Prolotherapy for SI joint pain

@sandyincharlotte, my kid also has type 1 and long term SI joint issues, due to subluxation. She did PT all during college and for a total of 10 years. Prolotherapy helped her miraculously but NOT the sugar/dextrose one.

In the practice she used, dextrose is tried first, then PRP, platelet rich plasma. Due to her type 1, they skipped the dextrose trial and went directly to PRP. So I would ask for that.

Dr. Borg-Stein at Newton-Wellesley in MA is doing a lot of studies and could refer you perhaps.

When my SI shifts, the torque causes deep trigger points in my deep glut muscles. Physical therapists can now do "dry needling" where they stick a needle deep into that muscle and hits the nerve in the muscle. When they hit that trigger point, it feels like you're being electricuted, but the muscle then relaxes. It has been the only way to release deep trigger points for me.

Is this the person who gave the PRP shot? I'm in my early 30s and my case sounds similar to your daughter's. I'm in the area.

@sameerak yes it was Dr. Borg-Stein. Used to be at Wellesley Spaulding but now at Newton-Wellesley and part of the MGH-Brigham system. Good luck!

I had an excellent response to Prolotherapy. My SI Joint was causing lots of trouble after a hip operation left one leg shorter than the other. The prolotherapy treatment worked on the ligament connected to the SI Joint that had become "lax", or overstretched, and could not support the hEDS joint as it normally would. The treatment activates your body to fix itself and in my case this particular fix took 10 days before the ligament tightened itself in the middle of the night, like a rubber band snapping back.
So, prolotherapy fixes ligaments, tendons and other soft tissues but not the joint itself. My SI Joint still moves a bit too far, but a knee to the chest and keeping the connective muscles in good shape and not overly tight. My Doctor did say that I might need a repeat after 5-10 years. It has been over 5. I have also heard that a fix on the first round is a bit unusual.
Due to a second hip operation, this one gone bad, my SI Joint was taxed again. This time, as I wasn't walking much, the damage went up the spine, loosening all the joints. My cervical joints became loose enough to cause issues. Another prolotherapy treatment tightened the ligaments that are actually part of those cervical joints and the blood flood to my brain is protected. For these joints a chin to the neck, pulled up like a castle guard works to do small readjustments.
I really believe I would not be walking around today without protherapy and am so glad to see Mayo include treatments in their wheelhouse.

Hood to hear! Heard such good things about prolotherapy but mine didn’t. I too have multiple EDS and both hip replaced and revised.

And sorry to hear! You might try another practitioner if you still hurt. I do understand that there are different techniques. My Dr. trained in Denver with the Regenerative Medicine clinic there. He works at a Spin and Pain Center of which there are several spread around the Mid-Atlantic and DC.

Did this cause more pain?

I HAD A MRI TO FIND OUT THAT I HAVE 2 LABRUM TEARS IN MY HIPS. THE RIGHT ONE MORE SO. SINCE I ALSO HAVE OSTEOPOROSIS, SPINAL STENOSIS. CRPS. I ALSO HAVE NARCOLEPSY AND CATAPLEXY . THE TRICYCLIC MEDICATION I TAKE FOR IT MAKES PLASMA RICH PLATELET CONTRAINDICATED. I AM NOT A CANDIDATE FOR ANY TYPE OF SURGERY. HOWEVER MY PAIN DOCTOR TRIED AN INJECTION IN THE HIP OF DEXTROSE AND WATER, WHICH IS PROLOTHERAPY. WHILE ITS NOT COVERED BY INSURANCE, HE WAS KIND ENOUGH TO TRY IT ON ME. AFTER JUST 1 SHOT I NOW HAVE AT LEAT 50% RELIEF WHERE STEROIDS DID NOTHING. I HOPE EVERYONE A PAIN FREE DAY.

Can you please share with me the name of that practitioner at mass general that does the prp prolotherapy?

And am I understanding correctly- your daughter has complete success after ONE treatment with the prp injections? That is amazing and def sounds like that doctor knows what he or she is doing in regards to where exactly needs to be injected when the si joint problem is stemming from instability (or hupermobility) as opposed to pure sacroiliitis pain!

This has been my struggle- finding a doctor who understand precisely which ligaments to target with the prolo prp or stem cell injections , as my si joint dysfunction is purely ligamentous laxity and I know I will only be "fixed" if I can find a doctor who understand this too. Because I have already had the injections but none of the doctors I've been able to find r able to precisely target the injection spots for ligament laxity specifically. They all want to tell me they need only inject in or around the si joints for their injections to be able to help, but I know from extensive reading & research, and now my own personal experience, that this is not true in the cases like me where source of the si dysfunction is instability.