Prolotherapy Treatment in Mumbai | Image-Guided Regenerative Care

Damaged tendons and ligaments are chronically under-healed because they receive poor blood supply. Without adequate blood flow, healing stalls, which is why physiotherapy and painkillers may offer only temporary relief for chronic joint or soft-tissue pain.

Dextrose prolotherapy introduces a small volume of solution into the affected tissue, triggering a controlled, short-lived inflammatory cascade. This recruits fibroblasts that synthesise new collagen, releases growth factors, and increases vascularisation. Over successive sessions, the tissue thickens, strengthens, and stabilises.

• Dextrose prolotherapy - Introduces a dextrose solution into under-healed tissue to recruit collagen-producing cells and improve vascularisation.
• Neural prolotherapy - Uses very dilute dextrose subcutaneously along a nerve path to reduce neurogenic inflammation and pain hypersensitivity.
• Prolozone therapy - Combines ozone gas with prolotherapy solution to enhance oxygen delivery and support cellular repair in low-oxygen tissue.

Your Nivaan specialist determines the most appropriate formulation based on your specific condition and imaging findings.

• Knee - Early to moderate osteoarthritis, ligament laxity, patellar tendinopathy, chronic instability.
• Shoulder - Rotator cuff tendinopathy, glenohumeral instability, AC joint pain.
• Lower back and sacroiliac joint - Chronic non-specific low back pain, SI joint dysfunction, lumbar ligament injury.
• Ankle and foot - Chronic sprains, Achilles tendinopathy, plantar fasciitis, persistent instability after repeated injury.
• Elbow - Tennis elbow and golfer's elbow, particularly where physiotherapy and steroid injections gave only short-term benefit.
• Hip - Joint pain, trochanteric bursitis, and ligament laxity in active individuals.
• Neck and cervical spine - Cervicogenic headache, whiplash-related ligament injury, chronic instability-related neck pain.

Prolotherapy may be the right option if you have:

• Chronic joint, tendon, or ligament pain lasting more than 3 months
• Pain persisting despite physiotherapy, anti-inflammatories, or corticosteroid injections
• Ligament laxity, joint instability, or tendon degeneration confirmed on imaging
• A wish to delay or avoid surgery, where clinically appropriate
• A sports injury or overuse condition that's slow to heal

Best Doctors to Perform Prolotherapy Treatment in Mumbai

Prolotherapy isn't appropriate for everyone. It's generally not recommended if you have an active local infection, advanced arthritis with severe structural joint destruction, a bleeding disorder or are on anticoagulant therapy, are in the first trimester of pregnancy, or have active cancer. Patients on high-dose immunosuppressants or corticosteroids may also be unsuitable.

Nivaan specialists will review your full medical history and imaging before proceeding, and will say so clearly if prolotherapy isn't the right fit for you.

Before the procedure:

• Review of your medical history and examination of the affected area
• Confirming diagnosis with imaging (X-ray or MRI) where needed
• Pausing NSAIDs and anti-inflammatory medicines for 7 days before treatment, only on medical advice, since they suppress the response prolotherapy relies on
• Avoiding corticosteroid injections in the weeks prior, as advised
• Discussing blood thinners individually with your specialist

What happens during treatment:

• Blood draw, when required - A small blood sample may be taken if the protocol combines prolotherapy with autologous growth factors.
• Solution preparation - Typically dextrose in a local anaesthetic base, prepared at the appropriate concentration for your condition.
• Site preparation - The treatment area is cleaned and, where required, numbed with local anaesthetic.
• Guided injection - The solution is delivered precisely into the affected tendon, ligament, or joint capsule under ultrasound or fluoroscopic image guidance.
• Completion - The procedure finishes in a single outpatient appointment.

A temporary increase in soreness or warmth at the injection site during the first 24-48 hours is normal, it indicates the healing response has activated. Avoid NSAIDs and ice, since both suppress the inflammatory response prolotherapy is designed to trigger.

Prolotherapy at Nivaan is always combined with a structured physiotherapy programme, particularly important for runners and active individuals returning to training.

Benefits

• Targets the root cause - Repairs damaged connective tissue rather than masking symptoms
• Non-surgical - No incisions, hospital stay, or general anaesthesia
• Naturally metabolised - Dextrose prolotherapy uses no foreign substances
• Broad application - Applicable across joints, tendons, ligaments, and nerve pain
• Minimal downtime - Light activity resumes within days

Risks and Side Effects

• Injection-site reaction - Mild pain, soreness, or swelling, typically settling within 1-3 days
• Expected pain flare - A brief post-injection flare as healing activates; expected, not a complication
• Temporary nerve irritation - Can occur when injecting near a nerve, particularly with neural prolotherapy
• Rare infection - Risk minimised by sterile, image-guided technique

Serious complications are rare, particularly under image guidance by an experienced specialist.

Cost depends on the number of joints treated per session, the number of sessions required, and the type of solution used (dextrose, prolozone, or a combined protocol). Most patients require two to four sessions in total, worth factoring in when comparing a per-session quote against the likely full course of treatment.

Prolotherapy delivers gradual, cumulative results, not immediate relief.

• Weeks 3-6 - First improvement
• Weeks 6-12 - Meaningful pain reduction and better function
• Months 3-6 - Full tissue remodelling and maximum benefit
• Two to four sessions - Spaced 3-6 weeks apart

Shoulder and tendon injuries typically respond well. Knee and sacroiliac joint pain has the strongest published evidence base. Patients with advanced structural joint destruction tend to see limited benefit and may be better served by a surgical assessment.