Hope for Dogs with Arthritis and Hip Pain

  Posted on January 18, 2011  by Joy of Living  No comments

For dogs that suffer from arthritis or hip dysplasia, there is a promising treatment available.  Prolotherapy is a nonsurgical treatment used on humans and animals.  The treatment involves administering a series of injections that act as an irritant that stimulates the body’s immune system  to rebuild surrounding tissue.

Prolotherapy is an excellent alternative to surgery for dogs with chronic joint pain.  Some of the conditions prolotherapy can treat include:  arthritis, hip dysplasia, and ligament problems.  Since this treatment is non-invasive recovery time is less, side effects are minimal, risk is reduced and treatment costs are lower.

The prolotherapy injections are given in a series usually spaced 1-4 weeks apart.  Many dogs show improvement by the third injection.  The treatment must be repeated annually, and is showing a success rate of approximately 90% (equal to the success rate of comparable surgery for the same condition).

If you’re interested in finding a veterinarian that performs prolotherapy, check the American Holistic Veterinary Medical Association (ahvma.org) website.  Once at the site, select “find a holistic veterinarian”, then “other” at the next screen (select modality) to find a practitioner in your area.

Good news!

Natural Dog Magazine, Winter 2011 reference for this article