One of the greatest awakenings in my early days of Prolotherapy was in
treating a 40 year old woman with ankle pain.
Like other areas of the body,
the ankle comprises many areas that can be injured or worn out with
arthritis or soft tissue damage. In this case, the woman had been a ski
instructor who finally settled down, married, had kids, and found her best
times skiing with her husband and two sons.
She injured her right ankle, or more specifically the peroneal tendon at the
outer side of her leg behind the lateral maleolus (that bump on the outside
of the ankle).
Simlar to other athletic patients in pain, she was very depressed because she could no longer put on a
ski boot because of the pain, and certainly couldn't ski any longer.
The patient came into the office asking for Prolotherapy treatments to heal her ankle. On
examination, I found the tendon to inflamed to about the size of my pinky,
wrapping around the lateral maleolus.
I had never used Prolotherapy injections in that area before,
and was concerned that I might inject into the peroneal nerve and do more
damage than good.
On introspection, I thought that if I injected the maleolus near the tendon,
the proliferant would drain to the tendon itself, and start the healing
cascade without a needle piercing the nerve.
I did a series of injections,
and after about a month she returned to my Los Angeles office with good news.
That "pinky" of inflamed
tendon had disappeared, and her pain was gone. She returned to skiing
without issue. After her prolotherapy treatment, her ankle pain was gone.
 About Dr. Darrow: Marc Darrow is a leading Prolotherapy Doctor in Los Angeles, California. Dr. Darrow has been featured in NewsWeek, Men's Health, ESPN, Muscle & Fitness and Golf Today for his unique approach to pain management using Prolotherapy, To learn more about Dr. Darrow's use of Prolotherapy, please click here to schedule an appointment or call (310) 231-7000.
|