My Story: Severe Lower Back Pain & Prolotherapy Posted: 05-24-06 13:50pm
My pain originated in the si area,
radiating down the outside of my hip and
down my right leg to my knee and never
further down. I also sensed a very
"loose" and weak si joint through the
clicking and movement in the area. I
think I injured myself doing heavy squats
in the gym and strained my si ligaments.
In particular the iliolumbar, dorsal and
ventral sacroiliac ligaments. I suggest
you read this website
(http://www.Sidysfunction.Com/index.Htm)
i was very hesitant about prolotherapy due
to the fact of never hearing of it before
and the whole injection factor. How
could injections heal pain like that.
However, being thoroughly frustrated with
my treatment thus far and in a lot of pain
I was ready to try anything.
After 8 mos of completely useless chiro (i
know worsened my condition) and pt
treatment I decided to go for it. I
began researching prolo and had my first
treatement (my treatment's had anywhere
from 10 to 20 actual injections below the
skin surface) on 6/8/99, I noticed almost
an immediate 50% improvement in pain (no
joke!) for a period of about 2- 3 weeks.
Second treatment on 6/28/99 and since then
I had about 3-4 more treatments leading up
to around dec' 99 during which time my
left side began to hurt but that went away
as well. I made continual improvement on
each treatment to the point where I was
pain free and not experiencing any more
problems although i'm just extra careful
not to do anything seriously strenuous
such as squats. Since then I had one
more 'insurance' treatment (1/2000)
because I feel it's very tought to
overtreat with prolo so while my insurance
company was still covering the treatments
I figured why not. Also, I don't mind
needles so the treatments are pretty
low-stress for me. I also plan on
getting a treatment or 2 every couple of
years because I think it will only help if
not anything else but with peace of mind.
For me, the treatment was not painful
(excellent dr and local anesthesia) and
it's just a matter of patience. You go
in for a treatment, which only takes about
15min and then you wait 3-4 weeks. It
is, in my opinion, the only treatment that
cures the problem (that is, if your
problem is lax/damaged ligaments). I
know of no other way to fix that
condition. My pain sounds very similar
to yours. You need to isolate the
ligaments as the problem first though.
My doctor did this through what he called
trigger point injections. This involves
using a numbing agent (lidocaine in my
case I think) and injecting the si
ligaments. If your pain disappears then
the chances are very high that you're a
great candidate for prolo.
I feel that if your back pain hasn't gone
away in 3 - 4 weeks, pt / chiro doesn't
help, your joints are hypermobile and your
pain follows those referral patterns (down
the leg/hip) then go for it... The risk
is small and the payoff huge. I am pain
free!!
Obviously this is not an advertisement
since i'm not directing you to go anywhere
- i'm simply posting my story as others
did for me when I was in dire need of
info.
