Therpy Tuesday: Prolotherapy #1

Last Friday was my first treatment of prolotheraphy. I posted Thursday about my wrist issues and that I was going to try a new treatment other than physiotherapy and massage.

I had a 30 minute session with the Naturopath and got 6 injections which is about 10 ml of fluid into the tendons. He found the problem is not my wrist, but my forearm. He pushed on the spot with his thumb that he thought might be the problem and was right. Ouch! That's where the injections went in. Just below my elbow in the forearm. The serum goes into the tendons that attach the muscle to the elbow. The serum contains a local anasthetic. For the first hour after the injection I had little to no use of my right hand. Signing my payment slip was interesting, and trying to dig my bus pass out of my pocket was funny.

According to research and my confident doc, I should be pain free after 4 to 6 treatments. There is an 80 85% success rate. I nearly cried when he said 'pain free'. After 5 years, I don't know what that would feel like! I truly hope that this works. I asked him questions about what I can/cannot do while getting treatment. His only do nots were icing it, and taking an anti-inflammatory. I asked if I needed time off the computer: No. I asked if I should refrain from dance: No. He said I could go back to lifting weights when the treatments are finished!
The first day and half after the first treatment was painful. I felt like my pain was at it's worst. That's expected and I was told that would happen. After some heat before going to bed Friday night, it felt better in the morning. It's now Tuesday and after a day of work I feel ok. It's not better by any means, but getting there. It feels weak and tired and swollen. Part of the healing process.

I really hope this works!!