Chronic Ankle Pain in a Female Athlete

Jenny had severe ankle pain. She was an avid athlete, playing several sports. After evaluating her, I determined that she was suffering from systemic connective tissue deficiency in her ankles, which was the cause of her pain. Jenny did not know how she injured herself so severely.

Jenny also exhibited tenderness on various parts of her body in addition to her ankles. I surmised this was related to nutritional factors. When delving into her history, I discovered that her ankle pain started a couple of years prior to her visit in our office, just after she had begun taking birth control pills because of painful, irregular menstruation. The medication she was taking contained an analogue of estradiol. Her diet consisted of nearly 100 percent carbohydrates, very small amounts of protein, and she was averse to taking vitamins.

Jenny was however, open to receiving Prolotherapy on her ankles, but not to correcting the multiple factors that were related to her systemic connective tissue deficiency problem. She had multiple signs or symptoms, that confirmed this diagnosis such as a non-healing sports injury with no overt trauma causing the original pain; multiple tender points in other parts of her body especially about the knees and hips; dry skin; brittle nails and hair; menstrual problems; improper diet for her metabolism; and finally, her taking synthetic estradiol.

In order for the Prolotherapy to be maximally effective, I needed to address Jenny's inability to heal and convince her that she had to do something about this in order to make the Prolotherapy shots worth enduring! Reasoning alone would be insufficient.

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