Neck and Back Pain

Lasu Gorfu
A 62 year old male came to our clinic with severe low back pain. The pain had been coming and going for the past 15 years. He felt he injured it while lifting heavy boxes while moving. He tried acupuncture which brought minimal relief. The pain worsened with walking and any kind of bending. In addition to the low back pain, he also experienced pain in his thigh. He used to love playing tennis but could no longer enjoy it due to his injury.

Upon examination, he had pain with back forward flexion and tenderness at his iliolumber ligaments bilaterally. We treated his low back pain with Prolotherapy. Using a mixture of 50% Dextrose/ 50% lidocaine, we injected the area of his iliolumber ligaments bilaterally and lumbar interspinous ligaments.

After the first treatment with Prolotherapy, he had some soreness and stiffness from the injections. The soreness lasted a day or two. When we followed up with the patient 3 weeks later, he was pain free and had no discomfort with bending. There was no tenderness in his low back pain. He plans to get back into tennis and hopes to go on longer walks.

Aimee Scollon
Aimee Scollon is a 65 year old female who had neck and back pain for the past 25 years. The pain started after a MVA. Initially, the pain was intermittent but now has become constant. Looking up or lifting any amount causes increases the pain. Chiropractic treatments and cortisone injections provided temporary relief.

When she came to our clinic, her pain was a 3/10 but could escalate up to a 10/10. Her physical exam was significant for pain with neck extension and tenderness at the cervical and thoracic spine, bilateral trapezius and rhomboid area.

We treated her with prolotherapy to the cervical and thoracic interspinous ligaments from C3 down to T8. The injections were 50% Dextrose & 50% Lidocaine. After the second round of prolotherapy injections, Aimee felt a significant improvement in her pain. She had greater range of motion and was able to do more activities without pain. The tenderness she previously had was greatly diminished.

Harriet Wasserman
Harriet Wasserman, a 69 year old female had an intense pain in her low back which limited many of her daily activities. She couldn’t go shopping at the mall or for groceries due to the pain. She also felt it affected her normal gait and posture. This problem had been bothering her for the past 5 years. She presented to our clinic with this low back pain. Harriet’s MRI showed lumbar spine spondylolisthesis and stenosis. She rated her pain as 8 out of 10. In the past, epidural injections have temporarily brought relief. She had to stop exercising due to the pain.

On examination, Harriet had bilateral tenderness at her iliolumbar and sacroiliac ligaments near the superior gluteus muscle. She had good ROM in her back.

We started her on prolotherapy to her iliolumbar and superior gluteal area. After a month of prolotherapy, she noticed decreased pain and felt that her posture improved. She continued with more prolotherapy injections and continued to improve in her ROM, posture and pain.

She is now able to go to the mall again and she feels that she is walking with better gait. The tenderness in her low back is gone and she feels her body is in better alignment. Harriet feels that she is 90% better since receiving prolotherapy.

Lucia Flynn
Lucia is a 53 year old female who presented to Darrow Sports and Wellness Institute on 2/9/11 with complaints of low back pain that had been persistently bothering her for one year. Lucia first injured her back while putting up her Christmas tree in December 2010. The pain was so intense she was bedridden for four days until the pain subsided with rest. Since that incident Lucia would experience frequent flare ups of low back pain while doing housework and walking up and down stairs. Her activities of daily living were limited by low back pain and she was no longer able to exercise on the treadmill. She tried to manage the pain with ibuprofen and heat, however these treatments were not successful at relieving her pain.

Lucia had an MRI done on 1/19/11 which revealed L2-L3 bilateral arthropathy and facet degenerative cysts, L3-L4 bilateral arthropathy, L4-L5 intervertebral disc space narrowing with circumferential disc bulge and Schmorl’s node, all consistent with severe degenerative disc disease.

During the initial physical exam in our clinic, Lucia had pain with lateral trunk bending and rotation. Her trunk flexion was limited and when she bent forward she was only able to reach 4 inches from the ground. Lucia rated her pain 10/10.

Lucia had her first injection with prolotherapy upon her first visit to our office on 2/9/11. She returned to our office on 2/16/11 with remarkable improvement in pain management and she rated her pain 0/10, a 100% improvement. She did continue to have some stiffness however she was able to complete trunk rotation and lateral bending without pain. Furthermore she was now able to bend forward and reach 2 inches from the ground, a 50% improvement in range of motion in just one week. She was able to put her shoes on with ease and complete activities of daily living pain-free. Although Lucia was still experiencing some stiffness, she was very satisfied with the treatment and continues to be a patient at Darrow Sports and Wellness Institute.