Prolotherapy Update!

I thought I'd post a little update on how I'm doing today. Almost 24 hours later, just like Dr. Bowen promised, I'm still sore and stiff and it's difficult to walk and sit in a chair (recliner is just fine), but the major pain is gone. I thought I'd post some pictures for you to see what it looks like. I tallied up the shot marks and I think there were a total of 28-30 of them -- and that was after the numbing shots. :) Just think; I'll get to do this a few more times!

My left leg

My right leg

Happy Belated Thanksgiving, Friends & Prolotherapy....

Hi Friends!

I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving. Kev and I made the trek across Pennsylvania to Brookville to visit his folks. It was a nice visit complete with tons of food and lots of football. The Jets made Dallas look great and they sure didn't help the Giants, did they? Thanks Jets. One more reason not to like Gang Green. LSU shook up the BCS by losing in triple OT to Arkansas (what a great game) and the KU players can thank their lucky stars that they will not have to lift 400 lb. coach Erik Mangino up when they win the National Championship since they choked vs. Mizzou (can it be that the Buckeyes will back into playing for the National Championship?). Eli Manning is horrible. If anyone can tell my why the Giants continue to pay this guy's salary, please post a comment. He'll never be his brother. It's painful to watch. Lastly, I have to admit, I was rooting for the Eagles Sunday night as they gave New England quite a scare. They could have won that game and nothing would have been better than watching Tom Brady lose. He's become quite the pompous ass since winning 3 Super Bowls. It shouldn't surprise me given he's a Michigan grad.

Let me tell you what's going on with me. Last September (September 2006), I pulled my left hamstring playing softball and running. Rest (sort of) didn't help it and 14 months later the hammy isn't too bad, but I've been dealing with a ton of pain over the past year. Initially I thought it might be some kind of bursitis b/c I had a pain in the behind. I stopped running, kept up the yoga and went to a chiropractor in February. Honestly, he didn't do a whole lot for me, but he did point out areas that were extremely tight. I went to my general practitioner, got a prescription for Physical Therapy and started that in April. One of the neat things that Lou (my therapist, now my Dad's therapist too) used was the Graston. The Graston is a bunch of steel bars that the therapist basically rolls over the problem areas in an attempt to break up the tendons/ligaments/muscles that are essentially diseased and no longer lying flat, causing pain when they move. PT helped the hammy out, but despite stretching and strength exercises, as well as the Graston, the hip still wasn't 100%.

Flash forward to early October. I went back to my GP and he thought that my ITB (Iliotibial Band), that runs from the hip to the knee was way too tight and that with the use of some supplements (nitric oxide), an anti-inflammatory (Celebrex), stretching of the ITB and weight training, I might be able to get rid of the pain. Unfortunately that did not work, but it did give my doc another idea - I might have tendonosis. Tendonitis is acute, treated by anti inflammatories and rest. Tendonosis is chronic and can not be cured with anti inflammatories.

He referred me to Dr. Jay Bowen in Morristown, NJ for a therapy called PROLOTHERAPY. What's prolotherapy? In the simplest of terms its a series of injections consisting of a sugar water mix and anesthetic. The idea is to inject the diseased areas (whether it's your shoulder, arm, ankle, or in my case hip area), stimulate swelling (did you know that swelling is actually a good thing?!) and increase blood flow to the affected area so that tendons/ligaments/muscles will heal correctly.

Yesterday I had my consult with Dr. Bowen. It went pretty well, if you call pinpointing all the things that are wrong with you, good. He gave me the low down on the prolotherapy and told me that he learned about it after a pretty bad biking accident. He said he went for the prolo treatments and it gave him his life back. What did I have to lose? How bad could it be, right?

Dr. Bowen started out pinpointing all of the pain points in both my hips & ITBs, and lower back. Then he gave me a series of injections to numb the area. After that, he started the prolo shots. The initial injection didn't hurt too badly, but as he pushed the needle in further (to the bone), the pain intensified as it hit the diseased areas. It hurt more than I imagined. I got around 30 of those injections and by the end of it, it felt like I had 50 lb. weights on my legs. It took a while to feel good enough to get changed and then another 20 minutes or so before I could get through the pain and walk out to the car (thankfully I thought to drive the Jeep and NOT Honda w/ the stick). It was the worst pain I've ever had, but Dr. Bowen was right - within 3+ hours it began to decrease, but the stiffness has now set in. I can expect the pain and stiffness for a few days. Its recommended I take a multi vitamin, 500 mg. of Vitamin C, 50 mg. of Zinc, in addition to a healthy diet and rest. The expectation is that I'll feel some relief in a few weeks and I'll go back for round 2 on Jan. 7th. It usually takes 2-6 visits to achieve complete healing, and I'm worried I'll be on the 6 visit schedule since I've had the problems for so long.... I'll be sure to keep you all updated on my progress. Wish me luck!