Prolotherapy has substantial evidence to prove its effectiveness and it is currently being used in five university centers. Nearly a 100 studies over the last 60 years have demonstrated an approximate 85% success rate in dealing with chronic pain of musculoskeletal origin. Dr. George Hackett (a pioneer in the field, who first coined the phrase “Prolotherapy” in the 50′s) was able to demonstrate an amazing 82% improvement rate on a series of 1,600 patients with lower back pain that he followed for 2-12 years. Ongley, another physician, ran a study in the 60′s where he compared Prolotherapy to placebo. Six months after the injections, 87.5% of the prolo group were improved 50% or more, versus 39% in the placebo group. This is one of the few studies ever that have shown such a dramatic difference between two treatment approaches for low back pain.
Dr. C. Everett Koop, our former U.S. Surgeon General, considers Prolotherapy as “an effective and useful technique that deserves much more recognition by the conventional medical community.” Dr. Koop had first hand experience with Prolotherapy as he had used it to cure his own longstanding back pain that had failed to respond to conventional treatment modalities. He also commented saying, “The nice thing about Prolotherapy, if properly done, is that it cannot do any harm.”
