Neuropathic pain might be the cause of your chronic persistent pain!

The story

Jim had a skiing injury several years ago.  The doctors said his injury has had plenty of time to heal but he is still in severe pain.  What is happening?  Why is Jim in so much pain?

This story is far too common with many causes, one of which is Neuropathic Pain. Around 15 million people in the US and Europe are suffering with Neuropathic Pain. (1)  Neuropathic Pain is pain that is persistent even after the injured tissues have healed.  It is pain that is described as bruning, tingling, “pins and needles”.  In one study where they used the McGill Pain Questionaire it was described as “tiring-exhausting” and “punishing-cruel”.  Other research shows that it impairs patients’ mood, quality of life, activities of daily living and performance at work. (2)  Chronic Neuropathic Pain is not fun to say the least.

Two types of Pain

When your skin gets cut you feel pain.  This pain usually goes away when the skin heals.  This is nociceptive (no see sep tiv) pain.  Some tissue in your body is injured and your body sends a signal of pain and as the tissue heals that pain signal settles down and eventually stops.

Neuropathic pain is different.  It does not stop when the tissue appears healed.  The nerve endings that once carried the signal of tissue injury in an area get permanently turned on and a chronic signal of pain is sent.  This pain signal is often aggravated by good intentioned attempts to try and relieve it through various treatments.

How it presents

Neuropathic Pain has 3 common pain symptom presentations.  First is spontaneous pain, which is pain that is described as shooting, burning, and/or shock-like that seemingly comes out of nowhere. Second is Allodynia, which is increased pain brought on by an otherwise nonpainful touch i.e. soft rub or normal pressure.  Lastly is hyperalgia, which is pain brought on by a painful touch or pressure. (2)

Associated with

There are certain conditions associated with Neuropathic pain; diabetes, herniated discs, complex regional pain syndrome, post surgery, mulpitple sclerosis, shingles other viral etiologies, crushing injuries, etc.  Many of these conditions cause neuropathic pain and others are known to aggravate neuropathic pain.

What can be done about Neuropathic Pain

The conventional approach is to treat neruopathic pain with a combination of pharmaceuticals.  This includes topical analgesics, pharmaceutical pills, and even surgery.  Unfortunately there can be serious side-effects in many cases and many cases do not see improvement.

The New Approach

The new approach is called Neural Prolotherapy or Neuro Prolo. NEURAL PROLOTHERAPY(Prolo), was developed by John Lyfgot, M.D. in New Zealand. Neural Prolo is a painless method of achieving relief from chronic pain by using small injections, just under the skin, of dextrose. Neural Prolo is documented to improve or reverse chronic conditions including back and neck pain, rotator cuff disorders, knee and meniscal problems, achilles tendon difficulties, tennis and golfer’s elbow and many other problems.

The Benefit of the new approach

Using neuro-prolo has shown promising results for otherwise incurable cases.  In addition it is safe without the many side effects of the pharmaceuticals.  Neuro prolo has also shown to achieve lasting relief in many cases.

(1) http://painaction.com/members/article.aspx?id=4136&gclid=COn8zdrj5bICFad7QgodTSwAHQ

(2) http://www.cmaj.ca/content/175/3/265.full.pdf