An alternative to steroid for lower back pain
One of the most common causes a low back pain specialist will see in their office is the pain caused by the sacroiliac joint (SI). The sacroiliac joints connect the spine and the hips at the sacrum. The sacrum is a triangular shaped bone at the bottom of your spine. It sits between the iliac bones, your “right and left hips”, to complete the pelvis. Holding the pelvis or pelvic girdle together is a network of ligaments… [Read more]

Knee injury limiting your soccer game?
How many more games are left in your knees? Are you taking anti-inflammatory medications before the game? Are you holding your knees together with knee braces and tape? Are you going home after the game and reaching for a cold one – that is a bag of ice to wrap around your knees? You have been to the doctor and he says, “You need a procedure – you will need to take the year off.” In my opinion,… [Read more]

Finger Pain in the Musician and Prolotherapy
Do you suffer from finger pain? Flatpick Magazine DOES PRACTICING HURT? BY MARC DARROW, MD How many guitarists have altered their style of playing from five fingered riff blazing virtuosos to simple chord strumming rhythmists because of finger, hand, wrist and elbow pain? Certainly too many. While, there are many articles devoted to preventive exercises, stretching, warm-ups and other techniques to ensure the  guitar… [Read more...]

Free Well Being and WEIGHT LOSS Seminar
We are pleased to offer an anti-inflammatory protocol which results in improved energy, a reduction in dangerous “belly fat”,
and an average weight loss of 3 to 7 pounds per week.

You will learn:

1. Why the US is among the most unhealthy of nations,
and is having an obesity epidemic.

2. Proactive solutions for High Blood Pressure,
High Cholesterol and central obesity.

3.What causes cravings and what to do about it.

4. How to fuel your body to improve energy
and reduce body fat and cellulite

Monday February 26, at 6:30 PM
11645 Wilshire Blvd., Los Angeles 90025
310-231-7000 for Reservations
DARROW SPORTS AND WELLNESS INSTITUTE
COME TO THIS SEMINAR TO RECEIVE $100 OFF
IF YOU SIGN UP FOR THE DIET PROGRAM

It does this by acting as a “shock agent,” drawing water from superficial cells and drying out the site. It induces slight, but controlled inflammation, and the healing process is set in motion.

Marc Darrow, a Los Angeles physician, is one of many doctors in the U.S. who offer an amazing new treatment called Prolotherapy. Its name is derived from the word “proliferation,” and its goal is to stimulate the growth of new tissue, repairing damage to worn-out joints and relieving pain and discomfort. First, the exact location of the pain is found using an acupuncture needle. Then an injection of diluted dextrose and an anesthetic is given. The anesthetic relieves the pain, while the dextrose stimulates the body’s healing response. It does this by acting as a “shock agent,” drawing water from superficial cells and drying out the site. It induces slight, but controlled inflammation, and the healing process is set in motion.

Dr. Darrow emphasizes that inflammation “means the body is responding to an injury or stress to the joint by sending cellular compounds to the damaged area. It’s your body’s way of getting the healing process started.” Once these cellular compounds have done their job, they are replaced by fibroblasts, which begin repairing the damage and forming granular tissue that will become new collagen. Collagen is a major component of the connective tissue found between tendons and ligaments.

A few clinical studies have already confirmed the benefits of Prolotherapy. Researchers at the Bethany Medical Center in Kansas City observed a decrease in pain and swelling in the arthritic knees and fingers of subjects. And this year, Australian researchers at the University of Queensland saw “significant and sustained reductions in pain and disability” after Prolotherapy had been administered to 110 patients with lower-back pain.

Dr. Darrow discovered Prolotherapy after having undergone it himself.

During his fourth year of residency at UCLA, while suffering pain from an injured wrist, he met Dr. Andrew Kochan, who used Prolotherapy. After a few weeks of injections, Dr. Darrow was healed. He now gets great satisfaction from helping other people live active lives free of pain, without the need for anti-inflammatory painkillers.

Various fields of medicine, including dentistry, neurosurgery, wound healing, and orthopedics, have only just begun to scrape the surface of the long-term and ongoing benefits that can result from employing this valuable therapy.

PRP (Platelet Rich Plasma) Ultrasound-guided injection of the Knee

What is it? A Quick Lesson on Blood
In a nutshell, a PRP injection delivers a high concentration of endogenous (your own “home-grown”) platelets to an area of injury.

To understand the therapeutic value of PRP injections, you need to have a basic understanding of the make-up of blood. Blood is composed of plasma, red blood cells, white blood cells, and platelets. It’s these platelets that are the injury’s “first-responders” and help revascularize an injured area, construct new tissue, and stop the bleeding.

Because platelets play a significant role in the healing of tissue, reintroducing a high concentration of platelets directly into the injured area may enhance the healing process.

The physiological effects include:

• Increase tissue regeneration (tendon, ligament, soft tissue)
• Decrease inflammation
• Decrease pain
• Increase collagen (base component of connective tissue)
• Increase bone density
• Increase angiogenesis (development of new blood cells)

In the world of high-stakes sports, many stars swear by it. Tiger Woods received PRP injections in his left knee following surgery, and L.A. Dodger’s pitcher, Takashi Saito was able to return to the mound for the 2008 playoffs as a result of this little-known therapy.

Studies have seconded these testimonials. A recent study published in the American Journal of Sports Medicine (2006) reviewed the effectiveness of PRP therapy in patients with chronic elbow pain. Fifteen patients were treated with PRP therapy. The results documented a 60% improvement at eight weeks, 81% at six months, and 93% at final follow-up (12-38 months). There were no side effects or complications reported.

The Trouble with Tendons
Tendon injuries often become chronic because of the poor blood supply to these areas. Athletes and active people tend to have these issues and sometimes a whole career or hobby can be ruined by this ongoing complication. A PRP injection allows a quick and focused action to the area of injury, which allows it to heal more effectively and rapidly.

The Procedure
A patient’s blood is drawn and placed in a centrifuge which separates the platelet-rich plasma from the rest of the blood. This plasma is then injected into the area of injury. It’s a quick procedure with little, if any, downtime. It’s also safe because the platelets are derived from the patient’s own blood, so there is no risk of rejection or reaction.

Not every patient is treated with PRP.

We do not treat every patient with PRP, most often, Dextrose Prolotherapy is used instead of PRP, because of the extra step in drawing your blood, the extra expense in purchasing the PRP kit, and extra time it takes to prepare the platelets. The injections are exactly the same way, but the proliferant, or solution injected is different. For many years we have had great success in healing 1000’s of patients’ and having them avoid surgery with dextrose Prolotherapy.
Your decision to have PRP should be discussed with us to determine which type of Prolotherapy, (Dextrose, platelets, or another proliferant) is best for you.

Not every doctor is proficient in PRP Therapy

Platelet Rich Plasma Therapy has become very popular. Physicians who do not do traditional Prolotherapy are now offering PRP. Unfortunately, these untrained doctors are injecting the platelets in a way that is often painful, debilitating for weeks, and can leave hematomas (collections of clotted blood) in the area injected. We believe that PRP is best delivered by a physician already experienced and well versed in Prolotherapy.
Platelet alpha granules contain potent growth factors necessary to begin tissue repair and regeneration at the wound site. Concentrated autologous platelets contain large reservoirs of growth factors that have the potential to greatly accelerate the normal healing process, naturally. The use of concentrated growth factors is considered by many to be a “new frontier” of clinical therapy

Excerpts in this article from Harvest Technologies Corp

1. Marx, R.E. , et al,“Platelet-Rich Plasma Growth Factor Enhancement for Bone Grafts”, Oral Surg Oral Med Oral Patrhol, 1998;85:638-646.

2. Antonaides, H.N., et al,“Human Platelet-Derived Growth Factor: Structure and Functions”, Federation Proceedings, 1983;42:2630-2634.

3. Pierce, G.F., et al,“PDGF-BB,TGF-ß1 and Basic FGF in Dermal Wound Healing: Neovessel and Matrix Formation and Cessation Repair”, Am J Pathology, 1992;140:1375-1388.

Nevertheless, not a day goes by that I don’t treat knee problems, and patients seeking knee pain relief . It doesn’t seem to matter what the patient’s knee diagnosis is in order for knee Prolotherapy to work.

Prolotherapy injections have been instrumental in avoidance of needless knee surgeries in my Los Angeles clinic. Many of my patients have already had one or two or three knee surgeries by the time they see me in hopes of avoiding a knee replacement.

Commenting on his knee pain, Al-Jabbar stated, “I knew my knee was a mess, but after the first Prolotherapy injection, it was like a miracle. I had swelling in my knee for ten years, and within a within a week the swelling was gone and the knee pain hasn’t returned.”

Specific to Prolotherapy, Al-Jabbar stated, “Obviously, if I would have known about Prolotherapy before all the surgeries, I definitely would have had the injections instead.”

The healing of Abdul-Karim’s knee was a miracle, and most knees with as much damage do not heal this quickly.

Knees do, however, often heal faster than other body parts.

I have seen knee joint pain and instability from ACL tears or strains, medial and lateral collateral tears and strains, patellofemoral pain, Osgood Schlatter’s disease, arthritis, meniscal tears, and many other syndromes or injuries disappear after Prolotherapy treatments.

To someone wearing a knee brace, who regularly tapes ice on their knee and takes prescribed and over-the-counter pain medication, what else could there be but surgery? How about Prolotherapy?  READ THE REST AT JOINTREHAB.COM