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A Story of Prolotherapy and Spinal Fusion Therapy
Ross Hauser, M.D.
When
Patient R was 50 years old, he
was a pretty active guy. One summer, he was doing his regular
Saturday yard work when he lifted a bale of pine straw from the bed of his new
pick-up truck. As he straightened up, he felt a pop in his lower back
and immediate pain. Being a tough fellow, he used some heat on it that
night and tried to get some rest. The pain would not go away. It was agonizing
and it radiated down his leg. He was a little worried about it, but he thought
that after a couple of days the pain would go away, just like it had done in
the past. But it did not go away. He saw his doctor, and his doctor started
him with
physical therapy.
Patient R was the perfect patient. He attended all of
his physical therapy visits and did his exercises at home. But despite this,
the pain continued. In fact, according to Patient R, the pain just got worse and
worse.
After a month of this, his doctor
told Patient R that an
MRI
needed to be obtained. To his dismay, it showed
degenerated discs at two
levels with a disc bulge at one of these levels. His family doctor then sent
him to a neurosurgeon. The neurosurgeon suggested he continue physical therapy
and get
epidural
steroid injections. Once again the model
patient, Patient R continued the physical therapy, never missing a session, and
had a series of three epidural steroid injections. The pain was
still there. It was less intense in the leg, but the
low back pain was
miserable. When he saw his neurosurgeon the next month, he was informed that
surgery would be needed. Patient R was reluctant to undergo an operative procedure,
he felt that it must
be necessary since his neurosurgeon recommended it. Actually, Patient R was
looking forward to something that would relieve his back pain. The pain had
been with him day after day, night after night, for several months now. He was
beginning to get tired of this and his patience was wearing thin.
On the morning of surgery, he
just knew he would wake up pain-free, since he was told that this surgery
would cure him of this dreaded disc disease. Patient R underwent a fusion of his
lower back, and to his delight when he awakened from surgery, other than the
pain of the incision, the rest of his pain was almost gone. This was the break
he had been praying for. He was discharged from the hospital and sent home
with complete instructions. Patient R, the good patient, once again followed
these instructions to the letter, but three weeks after surgery his pain
began to return. When he went for his post-operative check with his
doctor, he was told that this pain would go away, since the surgery had gone
well and Patient R's x-rays looked good.
Patient R began again with physical
therapy, and at this point he was taking
pain medication. Two months after
surgery, he was still religiously doing the proper exercises but the pain was worse than
ever. Patient R was desperate and depressed at this point. Not only could he no
longer work in the yard, but he could not even comfortably sit and watch TV or
sleep more than two hours at a time. The activities that used to bring him so
much joy were now only a distant memory, resulting in increased depression.
Patient R did not know what to do. He had followed all of his doctor's orders to
the "T," but yet nothing was helping.
Patient R did some research and came across
Prolotherapy.
Curious as to what this therapy might entail, he discussed this option with
his neurosurgeon on the next office visit. His neurosurgeon attempted to
dissuade him from doing this treatment (Prolotherapy), because he told Patient
R
it was an unproven method of pain reduction. I hear this fairly
frequently from patients. The neurosurgeon felt Patient R would be wasting his
time. By this point, however, Patient R was frustrated! He was somewhat
desperate and beginning to decide that he wanted to be more in charge of his
treatment, since all of the previous recommendations had not worked.
When I saw him, a thorough examination was performed, and I answered Patient R's questions concerning Prolotherapy. I told
Patient R that most likely
it would take between seven and eight sessions to help decrease his back pain.
I also felt it was essential for him to continue with his exercise routine.
There were certain exercises that I changed in Patient R's program, and he also
began certain back
manipulation techniques. The first Prolo session came, and
although Patient R was nervous, he did great because I gave him a light sedative
and pain medication, and Patient R felt very little discomfort from the
injections. By the third visit, Patient R no longer needed any pain medication
or sedative for the injections. He found that they were so helpful that the
slight discomfort that he went through for the injections was greatly made up
by the wonderful pain relief he was now obtaining.
Through the weeks, Patient R's pain
began to decrease, so he was instructed to increase his activities. He was
walking at his local indoor mall three times per week, doing a water exercise
program two times per week, and doing his home exercises 15 minutes per day. A
year later, although Patient R still has some pain, he is able to sleep at
night, play with his grandchildren, and enjoy the vacations that he and his
wife had always dreamed of.
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