BACKGROUND: Musculoskeletal injury is a major cause of chronic pain due to a weakness of the tendons and ligaments. Currently, prolotherapy is used for treating chronic pain by strengthening the tendons and ligaments. This study was designed to evaluate the effects of prolotherapy on chronic musculoskeletal diseases.
METHODS: Twenty chronic musculoskeletal disease patients were injected with a 12.5% dextrose solution as a proliferent and the side effects were checked. The VAS (visual analogue scales) were measured before the injection and 2 months after the injection.
RESULTS: This study showed that a post-prolotherapy VAS was significantly reduced compared to the pre-prolotherapy VAS in 80% of subjects, and the average ratio of the post-prolotherapy VAS to the pre-prolotherapy VAS was 0.36. There were several side effects such as pain after the injection, dizziness during injection, new pain development, and a hematoma.
CONCLUSIONS: Prolotherapy is another good method for treating chronic musculosketal diseases that respond poorly to conventional treatments like a trigger point injection, a nerve block, medication, etc.