The Response of Traditional Medicine
Traditional medicine continues to search for drugs, devices and surgical procedures to eliminate chronic pain. Anti-inflammatory drugs have become a billion dollar business. While the drugs may provide temporary relief, they do nothing to correct the underlying condition causing the pain. In fact, in the long run, these medications do more damage than good.
Another common pain treatment is a cortisone shot. It's also one of the quickest ways to lose strength at the ligament-bone (fibro-osseous) junction. Cortisone and other steroid shots have adverse affects on bone, cartilage and soft tissue healing. Unfortunately, many people suffering from chronic pain look for quick relief without thinking about the long-term, potentially harmful side effects that could occur. The problem with cortisone is that, although immediate pain relief is possible, it inhibits nearly every aspect of healing, making the pain condition even worse!
In simple terms, anti-inflammatory drugs and cortisone shots are anti-healing. They result in long-term loss of function and even more chronic pain by actually inhibiting the healing process of soft tissues and accelerating cartilage degeneration. Plus, long-term use of these drugs can lead to other sources of chronic pain, allergies, leaky gut syndrome and other serious side effects.
Finally, when all else fails, patients who experience chronic pain, particularly joint and back pain, are referred to a surgeon. Unfortunately, surgery usually makes the problem even worse. Surgeons will use x-ray technology as a diagnostic tool, which does not always properly diagnose the pain source. Plus, decisions to remove cartilage tissue, bone or a disc will most commonly result in arthritis. And so, the treatment of one pain condition simply leads to another.
Caring Medical's Natural Medicine Approach to Treating Chronic Pain
A better approach, in our opinion, to alleviating chronic pain (forever!) is to stimulate soft tissue, ligament and cartilage repair with Prolotherapy. Most people have chronic pain because of ligament weakness and cartilage deterioration. Here's what happens:
1. A ligament is damaged through overuse or trauma, such as a sports injury or an accident.
2. Because of the ligament's poor blood supply, it does not heal (unlike muscles, which have a good blood supply and heal quite easily).
3. Over time, the injured ligament weakens, like a stretched rubberband that has lost its elasticity.
4. Since ligaments function as joint stabilizers, the injured ligament is no longer capable of doing its job.
5. As a result, the muscles must compensate. They begin to ache and spasm and, eventually, the joint or vertebra in the area begins to compensate as well.
6. Overgrowth of bone occurs to help stabilize the injured ligament, which leads to arthritis, and a whole new level of pain and disability.
This downward spiral of pain can be halted and reversed only by stimulating healing at the source—the ligament. The only proven procedure that stimulates this kind of healing is Prolotherapy.
Prolotherapy is the safest and most effective natural medicine treatment for repairing tendon, ligament and cartilage damage. Prolotherapy stimulates the body to repair painful areas by inducing a mild inflammatory reaction in the weakened ligaments and cartilage. The inflammation causes the blood supply to dramatically increase in the ligament, alerting the body that healing needs to take place. In the simplest terms, Prolotherapy stimulates healing.
Prolotherapy offers the most curative results in treating chronic pain. It effectively eliminates pain because it attacks the source: the fibro-osseous junction, an area rich in sensory nerves. What's more, the tissue strengthening and pain relief stimulated by Prolotherapy is permanent!
Nearly all pain conditions can be successfully treated with Prolotherapy, including:
Osteoarthritis
Tendonitis
Migraines
Sports Injuries
Loose Joints (Hypermobility)
Fibromyalgia
RSD Pain
Temporomandibular Joint Syndrome (TMJ)
Sciatica
Herniated Discs
Degenerated Discs
Degenerated Joints
Chondromalacia Patellae
Osgood-Schlatter Disease
Carpal Tunnel Syndrome
Ligament Sprains
Plantar Fasciitis
...and Back, Hip, Neck, Shoulder, Knee, Elbow, Foot, Ankle, Hand, Wrist, Finger and Toe Pain
To learn more about the Prolotherapy procedure, click here. To read about a 63-year-old woman who has benefited from Prolotherapy and been remarkably relieved from chronic neck, headache, back and knee pain, click here. Or to learn how a 37-year-old man with lower back pain experienced permanent healing with Prolotherapy, click here. Or read about a woman relieved of chronic knee pain as a result of cartilage repair and regeneration. Or about how cartilage regeneration relieved one woman's hip pain. You may also want to read about Hackett Referral Patterns and referred pain, which occurs when a ligament injury or weakness in one part of the body causes pain in another part. And to learn why the treatment approach referred to as MEAT (Movement, Exercise, Analgesics & Treatments) is superior to RICE (Rest, Ice, Compression and Elevation) when treating injuries, click here.
If you are interested in more information about Prolotherapy or to schedule an appointment with Dr. Hauser, please contact Caring Medical at 708-848-7789, or online using our contact form.
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