Prolotherapy and stem cell injections are considered alternative treatments for certain types of soft tissue injuries. Both are injection therapies and offered under the umbrella of regenerative medicine, but they are distinctly different therapies based on different principles.
The two treatments are also alternatives in the sense that they are viable options in place of more traditional treatments. Being alternatives does it mean that they are in some way fake or illegitimate.
The Regenerative Medicine Principle
Understanding how prolotherapy and stem cell injections differ requires a basic introduction to regenerative medicine. Regenerative medicine is based on the principle that the body is naturally designed to heal itself. Sometimes it does not do so as effectively as it could. Regenerative medicine improves natural healing capabilities.
Platelet rich plasma (PRP) therapy is also part of the regenerative medicine family. It perfectly illustrates what regenerative medicine is all about. When recommended to treat a soft tissue injury, PRP injections supply the body with a higher concentration of platelets and growth factors – two substances the body needs in order to heal tissue damage.
By injecting PRP material at the site of injury or disease, a doctor is essentially jump starting the healing response. If all goes as planned, the patient’s body heals the disease or injury as best it can.
Prolotherapy and Its Mechanism
Prolotherapy is also designed to jump start the healing response. But instead of relying on platelets and growth factors, it relies on the principle of inflammation. Believe it or not, inflammation is actually a good thing from a biological perspective. Inflammation triggers the body’s healing response by notifying the appropriate systems of the existence of an injury or disease.
In order to encourage inflammation (it is minor and controlled, by the way) doctors inject an irritant – usually something like dextrose. The body responds with inflammation. Likewise, inflammation signals that something needs attention, thereby triggering a healing response.
Stem Cell Injections and Its Mechanism
We are still dealing in the realm of natural healing as we move to stem cell injections. In a stem cell procedure, cells taken from the patient being treated are processed and then injected at the site of injury or illness. Stem cells can differentiate into different types of tissue which is actually the goal here.
Like prolotherapy and PRP injections, stem cell injections signal the body to the presence of damaged tissue. The stem cells go on to act as the raw materials needed to begin healing that tissue. It is important to note that the targeted stem cells in this procedure cannot differentiate into any form of tissue. They are limited to soft tissues like bone, muscle, and tendon.
All Safe and Minimally Invasive
Lone Star Pain Medicine, a Texas pain management clinic offering prolotherapy and other regenerative treatments, explains that all three therapies mentioned in this post are both safe and minimally invasive. They are safe because prolotherapy’s dextrose is harmless and the blood and stem cells needed for PRP and stem cell injections come from the very patient being treated.
All three procedures carry very little risk of rejection or serious complications. Perhaps the biggest concern is the possibility of infection. But infection is a risk with any kind of injection. Fortunately, the three procedures are minimally invasive in that injections are really as bad as it gets.
Despite prolotherapy and stem cell injections both being administered with a needle, they are distinctly different therapies with different mechanisms. Pain medicine doctors are increasingly turning to them to provide pain relief and healing when traditional treatments fail to get the job done.