The Response of Modern Medicine
Since most lateral collateral ligament (LCL) and posterior cruciate ligament (PCL) tears occur as a result of a sports injury, traditional modern medical treatment involves the RICE protocol, a treatment regime that involves rest, ice, compression and elevation, all of which may temporarily relieve the pain of the injury, but which most definitely do not assist in the healing of the injured soft tissue…a ligament. In fact, RICE treatment actually slows healing because it decreases inflammation at a time when the injured area needs it most. In other words, RICE treatment does nothing to repair the injured and weakened ligaments and, thus, does not alleviate the chronic pain that people who have suffered an MCL injury experience, not to mention the fact that they may be prevented from continuing their sports for extended periods of time, or even permanently.
Another standard practice of modern medicine is to inject steroids into the injured area or to prescribe anti-inflammatory medications. However, in the long run, these treatments do more damage than good. Cortisone shots and anti-inflammatory drugs have been shown to produce short-term pain benefit, but both 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 and leaky gut syndrome.
Physical therapy is another treatment approach with limited success since it can only assist with leg strength and knee motion, and not with healing the injured ligament. And finally, when all else fails, or when the ligament is completely torn, patients with an LCL or a PCL injury are referred to a surgeon. Unfortunately, surgery can often make the problem worse, plus an “artificial” ligament, whether using part of the patellar tendon, hamstrings or another material, is never as good as the real thing. Tendon grafts are often stiffer than the original ligament, and artificial graft particles have been found to cause proliferative arthritis when injected into knees.
The Natural Medicine Approach to LCL and PCL Injuries A better approach, in the case of an overstretched or partially torn ligament, is to use the MEAT protocol supplemented with Prolotherapy to stimulate ligament healing and regeneration. The MEAT protocol involves movement, exercise, analgesics and treatment, such as Prolotherapy. And although a totally torn ligament usually requires surgery, Prolotherapy can play a key healing role here as well. First, Prolotherapy has been shown to regenerate tissue, and even before surgery is considered, the treatment should be given a chance to help the ligament heal itself. If this proves to be unsuccessful, or was not part of the patient’s treatment plan, Prolotherapy can still be a healing complement to surgery because the other ligaments around the knee, as well as the joint capsule itself, were at least stretched during the injury to the knee.
Chronic pain is most commonly due to tendon weakness, ligament weakness, as is the case with LCL and PCL injuries, or cartilage deterioration. The safest and most effective natural medicine treatment for repairing tendon, ligament and cartilage damage is Prolotherapy.
In simple terms, Prolotherapy stimulates the body to repair painful areas. It does so by inducing a mild inflammatory reaction in the weakened ligaments and cartilage. Since the body heals by inflammation, 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!
Caring Medical is a full time Prolotherapy doctor’s office. We have successfully treated all of the conditions we write about. This is why patients travel from across the country and internationally to be treated by our Prolotherapy physician Dr. Ross Hauser. The difference is in the care, technique, and experience you get with Dr. Hauser and team at Caring Medical.
The treatment regimens suggested here are based on the experience of Caring Medical. They do not apply to every case or condition. A person using these recommendations without the aid of a personal physician does so at their own risk.
This information is provided for informational purposes only. It is essential to have your condition evaluated by your own personal physician.
For an appointment with Ross Hauser, M.D., please call 708-848-7789. or email us at scheduling@caringmedical.com.
