Saturday, May 16, 2015

Second Round of Prolotherapy Injections

I hit 12,000 total miles on my ElliptiGO during yesterday's ride.
I have owned it 1 1/2 months shy of two years.
Bridge is in Pepperell, MA
On Wednesday, I had the second round of Prolotherapy injections in my si joint and lower back from Dr. Borg-Stein at the Newton-Wellesley Hospital. I had my first injections six weeks ago and I have been thrilled with the results. My doctor was just as happy as I have been on hearing the results so far. I am one of the few people who seem to get pretty quick reactions from the injections (which means I probably won't need as many rounds of them)! My lower back and si joint feel better than they have in just over 30 years. I have a new found stability and am no longer feeling my back or si joint "go out" or give me muscular problems in my daily life. Honestly, since around 1984, each day has been a struggle to not let my back or si joint ruin each day. I would run to try to get normalness, but I very rarely had a good night's sleep without getting up multiple times to stretch or "crack' or "pop" something that felt out of place. I avoided doing a lot of things around the house or even going to events because I was always feeling uncomfortable. It is nice to be able to move around and do all sorts of activities now, without any repercussions.

For the past month, I am just rolling through life feeling feeling very stable. I have had a few days where things might get a little bent our of alignment and the next day, I would be fine again. I have been doing heavy training on my ElliptiGO during this time. So, two thumbs up to Prolotherapy.

Besides getting injections for my left si joint and one of the facet joints in the lower back, this time I also got an injection halfway between the si joint and the left hip. She said this is where the glute medius often gives people problems and that is true for me. Besides feeling a "fullness" when I got the injections, I didn't feel anything after them in terms of discomfort (even did a light 30 miles on my GO that afternoon). Last time, I could feel the ligaments tighten near the injection point, but I guess that has already started healing, so it wasn't obvious to me this time.

I am letting things heal and not rushing into running (if I can) and I am getting the real results I wanted and that is to go through life without so much daily discomfort. I did try a run two weeks after the first injections and it felt great. I did two laps around the neighborhood (one mile) and my whole left hip and pelvis area felt tremendous and stable. I had no problems.  It was wonderful!

7 comments:

Brian Baker said...

This is all good news, Jim! I am so happy for you! Keep up the good work!

Jim Hansen said...

Thanks Brian, I am curious to see how this all plays out!

PK said...

I had prolo 10 years ago for SI joint issues and they allowed me to run again after 18 months of PT and a ton of pain doing anything, even sitting. I ended up getting them in my pubic symphysis too 6 months later as well. So glad they are working for you too.

Jim Hansen said...

That is good to hear, Paul. I wish I had tried it years ago myself. I feel so much better already, being able to run would be a real treat!

Christy said...

Hi Jim, thanks so much for sharing this information! I also consulted with Dr. Borg-Stein, to see if prolotherapy would be helpful for my SI joint issues. It turned out that I wasn't a good candidate (my joints were too hypermobile), so it was really interesting to read your story.

Jim Hansen said...

Christy, that is too bad that you are not a candidate for prolotherapy. Dr. Borg-Stein is very honest. She stopped doing injections in me because it worked so well and she felt I didn't need more even though originally she thought I might need way more injections. She definitely only will do what is necessary and won't do it for the money. Best wishes!

Unknown said...

Interesting - I just started Prolo and oddly - I felt pretty darn good after one treatment of my SI low back. Glad to see you are doing weill