Mary P. loved to garden and she prided herself in always being active. She walked on the treadmill to stay fit and spent 15 minutes a day on her stationary bicycle. She was in her mid-60s, but hardly anything slowed her down. However, last year she began to have knee pain that would just not go away. She had Steroid injections into her knee and, although she would get two to three weeks of pain relief, soon the nagging knee pain would return again. She had x-rays done of her knee, and her doctor told her that she had Osteoarthritis, but not to worry about it, since it was not bad enough for a knee replacement. He prescribed some anti-inflammatory medications, some exercises, and sent her on her way.
Mary faithfully practiced the exercises, yet slowly but surely she had to eliminate her favorite activities. No more could she bicycle, and gardening resulted in so much pain that at night her sleep was interrupted from the constant reminder of her arthritic knee—the one that she was supposed to learn to live with. As the days went by, she became more and more depressed about her knee pain. She remembered the days when she could walk, shop, and bicycle without problems, and now they seemed a distant memory…until she heard of Prolotherapy. She was a little reluctant at first, because she was told it might take three to five injection series in order to get the best results. She thought about it, then decided it would be worth doing because she was getting depressed because of her limitations on account of the knee pain.
Surprisingly to Mary, she felt that the injections were not half as uncomfortable as she thought they would be (this is often said after people receive Prolotherapy treatments for the first time). After the second series of injections, her knee was definitely beginning to feel better. She started doing her knee exercises again and other important exercises. By the third visit, her knee was feeling so good that she did not need further injections, and she could continue with her exercise program at home. Mary was so excited by this point she had begun bicycling on a daily basis, and she was back to doing yard work again. One year later, her knee is still comfortable, and she is happier than ever. She has thrown those anti-inflammatories away. Not only does she not need surgery, but she does not even need the medication. Prolotherapy is responsible for a lot of anti-inflammatories landing in the trash!