Prolotherapy - A Cure for Arthritis?

Most conspiratorial topics on this subforum usually revolve around high profile, multi-bilion dollar scams and frauds, like illegal drugs, supression of alternative cancer therapies and the nagging issues of AIDS and its actual causes.

This one is going to be simple and rather mundane, by comparison: if my sources are correct, damaged and degenerated joints can be stimulated to regenerate,

Source#1
Prolotherapy uses a dextrose (sugar water) solution, which is injected into the ligament or tendon where it attaches to the bone. This causes a localized inflammation in these weak areas which then increases the blood supply and flow of nutrients and stimulates the tissue to repair itself.

Historical review shows that a version of this technique was first used by Hippocrates on soldiers with dislocated, torn shoulder joints. He would stick a hot poker into the joint, and it would then miraculously heal normally. Of course, we don’t use hot pokers today, but the principle is similar—get the body to repair itself, an innate ability that the body has.

this approach sounds similar to several energy based treatments relying on electrical current or soundwaves. unfortunately, this reliance on irritation alone resulted in established medicine's scepticism:

Source#2
An assessment of prolotherapy prepared for the California Technology Assessment Forum (CTAF) concluded that prolotherapy does not meet CTAF's assessment criteria (Feldman, 2004). The assessment concluded “only one early study (Ongley et al., 1987) was able to demonstrate conclusively that prolotherapy was significantly superior to placebo for treatment of chronic low back pain. Subsequent research has not been able to replicate this finding. It is therefore not possible to conclude from the published literature that prolotherapy is superior to placebo injection for the treatment of chronic low back pain.”

which does not come as a surprise, since the effect does not rely on chemical interaction.

more links:

www.caringmedical.com...

www.prolotherapysandiego.com...

georgekramermd.com...

the last source even goes as far as claiming that prolotherpy could be used to initiate the growth of cartilage.


Feel free to debunk this, i'm pretty certain this is all over quackwatch, but that doesn't deter me in the least, because of previous, err, deviations on their part.