Prolotherapy & Pain management in Edmonton

TruMed Offers Edmonton Injectable Treatments For Pain

Prolotherapy Injections are used for Arthritis and Injured joints.

Our Naturopath Dr. Cindy Tran offers prolotherapy at our office.  

IV injections: are used for Sciatica, Trigeminal Neuralgia, Migraines and Fibromyalgia. 

Hyperbaric Oxygen can help repair muscle, tendon, ligament and bone injury.

Prolotherapy

Prolotherapy is an in-office outpatient injection-based therapy that works to rehabilitate damaged, incompetent and unstable structures; namely ligaments, tendons and cartilaginous tissues that are often the cause for chronic joint pain.

Prolotherapy - commonly known as "Prolo" where a dextrose based solution is injected into an affected joint.

Hypertonic solutions are commonly used and best studied.

Local irritation, mild inflammation, blood flow and consequent tissue healing is thought to occur after 

Prolotherapy is hypothesized to stimulate native healing of damaged intra and peri-articular soft tissue, including cartilage, ligaments, tendons.

Commonly used for: knee, toe, elbow and finger arthritis as well as "overuse" tendon issues such as tennis elbow, rotator cuff and achilles tendinopathy.

Prolotherapy is also effective in plantar fasciitis and hip adductor tendon issues. 

Treatment with prolotherapy typically consists of injections one to six weeks apart over several months.

Prolotherapy FAQ

How does Prolotherapy work?

Injection into painful and damaged areas are meant to produce local inflammation.

This targeted localized inflammation triggers a would healing cascade resulting in deposition of new cartilaginous tissue that strengthens and stabilizes the joint.

Depending on the extent of the injury, prolotherapy can have a high success of relieving sports injuries and chronic pain.

Is Prolotherapy like Cortisone?

Prolotherapy works to rebuild and heal damaged tissues by stimulating and inducing proliferation of new cells.

Prolotherapy therefore attempts to target the root cause of chronic pain by strengthening and rebuilding and repairing unstable tissues, ligament and tendon weakness and underlying joint instability.

While cortisone injections can provide immediate relief from pain by reducing inflammation and swelling, they do not promote healing of damaged tissues.

Cortisone injections can in fact inhibit the synthesis of proteins, collagen, cartilage and chondrocytes causing a net catabolic or weakening effect in spite of offering temporary pain relief.

The result being weakened synovial joints and surrounding structures that in turn can increase pain and lead to repeated cortisone injections which typically have a limitation on the number of sessions you can have.

What to expect at your prolotherapy consultation

A thorough history and physical exam with your Naturopathic doctor will be completed on the initial consultation.

If deemed appropriate, the first injection may be completed that day.

Typically most patients will require on average a series of treatments in succession: weekly, bi weekly or monthly until appropriate functionality and pain relief is achieved as determined in consultation.

Prolotherapy in Edmonton

Hyperbaric Oxygen

With regards to injury, after Hyperbaric treatment, oxygen levels in muscle remain elevated for up to 2 and up to 4 hours in subcutaneous tissues.

Ultimately, Hyperbaric Oxygen causes a reduction of edema, has an anti-inflammatory effect, stimulates neovascularization (new blood vessel formation), osteoneogenesis (bone formation) and collagen production by fibroblasts.

Lastly, stem cell release is also a well known Hyperbaric effect that's applicable to injury. 

A 1999 study looked at 22 athletes with various injuries including seven leg joint sprains, four knee ligament damages, four partial muscle ruptures, three peripheral nerve injuries, two fractures and two categorized as "other injuries." Hyperbaric treatment was set between 1.3 and 2.0 ATA, with dives from 30 to 90 minutes.

More than 70% of the patients experienced improvement. 

A 2019 study, looked at 32 rugby players (professional or semi-professional) with significant knee injury. The time to return to play was 31 days in the Hyperbaric group and 42 days in the non-Hyperbaric group. 

A 1995 a study suggested that ankle sprain patients treated with Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy improved approximately 30% faster than a control group.

HBOT in Athletes (Ishii 1999)

IV Therapy

Classically, our standard drip / push is an essential IV Therapy to use in fibromyalgia.

Improvement is occasionally seen after the first treatment, but more often multiple injections are needed before a clear benefit is apparent.

Some of our newer IV Therapies have also shown benefit in improving energy and quality of life measures.

Our office uses both IV and intramuscular injections for sciatica and trigeminal neuralgia.

Need Pain Relief?

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780 757 8378