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Most other types of treatment provide only temporary relief; prolotherapy can be an alternative to surgery in many cases. Stage 3 (Completed Healing): New blood vessels mature and tissue is stronger and pain subsides. Stability is increased as pain and muscle spasm decrease. So why don't more people know about prolotherapy?- Chronic pain is not well understood by most health care professionals and, therefore, is frustrating to treat. Thus the comment, "There is not much you can do about it... you just have to live with it".
- Prolotherapy is not taught in medical schools, so doctors are unfamiliar with it.
- The technique of prolotherapy requires an in-depth knowledge of anatomy and the skill to place the injections accurately. It takes a great deal of study and training for a physician to become adept at the technique.
- The procedure takes up to one hour of clinic time, and most busy clinics cannot afford to take this amount of time for one patient.
- Many doctors and patients are looking for a "quick fix", but prolotherapy results do not always occur overnight. Therefore the prolotherapy patient must be committed to the treatment because multiple sessions are often required.
- Pharmaceutical companies are not promoting it because there is no money in it for them. Prolotherapy solutions contain common and inexpensive substances. Drug companies cannot obtain exclusive manufacturing rights, so there is no investment potential and thus no profit to be made.
- Because there are very few doctors who perform prolotherapy, patients typically just accept the pain or have surgery. While surgery has its place, many patients and doctors are not aware that prolotherapy may relieve their pain and delay or prevent the surgery they thought they needed.
- Since prolotherapy is considered by most insurance companies to be "investigational" and "alternative" it is therefore not usually covered.
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