Regenerative Joint Injection & Neural Therapy
REGENERATIVE JOINT INJECTION
Regenerative Joint Injection Therapy (also known as Prolotherapy) is the injection of a solution of dextrose and sterile water in and around joints. The goal of this therapy is quite straightforward – to strengthen weakened connective tissue such as ligaments. Commonly, ligaments are weakened due to trauma, either acute trauma or overuse of a joint. The injection of the dextrose and sterile water acts as a minor irritant to the area where the ligament attaches. The irritation sets up a process of inflammation, resulting in the body laying down more connective tissue and thus strengthening the weakened ligament. The technique can be very useful for knees, shoulders, hips, etc, as an alternative to surgery.
NEURAL THERAPY
Neural Therapy is the injection of an anesthetic just under the skin's surface. First developed and practiced in Germany in the 1920s, Neural Therapy has a long history of safe and effective use. This therapy has a wide variety of applications – it can be used for restoring hormone balance, breaking the cycle of chronic pain, encouraging sprains and strains to heal more quickly, helping to resolve chronic infections, soften scars, and much more. Procaine is a local anesthetic similar to the one commonly used in dentistry and known as novocaine. Procaine, unlike novocaine, contains no preservatives or binders – which are a common source of allergic reaction. The procaine is broken down by the tissues at the injection site, so it does not circulate through the body.
Procaine is an anesthetic. Local anesthetics work by temporarily changing or inverting the electrical conduction of nerve energy. The nerves in the skin overlying a part of the body, such as the knee, communicate in an elaborate telephone-like system with the nerves that control the rest of the associated part such as the knee, at the spinal column. Moreover, each vertebral level has a symphony of activity communicating information from the deeper layers of the joint to the skin overlying it. Sometimes, in the case of chronic inflammation and pain, the nervous system becomes stuck in a feedback cycle that is no longer helpful for the body to heal. By injecting the procaine and temporarily blocking the communication network, the body ‘resets’ itself and no longer maintains the unhelpful pattern. At the same time that the unhelpful communication pattern of inflammation is being dialed down, the procaine is being metabolized and broken down. In the process it is metabolized to PABA – which helps the local tissues to heal. Neural Therapy treatments may have an immediate benefit at the time of treatment or a slightly delayed benefit within one to two days. Treatments are commonly given once each week for several weeks.
