When athletes tell me they are contemplating surgery I ask them “Do you want a surgery on your resume?” Some do want to play professional athletics or get a college scholarship and I am sure both of these goals will be hampered by having a surgery on the resume.

Surgery should be a last resort. Here is a list of conditions that we commonly see at Caring Medical that can be helped by Prolotherapy and thus do not need surgery:

• Meniscal tear/degeneration
• Labral tear/degeneration
• Rotator cuff tear/degeneration
• Disk herniation/degeneration
• Cartilage degeneration
• Ligament/Tendon tear
• Joint instability
• Joint subluxations/recurrent dislocations
• Tendinosis
• Tendon degeneration

If the athlete can move the joint through its normal range of motion then there is not a complete ligament or tendon tear, no matter what the MRI says. When it doubt the athlete should seek a second opinion from a Prolotherapist. At Caring Medical we have an 85% success rate of helping folks not need surgeries and just receive Prolotherapy for various injuries.

ATHLETES SHOULD CONSIDER PROLOTHERAPY FIRST

At the time of this writing, I was treating a minor league baseball player. He was getting Prolotherapy to his lower back. He loves the results and needs Prolotherapy to his shoulder and elbow. To get this treatment he needs permission from the team physician who is an orthopedist. The orthopedist ordered an MRI and because of the findings, desires the patient to get surgery. The player doesn’t want to get surgery. Why? Because he doesn’t want a surgery on his sports resume. Smart man I say.

I talked to the team physician and here is how the conversation went. We will call the team physician Dr. Know It All.

I answer the phone. “Hi this is Dr. Hauser.” “Yes, this is Dr. Know It All. I am looking at your picture on the internet right now. You are treating one of our players. How is he doing?”

“He is doing well. He makes steady progress with each visit. He is very happy.”

“Yes you know he has such and such injury and I have recommended surgery. My main concern is that he not miss all of spring training. When these guys try conservative treatment they still end up missing all of spring training. That is my main concern. Also he seems to indicate that you practically guaranteed that he would get better. Have you treated any baseball players?”

“I have treated high school and college pitchers and they do well with Prolotherapy.”

“How do you know they do well?”

“They get back to pitching and pitch as good as ever.”

“My main concern is that he not miss all of spring training.”

“Come on Doctor, if you want me to be frank, I see all of the surgery screw ups. I see all the guys you guys have butchered up. You are a surgeon and I am a conservative doctor. He should get three visits of Prolotherapy to his shoulder and we’ll see where he is at.” “He can do what he wants, my main concern is that he not miss more of spring training. I am glad we talked.”

The player still hasn’t received Prolotherapy to his shoulder but it looks like he will. You see athletes on professional teams need to go through their team physicians typically before they can get a therapy not done by their team. As this player found out, while you are performing they love you but when you are not performing (like when you are injured) they want you out to pasture.

Athletes need to heed the advice…do not get a surgery on your sports resume! The reasons for this are many:

1. Surgery on your sports resume puts your career in jeopardy.

2. Most athletes do not come back 100% after surgery. The odds are actual about 1 in 10. You have a 10% chance of coming back 100% after surgery.

3. The rehabilitation times is months and months and often whole seasons are lost after surgery.

4. Surgery changes the mechanics of the human body. This is one of the reasons athletes don’t come back 100% after surgery.

5. Surgery has significant risks.

6. The athlete has options like Prolotherapy.

7. Most athletic injuries that orthopedists operate on can be successfully treated by Prolotherapy.

8. The rehabilitation time after Prolotherapy is typically weeks instead of months.

9. Prolotherapy makes the area stronger so it enhances athletic performance.

10. In our experience, when successful Prolotherapy has a 90% chance of helping the athlete get to 100+%.

11. Prolotherapy helps maintain the normal mechanics of the body.

The above athlete knows of six other players, some of them close friends of his that have had some type of surgery on them. None of them are back 100%. If we examined them we would probably come to the conclusion that their careers are soon going to over.

In the book that Marion (my wife) and I wrote Prolo Your Sports Injuries Away! with the hope that athletes would read it and see all the conditions that can be treated by Prolotherapy so athletes wouldn’t have a surgery on their sports resume. Here are some of the conditions mentioned in that book that can be treated by Prolotherapy:

Degenerative Disc Disease
Degenerative Joint Disease
Ligament Tears (partial)
Rotator Cuff Tear (partial)
Meniscal Injury
Glenoid Labrum Tear
Turf Toe
Tendon Strain
Shoulder Instability
anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) tear (partial)
Tendonitis
Tendinopathy
Tendinosis
AC Joint Sprain
MRIs, Herniated Discs, Prolotherapy
Bulging Disc
Jammed Finger
Plantar Fasciitis
Morton’s Toe
Morton’s Neuroma
Bursitis
Hip Sprain
Pubic Symphysis Injury
Sacroiliac Laxity
Vertebral Subluxation
Jumper’s Knee

Not all of the above are surgical lesions, but the list also isn’t exhaustive as to all the conditions that occur in athlete. Athletes too often go to orthopedists as their first line care for a sports injuries. The vast majority (99%) of sports injuries are treated conservatively. I would estimate that of the other 1% that get surgery, about 95% of those could be treated by other conservative means just as Prolotherapy. For the athlete wishing to keep a surgery off of their resume, going to a Prolotherapist for an evaluation is a good place to start!