Non-Surgical Joint Repair + Pain Relief
What is Prolotherapy?
Prolotherapy is a regenerative treatment that repairs joints and alleviates pain. It involves injecting a regenerative solution at injured sites of the joint to induce its repair. The injection stimulates the formation of new tissue and restores joint function. Prolotherapy is for individuals with chronic or acute pain, whether a result of physical trauma or years of repetitive motion.
Prolotherapy injections include pro-inflammatory dextrose, Platelet-rich Plasma (PRP), and stem cell solutions. These solutions trigger an inflammation healing cascade that restores tissues. PRP injections are also used for cosmetic reasons- to reduce scarring, rid stretch marks, and promote hair growth. The popular “Vampire Facials” use PRP to get rid of fine lines and improve skin texture.
Prolotherapy solutions used vary depending on what is being treated. The administering physician determines which solution best fits treatment- dextrose, PRP, or stem cells. Santa Cruz CORE is proud to offer all three. We also provide prolotherapy treatments at our Watsonville, CA location!
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Why Use Prolotherapy?
Injured soft tissues, like tendons and ligaments, are a major source of chronic and acute pain. When weakened by injury, these structures contribute to joint instability and the degenerative disease osteoarthritis. If left untreated, these injuries will continue to cause pain and damage the joint.
Prolotherapy is successful at repairing joint structures and alleviating associated pain. This includes joints of the knee, wrist, lower back, hip, and shoulder. Regenerative injections not only treat injury and pain, but restore mechanical function.
Prolotherapy • Platelet Rich Plasma (PRP) Stem Cell Injection Therapies with Dr. John Grady, D.O.
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The CORE Advantage: Peptides
What are peptides?
At a molecular level, peptides are small chains of amino acids that form proteins. They are essential molecules that help make up the structure of our biological systems. Every cell in your body contains peptides. They are one of the basic building blocks of all living organisms.
What do peptides do for us?
Found in every cell in the body, peptides have a diverse range of functions and purposes. They have a similar function to hormones and are responsible for carrying information between different elements/areas of the body. Peptides help our cells communicate by binding to specific cell receptors. When we get hurt, peptides are responsible for initiating our body’s healing response. Some other examples of peptides include insulin and human growth hormone (HGH).
A Super Supplement
Peptides can be isolated and supplemented to achieve specific health goals, making them a very powerful tool. Depending on the type, peptide supplementation will amplify your body’s natural signals to build muscle, produce collagen (anti-aging), burn fat, or initiate the healing process.
Why Use Peptides?
We prescribe specific peptide supplementation to help promote tissue growth and wound healing in conjunction with our other regenerative medicine services. Peptides will boost the success and effectiveness of your treatment with us, optimizing your time, money, and recovery.
Common Conditions Treated:
Leading Benefits:
Types of Joint Pain & Injury:
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Pro-inflammatory Dextrose:
Dextrose prolotherapy involves injecting a highly-concentrated sugar solution to the site of injury. The solution irritates the area and triggers inflammation. Inflammation in turn recruits the healing components necessary to repair the injured tissue. This includes cell division and growth (hypertrophy), and collagen synthesis.
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Platelet-rich Plasma (PRP):
PRP prolotherapy involves injecting healing components from the patient’s own blood to stimulate repair. Blood platelets and plasma are separated from the rest of the blood and concentrated to be used as PRP injections. Platelets release growth factors that stimulate tissue repair and recruit healing mechanisms to the area. PRP injections are used to repair soft tissue (tendons and ligaments) and dermal tissue (skin). The popular “vampire facial” uses PRP to get rid of scars and yield a more youthful look. Read more here...
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Stem Cell:
Stem cell prolotherapy uses cells from the patient’s own bone marrow or adipose (fat) tissue. The collected cells are known as mesenchymal stem cells, which can repair many types of tissue. These cells have the ability to “home-in” and become part of the target tissue. Read more here...
Questions About Prolotherapy, Stem Cell, and PRP Treatments:
PRP stands for “platelet-rich plasma”. PRP is blood that has been centrifuged to concentrate the platelets and white blood cells within. These concentrated platelets are high in bioactive proteins and growth factors that help in tissue repair and regeneration. These same materials are used in the body’s natural healing process to correct soft tissue damage (such as wear on a joint or arthritis). By injecting PRP into the site of injury, sometimes with the help of ultrasound, the body’s healing response is triggered. Unlike with surgery, cortisone, or steroids, the healing process is not halted, and inflammation is increased rather than decreased. However, this is necessary to properly and permanently heal chronic pain, rather than provide short-term relief.
Stem cells are natural healing cells within your body. Formed in the bone marrow, they work constantly to make repairs in many tissues. As we age, sometimes the degenerative processes overwhelm the repair processes, resulting in the breakdown of joints and the development of problems such as arthritis. By withdrawing and concentrating these cells (sometimes in conjunction with PRP treatments), degeneration can be countered to heal joints and soft tissue. Through a process of inflammation, proliferation, and remodeling, your body works to heal itself in a way that can result in long-term, even permanent pain relief. Again, like PRP, it increases inflammation to begin healing, unlike medications such as steroids, cortisone, or ibuprofen which are proven to slow the healing response.
Our bodies do contain different types of stem cells. Most prolotherapy treatments utilize “Mesenchymal Stem Cells” harvested from adipose (fat) tissue or from bone marrow. Stem cells harvested directly from bone marrow are proven to be very effective in regenerative procedures, and are therefore more expensive than treatments using adipose/fat tissue.
There’s a lot of evidence of prolotherapy being successful in treating tendonitis, ligament injuries, back pain, and knee injuries/pain. Prolotherapy can also help with calcification of joints and is most commonly used for wounds. When one overuses the site of an injury, one’s body may undergo differences, and the body’s tension becomes improperly aligned. By overusing the site of an injury, that injures other areas to compensate for the instability. With prolotherapy, multiple injections tighten those areas, working to bring stability back, and be a mild stimulant to the area that’s injured and restart that healing process.
In addition, PRP injections can also contribute to cosmetic wellness. Vampire facials and PRP injections start a natural process of producing more collagen. Conditions such as hypopigmentation and hyperpigmentation are also treatable with this therapy.
Alternately, stem cell therapy is also often used in dental surgery. Many people with bone breakdown in their jaw and their maxilla are unable to get implants because there’s not enough bone to hold those implants in. By using stem cell therapy, bone and soft tissue can be regrown, making implants possible.
By using injectables such as dextrose, stem cells, and PRP right at the site of pain, the body is triggered into an inflammatory response which leads to the formation of new tissue. When one is injured, the healing process only lasts a period of about 6 weeks, and often stops before the site of injury is completely healed, resulting in chronic pain or discomfort. By re-stimulating the site of injury, prolotherapy works to continuously reheal an old injury. This includes the growth of new ligament or tendon fibers, thereby resulting in permanent stabilization of the joint or other musculoskeletal sites.
The number of visits will depend on the site of injury and its severity. Some small issues may only require 1-2 visits. Many patients require 3-5 injection visits, every 4-6 weeks, which is the length of body’s natural healing cycle. The osteopath may wish to perform additional exams between injection visits to ascertain how well the treatment is taking.
Like using the hyperbaric chamber or osteopathic therapy, the number of visits depends on the site of injury and injection, how long you have had this injury, its severity, and the health of the patient. Similarly, the number of treatments depends on the injection type you receive (PRP, stem-cell, etc). With PRP, many require 2-6 treatments or more, again depending on the severity of the wound.
Each treatment is a same-day office procedure. Patients may be sore for 1-2 days after an injection but most are able to return to work the next day with discomfort dissipating over time.
The PRP solution is injected through the skin, or percutaneously, into the site of injury. The needle peppers the tissue in order the accept the PRP. Once the needling is complete, the PRP and growth and healing factors within are accepted into the skin through these punctures, thereby stimulating a healing cascade. PRP is effective in treating tendons, ligaments, areas surrounding joints, and other sites of soft-tissue damage. Depending on the site being treated, the total number of injections can vary greatly. You will receive a better estimate of how many injections are needed once you receive a consultation with our osteopath.
In the case of healing, the inflammatory response is the body’s response that allows the body to heal. Much of the time, steroids have shut down the healing process too early and the site of injury is not fully healed. Prolotherapy works to strengthen the site of injury, doing the exact opposite of what a steroid is doing. Instead of shutting down the inflammation, it starts it up again in order to restart the healing process.
Steroids often just work as a big band-aid, not curing or resolving anything. Steroids can numb the pain enough for the person to do some corrective exercise or get some treatment, but in this case, using prolotherapy can do both. It can resolve the actual tear or injury, and continue to get the person out of pain by corrective exercise. Other treatments such as oxygen therapy, chiropractic, and massage are all available at CORE and pair great with clients doing prolotherapy or PRP.
You should experience decreased pain and increased physical function of the injured area within a matter of weeks following treatment. By treating the cause of pain, the PRP will decrease occurrences of irritation or pain in the site of injury, and decrease the likelihood of it occurring again. And, unlike steroids, you will not become dependent on the treatment to continue improving. After a certain number of treatments (dependant on your body), most wounds will be naturally healed enough to discontinue treatment and get you back to normal physical function!
Specifically, it depends on the site being treated. For example, a hand, a wrist, a finger, a shoulder, a knee, an ankle, or a hip are all classified as one site. However, the neck is two sites, and the back is three sites. Based on the area covered, the number of injections also varies and therefore effects price. Once you have a consultation with our osteopath, we can provide a more in-depth estimate of price.
Prolotherapy is not covered by insurance. It is still considered investigational because it’s effectiveness needs further verifying in scientifically controlled studies. However, prolotherapy and PRP injections are still growing in popularity as they are cheaper out of pocket than most surgeries. For pricing, please call our front desk at 831.425.9500.