffin on Tuesday, June 27, 2000 - 11:30 am:

Most of this makes sense to me. Though, I hope that you were given a good physical assessment by the physician prior to your treatment. Some prolo docs will offer you the first course of treatment on your very first visit to their office. Here is a defense to that practice: If you have been trying for awhile to address a problem via conventional medicine, you will most likely have at least amassed a thorough patient history. The doctor can use this information to determine the nature of your problem (for example): patient John Doe demonstrates an abnormal walking gait with a right pelvic upslip... This tells the prolo doc that you have SI Joint problems. Then, by you telling the doc which side hurts, they will use this info to start injecting. When a joint, like the SI Joint, is injured, it makes proper body posture impossible, which causes secondary pain all over the body. The prolo doc can monitor the progress of treatments by observing any changes in body posture. When it comes to injecting the ligaments of the SI Joint, the doctor will probably inject a whole series of ligaments (some will be perfectly okay ligaments) , but prolo won't hurt them. Remember, not only is the doctor trying to eliviate pain, they are trying to secure loose joints and improve body posture. Here it is in a nutshell. When certain joints are loose, the doctor might have to inject good and bad ligaments to effectively secure the joint. Again, when your doc asked you where you wanted the shots, it just told them which side of the body the loose ligaments are on. As far as the supplements, they won't hurt you, but they may not help either. Supplements are considered to be food by the FDA, and thus, the FDA does not control them. If you have ever seen independent tests on supplements, you would see that they don't have the amount of ingredients as listed. Sometimes they are void of a certain element that is listed as being present. Sometimes there are elements in the supplement that aren't listed as being present. As far as exercise, go for it. You will not destroy your new ligament tissue. The most that will happen is that you will cause the area to become imflammed (and remember - imflammation is part of the healing process). I would say this about exercise: Be smart about it, find out exercises that isolate and target specific areas rather than spazzing out. For example, if kayaking is what caused you to have back problems, it would not be a good idea to go kayaking for exercise. Good luck with the prolotherapy!!!

By April on Tuesday, June 27, 2000 - 07:47 pm:

Thank you very much Park Griffin, for your helpful advice. I wish you the best as well.

By Debbie on Monday, August 07, 2000 - 12:32 pm:

I'm getting ready to have my second knee surgery, my 5th surgery for unstable joints--maybe EDS type 3. If I have prolotherapy first, how long should I wait to have surgery (I need it anyway because of cartilage damage)?