Treating Your Sciatica with Prolotherapy

If you’ve ever felt a painful, sharp, or burning jolt down the back of your buttock and leg, then you know what sciatica feels like. Sciatica isn’t a condition but rather a symptom of other issues or injuries that pinch the sciatic nerve. 

Although it’s often a temporary concern that resolves with a little rest and time, sciatica can be intense and debilitating. 

If you have persistent sciatica due to a herniated disc, weight challenges, poor posture, or prolonged sitting, you need a way to ease the pain.

Naples Regenerative Institute in Naples, Florida, provides top-of-the-line orthopedic care using today’s most advanced therapies for sciatica and other nerve pain problems. 

Double board-certified pain management specialist and orthopedist Glenn Flanagan, MD, specializes in prolotherapy to assist and enhance natural healing. 

Prolotherapy is one of the most effective options for treating sciatica. Here’s how it works and what you can anticipate during treatment. 

Understanding prolotherapy

Research suggests prolotherapy significantly reduces pain and improves function in people with chronic musculoskeletal pain. 

It’s an injection therapy involving a dextrose (sugar) solution to enhance the natural musculoskeletal healing process. The dextrose solution aggravates the tissues to trigger an inflammatory response, improving healing and stimulating stronger tissue development. The treatment is non-surgical, making it a safe and cost-effective option for sciatica treatment. 

Dr. Flanagan often combines the treatment with platelet-rich plasma (PRP). PRP is a natural substance derived from your blood. It is full of growth factors that further repair tissues and enhance healing. 

Prolotherapy causes the natural healing response, while PRP augments it by flooding the area with platelets and growth factors. Alternatively, a low-dose cortisone injection to your lower spine may reduce sciatica pain. 

What to expect from prolotherapy for sciatica 

If Dr. Flanagan determines prolotherapy is right for you, you can expect quick, easy, and pain-free treatments at Naples Regenerative Institute. Prolotherapy for sciatica involves an initial injection of local anesthesia using a fine needle to numb the area and prepare you for the dextrose injections. 

Dr. Flanagan administers the dextrose solution and any other additions, including PRP or stem cells. Based on the severity and duration of your symptoms, Dr. Flanagan may suggest repeat prolotherapy sessions spaced 3-4 weeks apart. Between sessions and after treatment, he may recommend mild exercise and movement. 

Prolotherapy for sciatica may reduce your need for medications, help you avoid surgery, and improve your quality of life. 

Get in touch

If you’d like to learn more about sciatica and how prolotherapy can help, call Naples Regenerative Institute or request an appointment online. Dr. Flanagan can evaluate your sciatica and offer helpful suggestions for reducing pain.