Prolotherapy

Burnaby Prolotherapy For Treatment Of Pain And Injuries

The joints are the weakest part of your musculoskeletal structure. It is no surprise, then, that joint injuries are often the cause of pain and discomfort. Ligaments are the “hinges” that hold bones to bones in joints while tendons connect muscles to bones. When your ligaments and tendons are injured, their healing is often slow and incomplete because their blood supply is limited.

Stretched ligaments and tendons do not show up on x-ray and can appear normal on MRI. However, they have lots of nerve endings so you will feel pain at the areas where they are torn or loose. On top of this, the muscles surrounding the joint will spasm to compensate for loss of stability. This creates more pain and will reduce your range of motion, leaving you stiff and sore.

Prolotherapy involves the use of a dextrose solution, which is injected into the injured ligament or tendon where it joins the bone. The concentrated dextrose causes a localized inflammation which attracts blood supply, tissue growth factors, and other nutrients to the area. This then stimulates your body to repair the injuries and results in newly formed, pain-free tissue. This is in contrast to anti-inflammatory cortisone injections that many patients receive for pain treatment. While cortisone can reduce pain quickly, it does not heal injuries and actually speeds up tissue degeneration.

Prolotherapy is a safe, effective, non-surgical treatment for pain and injury. Some of the conditions that respond well to prolotherapy include:

  • Arthritis
  • Back pain
  • Sciatica
  • Neck pain
  • Whiplash
  • Sports injuries
  • Chronic tendonitis
  • Partially torn tendons, ligaments, cartilage
  • Degenerated or herniated discs
  • TMJ
  • Carpal Tunnel Syndrome
  • Fibromyalgia

Everybody’s ability to heal is different, so the response to treatment with prolotherapy will vary from person to person. The more severe or chronic injuries may require 10 or more treatments. Most patients only need an average of 4-6 treatments per area if they are giving their body the proper nutrition and rest in between visits to allow the connective tissues to heal properly. After a couple of treatments, Dr. Chan will be able to evaluate how your body is responding and he will be able to give you a more accurate estimate for your specific situation. Dr. Chan is board certified by the College of Naturopathic Physicians of British Columbia to perform prolotherapy.

Platelet-Rich Plasma – Burnaby Prolotherapy Goes State-Of-The-Art

With his many years of experience treating patients with prolotherapy, Dr. Chan continues to pursue new advances in the technique to improve patient outcomes. The latest example of this is the introduction of prolotherapy using Platelet-Rich Plasma (PRP) at the Performax Health Group clinic. In this variation of prolotherapy, dextrose is not used in the injection solution. Instead, blood is isolated from the patient and processed. The blood plasma becomes concentrated with platelets and growth factors that stimulate healing of connective tissue. The patient’s own platelet-rich plasma is then used as the prolotherapy solution and injected at the sites of injury. The end result is a much accelerated healing. While famous professional athletes are making headlines traveling all over the world to have this procedure done, Dr. Chan is now performing the procedure in his clinic.

Journal Of Prolotherapy

 

Dr. Chan recommends the Journal Of Prolotherapy as an excellent resource for patients to learn more about this treatment. The following full issues of the journal are available for FREE DOWNLOAD (in PDF format):