Shoulder pain can really make your everyday activity miserable, especially when you rely on the shoulders for your mobility. Just ask Mark Zupan, star of “Murderball”, a newly released movie-documentary which details the real life challenges of the wheelchair athletes who play the sport Quad Rugby. Quad Rugby is played by teams of 4 players each, competing on a court to score points, similar to standard rugby. The movie has been playing around the country for the last 4 weeks to astounded crowds.
Mark has overcome many challenges in his life, including his original motor vehicle accident which left him quadriplegic. He has had a number of sports injuries including severe shoulder pain which had been resistant to standard medical treatment, including exercise, therapy, and Steroid injections. He had to basically give up Quad Rugby because he was unable to compete at the level required at the World Class level. He came to try Prolotherapy for his shoulder 3 years ago. He had pain in the acromioclavicular joint, the glenohumeral joint, the rotator cuff and other associated tendons and ligaments that control the 2 joints. After undergoing extensive Prolotherapy over 6 sessions, he has been pain-free and has able to participate at an extreme level of competition, culminating in the experiences documented in the movie. The laxity, clicking, and popping of his joints has fully resolved along with the pain.
“The shoulder joint is extremely important to a person who is using a wheelchair full-time, and is critical for Quad Rugby,” Mark says. “I would not be able to enjoy my sports and perform at the highest level without good shoulder function. Prolotherapy gave me my shoulder, and in many ways, my current life, back.”
Mark Zupan is yet another example of why Prolotherapy should be used as the gold standard for treatment of musculoskeletal pain – it works when many other treatments fail. It can restore normal function to a dysfunctional body system. It relieves pain permanently in most cases. It does not incur much, if any, down time from a sports training and competition schedule. It repairs the underlying problem – connective tissue injury and weakness.