Dr. Darrow’s Prolotherapy Blog

Even before medical school, I watched surgical procedures as much as possible. I wanted to become a surgeon since I wanted to heal. In medical school, I did surgical research and assisted in the operating room more than my classmates. There was nothing better than a quick fix. Cut the skin, open up the body, fix the problem, and suture it back up.

By the time I had finished medical school and internship (where I spent as much time as possible doing orthopedic procedures) I had seen too many surgical failures. I even saw a woman die on the table during a hip replacement.

A year after a painful shoulder injury while weight-lifting, I decided to have my orthopedic professor operate on me. It was a “simple” arthoscopic surgery. My arm blew up like a balloon with fluid, and I had a fever. We thought it was an infection. It took a year after my surgery to heal. But it was no better than before the surgery. I later learned about Prolotherapy, injected my own shoulder, and the pain was gone the next day. I never needed the surgery. Later I found out that most patients do not need their elective orthopedic surgeries.

In my clinic, I have many new patients who are ready for surgery, and come in for a second opinion. It is rare that I agree that surgery is the correct option. It can always be used as a last option after more conservative measures are used. The best healing technique I know of in musculoskeletal medicine is Prolotherapy. After the healing of my shoulder and wrist with
Prolotherapy, I began using it on my patients.

Prolotherapy injections are safe and effective in stimulating new tissue growth and rebuilding injured or arthritic areas. It certainly is much less expensive than surgery. A simple orthopedic procedure may be $25,000 or up to $150,000 if it is a back or neck surgery. Some patients tell me that their insurance will pay for it. Well, who pays for the insurance deductible, the lost time from work, the chance of losing your job, the pain and disability that can last for months if the procedure is successful, or a lifetime if the procedure fails.

Did you know, there is a syndrome called, Failed Back Surgery”? Did you know that studies now show that a fake knee surgery has the same success rate as a real knee surgery? Did you know that studies now show that if you have a back surgery or don’t have it, your condition will be about the same? When the risks of surgery are considered, it seems simple
that Prolotherapy is a better answer to your pain.

After Prolotherapy, most people go back to work, or do activities the rest of the day. The typical worst case scenario is stiffness around the injection site. What makes the most sense to you? After many years of watching the poor surgical outcomes that arrive in my office, there is no question that Prolotherapy is an excellent, alternative treatment to surgery in
properly chosen cases.

I hope this helps explain why I think Prolotherapy is a better than invasive surgery.

I wish you great health!

Dr. Darrow

About The Author: Doctor Marc Darrow, M.D. is a board-certified physiatrist and assistant professor at UCLA School of Medicine. As the author of Prolotherapy: Living Pain Free, Dr. Darrow is one of the authorities on Prolotherapy use for pain management and has been featured in Newsweek, ESPN, Men’s Health, Golf Today and Muscle and Fitness.

This entry was posted on Monday, August 3rd, 2009 at 11:11 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.  Print This Post |  Email This Post .