Video Transcription

My name is Ross Hauser, I’m a medical doctor, and I’ve been utilizing Prolotherapy in the treatment of chronic pain and sports injuries since 1993 here at Caring Medical and Rehabilitation Services. You’re about to watch a Prolotherapy procedure being done. During the procedure I’ll do the voiceover and explain the actual procedure. Prolotherapy is utilized in the treatment of tendon injuries, ligament injuries, joint degeneration, and meniscus injuries. Though I’m using the knee as a model, the actual procedure that you are watching might be another area of the body. If you have any questions concerning this video or any of the other Prolotherapy videos, please email me at drhauser@caringmedical.com

Did you ever wonder what it’s like to watch somebody get a hundred shots? Well, this video you’re about to see is a pretty extensive Prolotherapy treatment on someone’s thoracic spine. I should tell you right away that this patient is not sedated. All these injections are done without sedation; we did rub an anesthetic cream on the skin. There are folks who get a lot of Prolotherapy injections and get conscious sedation. We can give patients Demerol or versed, which would get them in a very relaxed state or we could give them medication such as Vicodin or Xanax. But, this particular patient just is there receiving the Prolotherapy treatments without any medication. As you can see here I have marked out, with a black marker, the midline where the person’s spinous processes are and I’m basically going about one finger breadth from the spinous process. This is where the vertebrae attach; this is called the facet joints. Because this person has such extensive pain, we’re going to do a very big, diffused treatment of his thoracic spine. Some folks just have a very little area and a little area needs to be treated. But, for someone to maximize their Prolotherapy visit it’s important to treat all the painful areas. I should say that when you have pain in the thoracic area, sometimes it is hard for that area to heal, mostly because it’s never at rest because the ribs attach to the thoracic vertebrae and when we breathe the ribs are moving in and out. The thoracic rib junctions always have movement. Sometime this causes these areas to heal a little bit more slowly. I did the areas where the vertebrae connect and now we’re doing the areas where the ribs attach to the vertebrae. This is called the costotransverse junction. So, if somebody has rib pain or thoracic pain it could be caused by vertebral instability or a rib that’s out or a vertebral segment that’s out. I like to call this condition slipping rib syndrome. Some people have ribs that go in and out and they receive chiropractic care or osteopathic manipulation. Well, if the vertebrae or the ribs won’t stay in place, what the person really needs is a treatment that’s going to stabilize these areas and the best treatment for that, I believe, is Prolotherapy. This person is receiving Prolotherapy not only where the thoracic vertebrae attach but also where the ribs attach to the vertebrae. Now I’m injecting painful areas onto the ribs themselves. There’s a whole bunch of muscles that attach to the ribs, not only muscles between the ribs, but muscles that go from the thoracic area to the neck and from the thoracic area to the lower back. Basically, these muscles are called the erector spinae muscles and often people will get massages to these muscles. That helps temporarily but it doesn’t cure them, primarily because underneath the muscle there is vertebral or rib vertebral instability. The best non-surgical treatment for vertebral or joint instability, I believe, is Prolotherapy. This is because Prolotherapy causes a strengthening of the ligament attachments between the bones that are connecting the joint that’s unstable. As you can see, the patient tolerated this procedure well.