Prolotherapy is a form of treatment characterized by the injection of proliferating solutions to strengthen and restore weakened joints, cartilage, ligaments and tendons that have lost their functionality. Prolotherapy is an injection technique that stimulates healing, provides cell formation and regeneration in weak and inadequate tissues. Prolotherapy is the most successful in cases where tendon and ligament problems that occur after trauma cannot heal due to inadequate tissue repair and cause chronic pain.
If natural healing with prolotherapy is a good treatment option for other segments of the society, it is at least as valuable for amateur and professional athletes who earn their living with their healthy bodies.
These physical workers, who apply intense training programs from a young age and spend superhuman effort to win in competitions, must apply the right exercise programs, consume adequate dietary elements and undergo regular health checks. These controls should include the control of the heart-lung system, the measurement of muscle mass and exercise capacity, as well as the control of the strength and stability of the connective tissue elements.
It is possible to detect and take precautions before they reach the level of awareness/maturing of painful injuries that affect the performance of the athlete. Thus, an athlete is prevented from experiencing long periods of disability or undergoing a series of surgeries. A tender point detected in the pubic area (pubis) during the control of a football player; a weak lateral ligament in a basketball player’s knee; The tender spot on a tennis player’s epicondyle or a wrestler’s iliolumbar ligament tenderness can be relieved by applying prolotherapy to the involved area; Thus, the most used connective tissue elements are strengthened and a possible injury is prevented.
Although injuries are predictable and preventable, athletes who suffer an unfortunate injury can get rid of these problems naturally, without surgery, and in a shorter time˟ thanks to prolotherapy. The aim of the treatment of sports injuries is to return the athlete to sports with the best possible performance as soon as possible without prolonging or recurring the injury.
Tissue healing in the injured area takes place in 3 stages:
. 3-4 days after injury: Inflammation period,
. During 3-6 weeks: Repair and regeneration period,
. In 1-2 years: Remodeling period.
Treatment of sports injuries˟˟:
.Pre-treatment: Reduction of pain and muscle spasm to control the inflammatory response. (Protection, rest)
. Definitive treatment: It should be in the form of combining prolotherapy and stretching-strengthening exercise program until full recovery is achieved during the repair phase and remodeling.
Prolotherapy treatment is an injection method that is tailored to the individual and applied in 15-30 day periods. The injected liquid is not a chemical substance, drug or steroid (cortisone, etc.); Condensed dextrose (sugar water) is used. It is ensured that the tissue is reconstructed in its original form in a natural way. One of the most striking aspects of the prolotherapy method is that there is no physical restriction during the treatment and it does not require rest. On the contrary, stretching and strengthening exercises and movements aimed at improving joint range of motion are applied to patients as a complement to prolotherapy treatment.
(˟ : Although we do not have a controlled clinical study on this subject yet, we observed that the athletes who we applied stretching-strength exercises by applying prolotherapy recovered in a shorter time and became stronger compared to the athletes treated using traditional methods.)
(˟˟ : Unlike the traditional approach, there is no place for cold application, elevation, compress application and non-steroid painkiller use in our practice.
