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Prolotherapy

Prolotherapy, short for proliferative therapy or regenerative injection therapy (RIT), consists of injecting an irritant solution such as glucose / dextrose into areas where pain is felt in the fibrous tissue that covers bones, to trigger an inflammatory response, which causes fibrous tissue growth to naturally strengthen a weakened area, where ligaments or tendons attach to the bone.

Modern prolotherapy has evolved to utilise biotherapeutic products such as antihomotoxic medications, with dextrose with lignocaine, and Traumeel in preference to using chemical products such as phenol. Prolotherapy developed from an injection technique called sclerotherapy that was first used in the 1920s to treat hernias and hemorrhoids. In the 1940s, Earl Gedney, a well-known osteopath at the Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine began to use sclerotherapy for back-related ailments. It was Dr George S. Hackett an MD from Canton, Ohio, who first coined the term “prolotherapy” in the 1950s. Prolotherapy, according to Dr. George S. Hackett [1] is a technique where conventional medication is injected into ligaments and periostium to promote proliferation of collagen.

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[1] Hackett GS, Hemwall GA, Montgomery GA, Ligament and Tendon Relaxation Treated by Prolotherapy, 5th edition, 2008