Palm Beach Spine & Pain Institute Offers Prolotherapy As An Effective, Minimally Invasive Treatment For Chronic Injury

Main Category: Pain / Anesthetics
Article Date: 28 Sep 2007 - 4:00 PDT

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Palm Beach Spine & Pain Institute announces the offering of a newly emerging technique, Prolotherapy, as a minimally invasive treatment option for those living with chronic pain and repetitive re-injury. The treatment is performed at Palm Beach Spine & Pain Institute pain management and treatment center, 2290 10th Avenue North, Suite 600, Lake Worth, Florida.

Recently endorsed by the Florida Academy of Pain Medicine and reported in The New York Times, Prolotherapy is also known as Proliferative Injection Therapy or Regenerative Injection Therapy (RIT). Prolotherapy is sparking renewed interest, particularly with regard to treating repetitive stress injuries in professional athletes. In 2005, the Mayo Clinic endorsed prolotherapy, saying it may be helpful when ligament or tendon pain fails to respond to prescribed physical therapy. The procedure is endorsed by former Surgeon General C. Everett Koop, and is part of clinical trial being conducted by National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine (National Institute of Health.)

Prolotherapy uses injections of a dextrose (sugar water) solution mediated by multiple growth factors into the injured ligaments or tendons to produce a natural healing effect. Prolotherapy mimics the body's natural response to an injury - producing a desired inflammation in the injured tissue, increasing blood supply and nutrients to the area, and stimulating tissue repair.

"We are seeing great success with this technique with an increase in effective movement and stability of the joint," says Lawrence Gorfine, MD, co-founder of Palm Beach Spine & Pain Institute. In a recent Florida Academy of Pain Medicine position paper, Dr. Gorfine and 12 medical colleagues conducted a review of 40 case studies with 530,00 participants, and noted an improvement of 45% to 82% in terms of return to work and previous functional activities.

According to the National Institute of Health, in a two-year period adults age 25 and over sustained nearly 2.3 million sports and recreational injuries. Many of these injuries resulted in damage to tendons and ligaments. Incomplete healing, common after such an injury, causes these normally taut bands of fibrous or connective tissue to become relaxed and weak, setting the stage for repetitive re-injury.

As reported in the New York Times article, Injections to Kick Start Tissue Repair (Brody/8/7/07), " When surgery is the only option to relieve chronic pain, prolotherapy is a much less invasive and expensive technique that may be worth a try - if you can find a skilled and experienced practitioner."

Lawrence Gorfine, MD, with specialized training and experience in Prolotherapy, is Board Certified in Anesthesiology, Board Certified in Pain Medicine by the American Board of Anesthesiology and Board Certified by the American Board of Pain Medicine, Past-President of the Florida Society of Anesthesiologists (FSA), Past-President of the Florida Academy of Pain Medicine, and is Second Vice President of the Palm Beach County Medical Society (PBCMS) - and Member of the Board of Directors.

Douglas MacLear, D.O., Board Certified in Anesthesiology, Board Certified in Pain Medicine by the American Board of Anesthesiology, Fellowship Trained at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center. Dr. MacLear has over 20 years of medical experience and is a Pain Medicine Specialist.

About Palm Beach Spine & Pain Institute

At Palm Beach Spine & Pain Institute, board-certified physicians are dedicated to stopping pain. They specialize in performing innovative, minimally invasive techniques and procedures that eliminate pain at its source. The goal is to allow patients to return to a normal activity level - minus the pain.

Founders are Board Certified Specialists in Anesthesiology, Pain Medicine and Management, Lawrence Gorfine, M.D. and Douglas MacLear, D.O.

Palm Beach Spine & Pain Institute is located at 2290 10th Avenue North, Suite 600, Lake Worth, FL 33461, centrally located near Wellington, Royal Palm Beach, West Palm Beach, Palm Beach Gardens, Boca Raton and Ft. Lauderdale, FL

http://www.helpain.com