A) What is different about Prolotherapy Injections?

The differences between the newer interventional Prolotherapy techniques and the old simple cortisone injections are several.  These differences are significant, with cortisone having many long lasting deleterious consequences in the long run, especially if you get repeated injections over time. I will enumerate these differences starting with the effects of Prolotherapy. 

          * Prolotherapy is an injection procedure that aims to heal and strengthen tissues that have been damaged by injury or daily wear and tear and is causing pain.

          * Prolotherapy procedures works in conjunction with the normal healing mechanism of the body to heal damaged tissues that cause pain.

          * Prolotherapy,  stimulates and/or fires up as the case may be, the normal healing process. 

          * Prolotherapy will lead to tissue healing and secondarily to pain control. 

          * With Prolotherapy, healing is the goal. 

On the other hand what do cortisone injections do for you? I promise, you won't like it:

          * Cortisone takes care of the pain by inhibiting the healing mechanism and acting against the normal body reaction that would lead to healing of the damaged tissues that re causing the pain!

          * Cortisone will stop the pain but it also stops the normal body inflamatory reaction that is in charge of healing tissues anytime there is damage to tissues in our body. The price you pay is high because the damaged tissues never heal correctly.

          * What happens then? Well as you probably have experienced it yourself, a few weeks after a cortisone injection the pain comes back and you need another injection!  

          * As the years go by receiving cortisone injections, without tissues been able to heal properly, the condition you came to see the doctor about will worsen instead of getting better. There is no healing taking place when cortisone is used. Degeneration of your joints, your spine etc., will get worse instead of better! 

B) What is then the value of Prolotherapy? 

          * The value of Prolotherapy and regenerative medicine is evident if you consider the healing! 

          * Prolotherapy is not a band-aid solution that in the long run makes things much worse for you by inhibiting the normal healing process in your body and that at the end leaves you holding the bag with damaged joints, and weakened ligament and tendons that eventually will lead to surgery.

          * In Prolotherapy, natural substances are used such as sugar water or saline that have no deleterious effects on your body like cortisone.

          * Prolotherapy is a recognized orthopedic procedure that stimulates the body's healing process to strengthen and repair injured and painful joints and connective tissues.

          * In our office patients that undergo Prolotherapy experience usually good results. After they complete sucessfully the treatment protocol, they simply vanish from our office for years and go back to their everyday activity without pain. This is totally the opposite of what you see with cortisone injections that keep coming back and coming back every three to four month or sooner!  

C) You may ask yourself why then is cortisone still being injected instead of Prolotherapy?

The reasons are mainly three:

          * First of all not many doctors even know or have a clue about Prolotherapy. It is not something they teach in medical school.

          * According to GetProlo.com there are only twelve Physicians in the entire state of Florida that are trained in this field. Dr. Dieguez is the only one in Saint Augustine and one of two in north Florida with the other one being in Destin, Florida. 

          * It is a procedure not paid by insurance companies as it often happens with many other procedures. So, unfortunately many times cortisone is the only alternative for some patients! But if you can afford to spend a few dollars out of pocket on your health, you would be a fool not to if you consider Prolotherapy with its all around benefits.