SPORTS INJURIES
Can It Be Proven That Prolotherapy Regenerates Knee Cartilage?
It is impossible to do a double-blind study on Prolotherapy because
even an injection of sterile water under the skin has a beneficial
therapeutic effect. Even if no injection was given on one side,
as the control, sticking a needle into a painful area is known
to have a beneficial effect (this treatment is called acupuncture).
It is very difficult to prove using a traditional scientific
model, that Prolotherapy cures chronic pain, sports injuries,
and regenerates cartilage tissue.
One doctor trying to validate the treatment of Prolotherapy is K. Dean Reeves,
M.D., Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation Specialist, in private practice in
Kansas City, Kansas. He has just completed three double-blind studies on using
10 percent dextrose versus water injections on finger/thumb arthritis, knee arthritis,
and anterior cruciate ligament injured knees. Injections were given every two
months of dextrose or water. After three injections, all patients were given
the dextrose proliferant for three more injections. In the knee studies, only
one intra-articular (inside the joint) injection was given per knee at each session.
As of this writing, the x-ray readings at one year had just been completed. In
the finger/thumb arthritis study there was a 53 percent improvement in pain,
and eight degrees of improvement in flexibility. In the knee arthritis study
there was a 44 percent improvement in pain, 63 percent improvement in swelling,
and a 14-degree improvement in flexibility. There was an 85 percent reduction
in knee buckling episodes. The loss of cartilage not seen on x-rays by one year
and bone spur measurements showed improvement. Of interest was the fact that
those without cartilage did nearly as well. In the knee laxity (ACL) study, pain
improved 27.5 percent, swelling by 51 percent, and knee buckling episodes by
54 percent. X-ray studies at one year showed improvement in two measures of bone
spur and near-significant improvements in thickness of cartilage in the knee.
One should remember that this study involved just one knee injection per session
and articular cartilage growth was seen. Typically in actual practice, a person
with laxity in the knee ligaments may get 20 injections per visit. Dr. Reeves
summarized the findings as "...these double-blind studies with objective and
measurable endpoints all show that simple injection of arthritic fingers or knees,
or knees with ACL laxity, with non-inflammatory levels of osmotic stimulants
can bring about favorable responses in pain, flexibility, and x-ray findings."
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