Features and Clinical Effectiveness of the Regenerative Injection Treatments: Prolotherapy and Platelet-Rich Plasma for Musculoskeletal Pain Management

Abstract

Pain is a symptom caused by a disease process and/or tissue injury. With the prolongation of life expectancy in humans, the incidence of degenerative joint diseases and as a result pain has increased. Unfortunately, a method of treatment that stops or reverses progression by affecting the pathogenesis in these diseases has not been developed. Physical therapeutics such as medicine and physical rehabilitation often are prescribed for patients suffering with pain. Recently, in addition to these routine therapies used in pain treatment, many regenerative injection-based therapies, including prolotherapy (PrT) or platelet-rich plasma (PRP) have been widely used. PrT is using for damaged or degenerated connective tissue healing, such as ligaments, tendons, and cartilage. The combination of local inflammatory effect, stimulation of local growth factor release, and down regulation of neuropathic inflammation can be defined as the mechanism. As a result of these, joint instability and ligament laxity reduce and pain decrease. PRP is the cellular component of the plasma. Although PRP is used for the same reasons as PrT, it can be used in acute cases unlike PrT. This chapter is intended to understand the use of regenerative injection therapies (PrT and PRP) better in the treatment of pain.