This method is used to initially irritate and then stimulate healing of injured and painful joints and connective tissue. Some refer to it as "nonsurgical ligament reconstruction" because it's often used to address ligament laxity (weak or damaged ligaments).
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What happens when you irritate an injured ligament that's been dormant for a while? It starts to heal. Ligaments don't have a great blood supply, so bringing any sort of "attention" to the area is a good thing. Injecting an irritant, like a dextrose solution, into a ligament will cause your body to mount an attack against it, which causes inflammation, the first stage of healing. Without inflammation, you don't have repair or remodeling. In other words, you don't heal.
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Prolotherapy may be just what the doctor ordered to heal a ligament... that is, before the doctor orders surgery. It's worth the irritation.