Dr. Schultz & Prolotherapy

Prolotherapy is an orthopedic procedure that stimulates the natural healing process of the body to strengthen weakened joints. Prolotherapy injections repair the damage and produce new fibrous tissue, which results in permanent stabilization of the joint.

History

• Dr. Louis Schultz was a dentist, a medical doctor and an Associate Professor for the Department of Surgery at the University of Illinois and Rush College of Medicine. Dr. Schultz wrote an article titled, "A Treatment For Subluxation of the Temporomandibular Joint," which was published in the Journal of the American Medical Association in 1937.

Significance

• Dr. Schultz explained how conventional treatments of rest, appliances in the mouth, physical therapy and surgery were only moderately successful in treating common temporomandibular (TMJ) syndrome. Dr. Schultz described a simple process of shortening and strengthening the TMJ capsule by using injections, later called prolotherapy.

Function

• Dr. Schultz performed tests and found a procedure that would strengthen the ligaments that support the TMJ, but would not cause injury to other structures. Successions of three to five injections were necessary to permanently stop the clicking, pain and hypermobility of the TMJ joint.

Benefits

• According to The American Osteopathic Association of Prolotherapy Integrative Pain Management website, prolotherapy is used to treat knee pain, shoulder pain, dislocation of the joints, disc problems of the spine, temporal mandibular joint dysfunction and carpal tunnel syndrome. Prolotherapy also treats abnormal, bulging and spider veins.