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Caring Medical
& Rehabilitation Services
715 Lake Street, Suite 600
Oak Park, Illinois 60301
708.848.7789 Phone
708.848.7763 Fax
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Strain Versus Sprain:
What is the Difference?
A strain is defined as a stretched or injured tendon. A sprain, on the other hand, is a stretched or injured ligament. A tendon attaches a muscle to the bone, whereas a ligament attaches bone to bone. Ligament and tendon injuries often do not heal because these structures have very poor blood supplies. Perhaps even more importantly, their healing is slowed or even stopped by - you guessed it - NSAIDs, cortisone shots, and more importantly, the R.I.C.E. treatment. Rest, Ice, Compression and Elevation inhibit healing, whereas the M.E.A.T. protocol, consisting of Movement, Exercise, natural Analgesics (proteolytic enzymes), and specific Treatments like Prolotherapy, stimulates healing. (See Figure 2.)
| R.I.C.E.
versus M.E.A.T. |
| |
R.I.C.E. |
M.E.A.T. |
| Immune System
Response |
Decreased |
Increased |
| Blood Flow
to Injured Area |
Decreased |
Increased |
| Collagen
Formation |
Hindered |
Encouraged |
| Range of
Motion of Joint |
Decreased |
Increased |
| Complete
Healing |
Decreased |
Increased |
| Speed
of Recovery |
Delayed
(Lengthened) |
Hastened
(Shortened) |
| Figure 2: The RICE protocol hampers soft tissue healing whereas
MEAT encourages healing. |
Webster’s Third New International Dictionary defines
Prolotherapy as “the rehabilitation of an incompetent structure,
such as a ligament or tendon, by the induced proliferation of new
cells.” Prolotherapy involves the injection of substances at
the sites where ligaments
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| Figure 3: The
exact site of the pain is injected with Prolotherapy solution. |
and tendons attach to the bones, thus stimulating the ligaments and
tendons to proliferate or grow at the injection sites. This area is
called the fibro-osseous junction. “Fibro” means fibrous
tissue that forms the ligament or tendon and “osseous” refers
to the bone.
Prolotherapy, therefore, stimulates the body to repair the exact
site of the painful area. (See Figure 3.) Prolotherapy
works because it addresses the root cause of chronic pain: ligament
and tendon weakness.
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