Prolotherapy
Prolotherapy is a technique for treating laxity and chronic pain around the joints, tendons, bursae and ligaments of the neck, back or extremities. It involves the injection of a concentrated sugar (dextrose) and local anaesthetic mixture into ligaments or tendons. The injected solution creates a controlled inflammatory response. This inflammatory response stimulates an increase in the number of fibroblasts, which are cells that build new connective tissue. The fibroblasts lay down new collagen tissue, which in animal and human studies have been shown to shorten, thicken and strengthen the injected ligaments. This causes a decrease in painful signals arising from the many nerves in lax ligaments and ultimately a decrease in pain.