My older son had this done after a skateboard injury in which he tore his ACL (Anterior Cruciate Ligament of the knee).Reconstructive surgery was said to be the only solution by the orthopedist. But, since he was uninsured, the cost was prohibitive. A friend of mine who was a sports massage therapist suggested we look into Prolotherapy, as it had cured her of some very bad back and shoulder pain after a car accident, and later, a knee injury from skiing.
We went to the same Osteopath she had gone to, and I was surprised he had been doing it for nearly 25 years!
Though they never mention the term "Prolotherapy" in the above article, that's basically what they're talking about when they refer to the "cheaper injections" or the "placebo injections". My son had the regular Prolotherapy injections over a year's time, and I would say they were well worth the money, as they did put him out of pain. He had been at the point where he couldn't walk, had to be on crutches. After the very first injection, the doctor told him he wanted him to go walk around the block, and my son thought he was crazy! But, he got up and found that he could, with no pain. That first time, he probably overdid the activity at first, and the next day he was a bit sore.
But, after that , one series of shots would usually last him about 6 weeks, before he'd start getting sore again.
Because of the stories he'd read about, how painful the injections were, he was VERY apprehensive about trying it. But, once he did, it really wasn't too bad, especially as it only took 2 or 3 minutes for all 3 shots. (I think it was harder on me, watching it, as the needle is incredibly long! My son never watched it as that would freak him out a bit, too.) There were two times where the needle must have struck a nerve, and those were painful shots, and the pain remained both times until I gave him a dose of a homeopathic remedy called Ledum, which is a good remedy for painful injections. Both times, it worked to stop the pain within a few seconds. Hypericum would be another good remedy to try for that as well, as it's good for trauma to nerves. But, Ledum has more affinity for the joints.
The first 48 hours after a shot, you're supposed to rest and take it easy. Ideally, you want to have a pretty good inflammatory response, so there should be some swelling, stiffness and soreness in the joint. This is part of the healing response. The tendons and ligaments do not have a big blood supply, so this inflammatory response acts to bring a lot of blood flow and nutrients to the area. I guess some people have a big inflammatory response, which can be painful, but those are the people who usually heal the fastest. My son actually didn't seem to have much pain, nor inflammatory response, so his healing took longer. But, nevertheless, he definitely had some very positive results with it.
Then, for some reason, it seemed the shots stopped working as well. After a few months with very little improvement, and him being in pain again, his doctor told us about this new Platelet Rich Plasma therapy, how it was all cutting edge. In theory, it sounded like a great idea. Prior to that, the proliferant that was injected was basically a sugar water/saline solution. We saved up for that shot a long, long time, even though his doctor only charged him about a third of the usual cost, it was still a very expensive out-of-pocket expense. But, he said that one of the PRP shots would be equal to 3 to 5 of the regular shots, and he should heal faster. My son was one of the first patients to be treated with it in his office. Unfortunately, it seemed to have the oppoosite effect of what it was purported to do--it seemed to actually make my son's pain worse than it had been. We gave it time, but it never improved. After going back for another regular shot, and not getting any better, his doctor finally said he didn't think he could help him any further. It seemed like the PRP actually made his condition worse. Either that, or perhaps he simply had retorn the ligament after it had healed somewhat with the Prolotherapy. Guess we'll never really know. But, for us, the PRP was a huge disappointment, both because of the expense and the poor results.
My son was finally able to get the surgery he needed. The first ortho he was referred to was a horrible, horrible doctor, completely incompetent. Even though the MRI clearly showed that his ACL was now completely torn in two, when he went in for surgery, the doctor just left it like that, and instead, all he did was remove two egg-sized calcium deposits that were floating around in his knee capsule. Those had been causing a lot of his pain, but very obviously, being a young adult, he was also going to need the ACL repaired. Those calcium deposits were so big, now I wonder if maybe the PRP therapy had anything to do with making them get that large?
Finally got referred to a second opinion doc, who is fabulous. He did my son's surgery in April, and he's virtually back to normal, now. After being in a wheelchair or on crutches for over a year, the surgery has given him a new lease on life. For that we are eternally grateful. Because he has a history of head injuries and seizures, pain medications do not work well for him. So, I used only homeopathic remedies after the surgery, which is considered to be one of the most painful, and he never required anything else. In fact, his doctor and assistant say they have never seen anyone heal as fast as my son did.. They could not believe that he never needed any pain relief, either.
So, this was an instance where I found the two kinds of medicine complimented each other well.
So, really think if you want to try it, you might see just as good, if not better, results with the Prolotherapy only. It works best if the pain is from the tendon or ligament being overstretched or torn some, but not completely. If torn completely, the only option I know of is surgery. For Achilles tendonitis, homeopathically, we have only five remedies listed specifically for that: Cimicifuga, Ledum, Nux vomica, Rhododendron and Ruta. Who knows? One of them might help you. There are also numerous antibiotics and other medications that are known to have a bad effect on the achilles tendon, causing it to rupture. That's something else that should be looked at.
April
