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 PROLOTHERAPY AFTER BACK SURGERY
Ross Hauser, M.D.
Many people only become aware of
Prolotherapy after
they have undergone a surgical procedure for
back pain. Although the pain may
not be as severe as it was before the surgery, most people continue to
experience significant back pain after surgery. Why? Because the
back surgery
involved removing supporting structures, such as a lamina,
facet, or disc, thus
weakening surrounding segments.
Prolotherapy injections
to the weakened segments in the
lumbar vertebrae
often result in definitive pain relief in post-surgery pain syndromes. Back pain
is commonly due to several factors and surgery may have eliminated only one. It
is possible, for example, to have back pain from a
lumbar herniated
disc and a sacroiliac joint problem. Surgery may address the herniated disc
problem but not the
sacroiliac
problem. In this example, Prolotherapy injections
to the sacroiliac joint would cure the
chronic pain
problem.
Unfortunately, it is common for a person to have
lumbar spine
surgery for a sciatica” complaint diagnosed from an abnormality” on an
MRI
scan. The sciatica” complaint was a simple
ligament
problem in the sacroiliac joint and the MRI scan finding was not clinically
relevant—it had nothing to do with the pain problem. For the majority of people
who experience pain radiating down the leg, even in cases where numbness is
present, the cause of the problem is not a pinched nerve but sacroiliac ligament
weakness.
Ligament
laxity
in the sacroiliac joint is the number one reason for "sciatica,”
or pain radiating down the side of the leg, and is one of the most common
reasons for chronic
low back pain.
This can easily be confirmed by stretching these ligaments and producing a
positive jump sign.” Ligament weakness can cause leg numbness. Most people
sense pain when they have ligament weakness, but some people experience a
sensation of numbness. Doctors typically believe nerve injury is the only reason
for numbness, a reason so many people believe they have a sciatic nerve problem.
In reality, it is a sacroiliac ligament problem. The referral patterns of the
sciatic nerve and the sacroiliac ligaments are similar. In this scenario, it is
unfortunate that thousands of dollars were spent on surgery and post-operative
care. Had Prolotherapy treatments been performed on the pain-producing
structure, this could have been avoided. |
