Regenerative Injection Therapy

What is RIT/Prolotherapy?

Regenerative Injection Therapy (RIT) is a safe, natural and effective injection technique that stimulates the body’s natural healing mechanism to repair damaged ligaments and tendons.

A solution, usually dextrose-based, combined with a local anesthetic is injected into the affected ligaments or tendons, creating a localize inflammation. This triggers the body’s natural repair mechanism to stimulate the growth of new cells, collagen, to repair damaged tissue.

Collagen, the material that makes up our tendons and ligaments, shrinks as it matures, resulting in stronger and tighter ligaments and tendons.

What do ligaments and tendons do?

A ligament connects two bones and is involved in the stability of a joint. Ligaments surround all of our joints.

A tendon connects muscle to bone and involves the movement of a joint.

Ligaments and tendons have poor blood supply and as a result incomplete healing often occurs after damage during trauma or due to degenerative process of aging our ligaments and tendons become relaxed and weakened.

The junction where ligaments and tendons attach to the bone, the fibro-osseous junction, contain a large number of nerve endings. It is also the weakest area. As a result, ligaments or tendons that relaxed and weakened result is tension on the nerve endings and PAIN.

The junction where ligaments and tendons attach to the bones, the fibro-osseous junction, are where the greatest stresses occurs, rather then the middle, it is also the area that contains a large number of nerve endings. Cartilage on the other hand, contains sensory nerves. Cartilage damage does not cause pain! Ligaments are also weakest where they attach to the bone. Hence, this is where ligaments and tendons are damaged resulting in stretching of the nerve endings, cause your pain! This is where prolotherapy injections occur.

What types of injuries benefit?

Any musculoskeletal disorder as a result of weakened or relaxed tendons or ligaments will respond to prolotherapy.

This includes joint instabilities from prior trauma or degenerative arthritis known as osteoarthritis. Chronic neck or back pain due to prior trauma, motor vehicle accidents or degenerative disc disease. Chronic tendonopathies such as tennis elbow, golfer’s elbow and Achilles tendonitis.

A multitude of sports injuries have also been successfully treated with prolotherapy.

Are the injections painful?

While all needle injections result in local discomfort, the local anesthetic removes the pain quickly. However, individual tolerability varies. Pre and/or post injection medication can be used if necessary.

Dr. Todd Gash, MD, Dip Sports Med is an occupational and certified sports injury physician with a special interest in musculoskeletal medicine. He has been using regenerative injection therapy in the treatment of musculoskeletal injury and chronic pain syndromes since 2005