Caring Medical
& Rehabilitation Services
715 Lake Street, Suite 600
Oak Park, Illinois 60301
708.848.7789 Phone
708.848.7763 Fax

INFLAMMATORY ARTHRITIDES

There are a lot of people with arthritis. There are two main types of arthritis; degenerative and inflammatory. Degenerative arthritis is also called osteoarthritis. Osteoarthritis generally occurs when there is injury to the joint, specifically to the ligaments that stabilize it. Once the ligaments are injured, the muscles have to contract around the joint to protect it. When the muscles can no longer do this, the bones around the joint begin to grow, which are called bony spurs and are indicative of arthritis. This extra bone is the body’s attempt to stabilize the joint. Eventually, because of the ligament injuries, the menisci and articular cartilage deteriorate. When this happens, you can hear a crunching or grating sound in the joint. Eventually the joint wears down until there is ‘bone on bone’. Prolotherapy is a great treatment for degenerative arthritis because it helps repair the ligament injury that started the arthritic process in the first place. The other main type of arthritis is called inflammatory arthritis. The most common inflammatory arthritis is rheumatoid arthritis. Other types of inflammatory arthritis are psoriatic arthritis, Lyme Disease, lupus, gouty arthritis, and chondrocalcinosis or pseudogout. Characteristics of inflammatory arthritides are swelling and stiffness in the affected joint(s). In rheumatoid arthritis, the swelling typically occurs symmetrically and in the hands. Arthritides can affect all joints, including the knee joint.

The difference between degenerative and inflammatory arthritis is the fact that Prolotherapy gets at the root cause of the condition, which is ligament weakness or laxity. With regard to inflammatory arthritis, Prolotherapy often gets at the root cause of the pain but not the underlying condition. So when faced with a patient who has an inflammatory arthritide, Prolotherapy would be used in conjunction with comprehensive natural medicine.

The natural medicine approach to conditions such as Lyme Disease, rheumatoid arthritis, and lupus include doing diagnostic testing for food allergies, infections, and various nutritional factors. If an infection is found, it is treated with appropriate antibiotics or antifungal medications. If food allergies or sensitivities are found, those foods are eliminated from the diet. Nutritional discrepancies are treated by changes in diet, and vitamin and herbal supplementation. Because inflammatory arthritis can damage the joints, Prolotherapy is used to help stimulate the repair of the joints. Prolotherapy is helpful to relieve the pain of inflammatory arthritis, but if not combined with a comprehensive natural medicine approach, the pain will continue to recur.