Chronic Pain
What is Chronic Pain?
Chronic pain is defined as pain that lasts longer than six months. It can range from mild to excruciating, sporadic to continuous, inconvenient to incapacitating. It can occur in anyone from the professional athlete to the elderly.
The most common types of chronic pain are headaches, joint pain, neck pain, backaches and pain from injury. Other kinds of chronic pain include arthritis, post-concussion syndrome, tendinitis, bursitis, sinus pain, rotator cuff tendonitis and pain affecting specific parts of the body, such as the hips, pelvis, low back, knees feet and ankles. Generalized muscle or nerve pain can also develop into a chronic condition such as fibromyalgia or reflex sympathetic dystrophy (RSD).
Pain is not a symptom that exists alone. Other problems associated with pain include:
- Fatigue
- Sleeplessness
- Withdrawal from activity and an increased need to rest
- Weakened immune system
- Changes in mood including hopelessness, fear, depression, irritability, anxiety and stress
- Disability
Because of the mind-body links associated with chronic pain, effective treatment requires addressing psychological as well as physical aspects of the condition.
Who is Affected?
Tens of millions of Americans suffer from chronic pain, which may originate with an initial trauma/injury or infection, or there may be an ongoing cause of pain. However, some people suffer chronic pain in the absence of any past injury or evidence of body damage. Others continue to experience pain even after having major surgery to their joints or spine.
What are the Options for Treatment?
Thankfully, there are alternatives to surgery and drug therapies, including prolotherapy, platelet rich plasma (PRP) and biopuncture.
At the Magaziner Center for Wellness, we use prolotherapy to alleviate pain in your neck, shoulders, back, hips, knees, elbows, hands, ankles and feet — non-surgically. Prolotherapy (proliferative therapy), also known as Reconstructive Injection Therapy (RIT) or sclerotherapy, is a recognized orthopedic and holistic procedure that reconstructs joints, ligaments, and tendons weakened by trauma or arthritis.
Prolotherapy stimulates your body’s healing mechanisms and restores normal function in injured joints, cartilage, muscles, tendons and ligaments. It works by placing precise injections into the damaged area to stimulate cytokines or cell signals, enabling the immune system to naturally repair the damage. Unlike conventional pain management practices which rely on anti-inflammatory drugs or cortisone injections – therapies that simply mask symptoms and may cause further harm by adding to depression, increased pain and side effects ranging from gastrointestinal bleeding and ulcers – prolotherapy truly cures the underlying problem and eliminates pain.
One of the most innovative uses for prolotherapy was developed here at the Magaziner Center for Wellness by Scott Greenberg, MD. Dr. Greenberg developed a prolotherapy technique to correct a pelvic tilt or functional leg length discrepancy. Most patients who suffer from a limp, knee pain, back and neck pain, sacroiliac joint (SI joint) pain, and hip problems, in our experience, have a tilt in their pelvis. The pelvic tilt produces uneven forces across the joint, thus contributing to its damage. Our physicians can immediately correct this tilt, often on a permanent basis, contributing to the overall healing process. The leg length corrective technique will work even when physical therapy, chiropractic or other techniques fail.
We also use platelet rich plasma (PRP) to regenerate joint, spine, ligament, and tendon damage. In PRP therapy, we extract a small amount of your blood from which we develop a concentration of platelets and growth factors naturally found in the body that we then inject into the damaged area to promote healing. In addition to stimulating the body to heal itself, the platelet “graft” also forms a biologic scaffold that provides optimal curative conditions in the injured area. We have used platelet rich plasma to treat painful arthritic joint and pain from a torn labrum or meniscus, rotator cuff tears as well as in many areas that have high grade tears. Many of our professional and highly competitive athletes use PRP to return to their sport when an injury does not heal, or time does not allow for an injury to sideline that athlete.
While just gaining awareness now, we’ve also been utilizing biopuncture since 2003. Biopuncture is a therapy using mostly plant-based formulas (often homeopathic) that are injected into specific body regions to relieve pain and inflammation. Most are micro-injections administered with a very small needle just under the skin or into the muscle. These small doses stimulate the natural healing processes – the healing comes from within your body. Biopuncture is best used as a complement to other natural therapies, including proper nutrition and exercise.