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As the saying goes with body builders, it also goes with Prolotherapy, "no pain, no gain." Shots are shots. "Do they hurt?" every new patient asks, as sweat begins to form on the patient's forehead and palms as the needle approaches its target. All doctors were probably taught the appropriate answer to this question in medical school. "It hurts a little."
Some people have many Prolotherapy injections and do not flinch, while others receive a few shots and have a rougher time. But the needles or possible pain of the procedure really should not worry you, if you are looking into Prolotherapy. Here’s why…
Our patients realize the amount of pain experienced during the Prolotherapy treatment is insignificant compared to suffering with chronic pain every day. Many say after the Prolotherapy injections, "It wasn't that bad." There are a few people, however, who need help in receiving Prolotherapy. At Caring Medical, Dr. Hauser and the clinical staff do all we can to help make your experience as pleasant as possible!
Caring Medical has many options to help patients lessen the pain of the Prolotherapy injections.
- Lidocaine cream for the skin. This is applied shortly before treatment and helps to reduce the pain when the needle pierces the skin. The needle piercing through the skin is the most painful part of the procedure.
- Pre-medication may be prescribed, such as Vicoden or Xanax to help you relax and dull the pain from the treatment.
- “Doc, just give me something to squeeze!” We have those things too. Whether it’s stress balls, or sometimes patients just want a calming hand to hold.
- Conscious sedation is an option for some patients.
For those requiring Prolotherapy injections in many areas at one time or in very delicate areas like the neck, intravenous conscious sedation using demerol, a narcotic, may be used. The intravenous conscious sedation is the most dangerous part of the whole procedure. An occasional nausea and a few "upchucks" were the only side effects. The conscious sedation does make a person "woozy" and is typically preferred by patients who have pain throughout most of their body and getting many areas treated at once, such as Ehlers-Danlos patients, or in cases where the pain is very extreme in the area, such as in cases of Chronic Regional Pain Syndrome or RSD. Sometimes these patients prefer it because it eliminates the pain of the Prolotherapy injection treatment. For the most part, the Prolotherapy injections are completed in a matter of minutes and the patients do not require anything for pain during the treatment.
Most of our patients receive the Prolotherapy treatments without pain killers and do just fine!
What about just getting fewer Prolotherapy injections at one treatment?
Rest assured, we want to do everything to help you make it through your Prolotherapy treatment quickly and with minimal pain, but still receive the amount of injections used in Hackett-Hemwall Prolotherapy to really make a difference in your pain and get you healed faster. We treat the whole area, versus only giving a couple injections per area, because we see that patients need fewer overall treatments with this approach and it tends to have better long term patient results. You can read more about that here, or watch our video discussion here.
Caring Medical treats very complex pain cases every day, as well as more straightforward cases such as chronic ankle sprains in a high school track athlete. So we do it this way because it works. In fact, it works really, really well! In each instance, realize that the pain you experience is not likely just coming from just one tiny spot. If you have diffuse pain in a joint, there are likely numerous areas in that joint that are weakened and unstable and can benefit from being strengthened with Prolotherapy. One reason why people like being treated by Dr. Hauser is because he’s been doing this so long and has done it so many times, that he is very quick at giving the Prolotherapy injections. Our patients, and our staff who have been treated, can attest that most people appreciate this approach versus dragging the treatment session out. Once the Prolotherapy treatment is over, we let you rest with a nice heat pack placed on the treated area. After that, you’re on your way to recovery- good job!
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