prolotherapy The chiropractor’s role Dr. Robert Banner is currently an Assistant Professor in the Depart- ment of Anesthesia and Periop- erative Medicine at the University of Western Ontario in London, Ontario. He is Board Certified in Family Med- icine and Anesthesiology and holds additional certification in Traditional Chinese Medicine Acupuncture from the University of Alberta in Edmonton, Alberta. He also holds qualification with the American and Canadian Academies of Pain Man- agement and the American Holistic Medical Association. Dr. Banner is a consultant in the Multidisciplinary Pain Program at the University of Western Ontario. Traditional Al- lopathic and Complementary/Alter- native/Holistic therapies are used in the care of patients including Prolo- therapy, Neural Therapy, Applied Kinesiology, Nutritional Medicine and Functional Medicine. Holistic care directed at optimizing general health (physical, mental, spiritual) and targeting “root” causes of dys- function are the cornerstone of his practice. 20 • CANADIAN CHIROPRACTOR | FEBRUARY 2009 P rolotherapy, known as proliferative therapy or regenerative injection therapy (RIT), is a non-surgical treatment, for weakened and/or damaged ligaments, or tendons, that relieves musculoskeletal pain. Typically, an irritant solution (glucose) is in- jected into areas where ligaments or tendons attach to the bone, triggering the body to heal the injury and thereby naturally strengthen the joint. HISTORy Of pROLOTHERApy Modern prolotherapy evolved from an injection technique called sclerotherapy that was first used in the 1920s to treat hernias and hemorrhoids. In the 1940s, Earl Gedney, a well-known osteopath at the Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine began to use sclerotherapy for back-related ailments. It was George S. Hackett an MD from Canton, Ohio, who first coined the term “prolotherapy” in the 1950s. His book Ligament and Tendon Relaxation Treated by Prolotherapy continues to be used as a basic training refer- ence. A newly released textbook entitled the Principles of Prolotherapy by Tom Ravin, MD, Mark Cantieri, DO, and George Pasquarello, DO, is an excellent up-to-date repository of their combined knowledge in treating acute and chronic musculoskeletal pain. Their expertise in osteopathic manipulative medicine, and painstaking collaboration has resulted in a concisely written, and visually accurate, manual. www.canadianchiropractor.ca Robert Banner, MD, CCFP, FRCP(C) feature
Chiropractic + Naturopathic Doctor Febuary 2009: Page 20
