High School Athletes and Prolotherapy
Why Is It Crucial for High School Athletes to Get Prolotherapy Instead of Traditional Orthopedic Care?
Ross A. Hauser, M.D.
Do these scenarios sound familiar to you? Your son John suffers an athletic injury and now he cannot play baseball, the sport he loves. What are you going to do?
JoAnn, your friend’s daughter, is an outstanding volleyball player, and strains her knee. She is side-lined from volleyball. There go her hopes of a scholarship. What to do? She is in the middle of the season and it is her senior year. She desperately wants to play. If you are like most parents or athletes, you will see an orthopedist.
I am going to give you a lot of reasons why it would be in your son or daughter’s best interest to first go see a Prolotherapist
PROLOTHERAPY GETS ATHLETES BACK INTO THE GAME QUICKER
We have treated professional basketball players here at Caring Medical on a Wednesday and watched them on play basketball on television that Thursday evening – yes, one day later! That’s one of the beauties of Prolotherapy. Exercise helps Prolotherapy repair the tissue quicker. Prolotherapy causes an immediate stabilization of the joint. While the new tissue has yet fully healed, the initial stabilization may come from the swelling produced by the treatment.
Getting Prolotherapy immediately after an injury is not necessarily a guarantee that you can get into the game immediately, but most assuredly you will get into the game quicker than if you rest, ice, elevate, and take anti-inflammatory medications. I have many more stories of injured athletes coming to the office feeling dejected, hopes and dreams seemingly lost, who were soon going down state, qualifying for state, getting to play in districts, and other important events - all because they chose Prolotherapy versus traditional care.
PROLOTHERAPY HELPS THE INJURED TISSUE GET STRONGER, DECREASING THE CHANCE OF REINJURY
Prolotherapy stimulates the body to repair painful areas. Prolotherapy, unlike rest, elevation, compression, Steroid injections, and anti-inflammatory medications, strengthens the injured tissue, thus reducing the chance for reinjury. Injured tissues treated using anti-inflammatory medications have an increased chance of reinjury because the anti-inflammatory did not stimulate the body to heal the area. More and more data in the medical literature is coming out that these medications have the exact opposite effect. Yes, steroids and other treatments that decrease inflammation actually reduce the chances for complete healing and further the degenerative process. The ligament sprain or tendon strain or tear actually never regains its strength, thus leaving the athlete in a weakened state. I don’t know about you, but as an athlete I want my body stronger, not weaker. The way to accomplish this is with Prolotherapy.
PROLOTHERAPY KEEPS A SURGERY OFF THE ATHLETES RESUME
Athletes who are injured and then use anti-inflammatory medications and steroid shots actually increase their chances of getting surgery. Since these treatments inhibit the healing process, an athlete who continues to have pain after trying various treatments, will sometimes feel like surgery is their only option. Surgery for the athlete is typically only needed if there is a broken bone, nerve compromise, or if a tissue is completely torn. This is almost never the case in my experience. Almost all sports injuries in young people are tendinopathies, ligament sprains, tendon strains, and various overuse injuries. The athlete has pain because the tissues are weakened and cannot handle all the exercise the athlete is doing. The best approach is Prolotherapy to the area to strengthen it. Then the athlete can train harder and harder which is needed to excel.
PROLOTHERAPY DOES NOT REQUIRE REST
Go to most doctors with an athletic injury and what do they tell you to do? Rest. That is it! Do you want to do that as an athlete? Especially with the big game coming up? I don’t and I don’t think you do! The treatment that works the best with exercise is Prolotherapy. Exercise helps Prolotherapy heal the area quicker.
PROLOTHERAPY IS THE MOST COST EFFECTIVE TREATMENT
Prolotherapy, compared to most treatments, in my experience, is actually the most cost effective. Young people typically need one to three Prolotherapy visits. You don’t need expensive steroid shots with Prolotherapy. You don’t need surgery. Most of the time, you don’t need chiropractic or physical therapy with it. You simply need to come in and get the area treated. You need to stimulate that injured area to heal! That is all you need.
PROLOTHERAPY IS THE QUICKEST TREATMENT
Young athletes want treatments that are quick. In our office, Prolotherapy to the knee takes a matter of minutes to complete. The same is true for a shoulder. The lower back may take a little longer because it involves a bigger area. An experienced Prolotherapist knows where to put the needles, knows the pain patterns, and knows just what to do! Yes, Prolotherapy involves injections. Yes, injections hurt. But the good news is that the treatment is over in a matter of minutes! But in five to ten minutes or so, the athlete can be back to getting stronger instead of getting weaker.
Could I think of many more reasons for the young athlete to get Prolotherapy instead of traditional orthopedic surgery? Of course, I could. For most conditions that hit the young athlete to the point where they can no longer exercise or play their sport, the best first line treatment in my experience is going to be Prolotherapy. When I myself get injured and it is severe enough to knock me out of triathlon/ironman training, you bet I go to the treatment that makes the most sense to me, the one that will get me back into the game the quickest, and the treatment that will get me exercising quicker than you can say succotash! That treatment is Prolotherapy!
If you, your son, daughter, niece, nephew, or team member is suffering from a sports injury – give us a call! You and your athlete will be happy you did!
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